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POST OFFICE

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 190 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.

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POST

POST See also:
OFFICE (from Lat. officium, " duty," " service," a shortened form of opifacium, from facere, " to do," and either the stem of opes, " wealth," " aid," or opus, " work ")
OFFICE See also:

STAFF (O. Eng. staef, cf. Du. staf, Ger. Stab, &c.; Icel. stafr meant also a written letter, and O. Eng. stafas, the letters of the alphabet; " stave," one of the thin pieces of wood of which a cask is made, is a doublet)

STAFF The staff of the post office on the 31st of See also:

March 1906 amounted to 195,432. Of these 41,081 were See also:

WOMEN

women, a proportion of over one-fifth of the staff. The postmasters numbered 875 (including 10 employed abroad), and the sub-postmasters 21,027.preference was given to See also:

army, See also:

NAVY

navy and royal marine pensioners, and men of the army reserve. Due regard was paid to the legitimate claims of See also:

TELEGRAPH (Gr. Tike, far, and rypaq5eiv, to write)

telegraph messengers or other persons who had prospects of succeeding to these situations. In See also:

AUGUST (originally Sextilis)

August 1897 the See also:

government decided to reserve one-See also:

HALF

half of all suitable vacancies for ex-soldiers and sailors, as postmen, porters and labourers, and preference has been shown to them for employment as lift-attendants, care-takers, &c. See also:

FINANCE

Finance.-The following table shows the See also:

FINANCIAL

financial working of the post office: See also:

YEAR

Year. See also:

Revenue. See also:

EXPENDITURE

Expenditure. See also:

Net Revenue. Postal Extra o d See also:

TOTAL

Total. Sites and o °o Salaries, Convey- Packet Other Total. Receipts.

Receipts. ,'''5'11 v Buildings. a z,i See also:

WAGES (the plural of " wage," from Late Lat. wadium, a pledge, O. Fr. wagier, gagier)

Wages, &c. ante of Service. Expenditure. E q ' V Mails ,E c e ° v ee ~ u Pur- Erec- Under Under See also:

chase. tion. P. O. other Votes. Votes. £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ 1884-1885 7,808,911 382,002 198,336 8,389,249 72,464 80,234 150,742 2,829,210 1,154,211 728,413 515,892 136,999 5,668,265 2,721,084 1889-1890 9,467,165 36,279 218,037 9,721,481 70,900 79,840 153,921 3,359,563 1,249,821 664,342 553,910 142,788 6,275,085 3,446,396 1894-1895 . 10,748,014 - 277,446 11,025,460 12,597 175,390 188,919 4,597,355 1,395,282 729,813 677,524 178,464 7,955,344 3,070,116 1899-1900 13,192,020 202,315 13,394,335 115,294 169,098 269,092 5,963,399 1,474,118 759,307 719,944 213,747 9683,999 3,710,336 1900-1901 13,776,886 - 218,584 13,995,470 81,949 175,000 286,238 6,277,275 1,516,859 764,804 726,101 236,677 10,064,903 3,930,567 2905-1906 16,823,349 24,363 216,311 17,064,023 75,759 250,127 377,131 7,737,010 1,821,758 687,1o9 604,927 295,191 11,849,012 5,540,897 The total number of offices (including See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch offices) was 22,088. The unestablished staff, not entitled to See also:

PENSION (Lat. pensio, a payment, from pendere, to weigh, to pay)

pension, made up chiefly of telegraph boys, and of persons who are employed for only See also:

PART

part of the See also:

day on post office business, included 87,753 out of the See also:

GRAND

grand total, and almost the whole of the sub-postmasters. The pay and prospects of almost all classes have been greatly improved since 1884, when the number stood at 91,184. The See also:

PRINCIPAL

principal schemes of See also:

general revision of pay have been: 1881, See also:

Fawcett's See also:

SCHEME (Lat. schema, Gr. oxfjya, figure, form, from the root axe, seen in exeiv, to have, hold, to be of such shape, form, &c.)

scheme for sorting-clerks, sorters and telegraphists (additional cost £210,000 a year), and for postmen, 1882, £11o,000: See also:

RAIKES, ROBERT (1735–18,x)

Raikes's various revisions, 1888, See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief clerks and supervising See also:

OFFICERS

officers, £6230; 1890, sorting-clerks, sorters and telegraphists, £179,600; 1890, supervising force, £65,000; 189o, See also:

LONDON

London sorters, £20,700; 1891, London overseers, £9400; 1891, postmen, £125,650: See also:

Arnold See also:

Morley, 1884, London overseers, £1400, and rural auxiliaries, £20,000.

A See also:

COMMITTEE (from commute, an Anglo-Fr. past participle of commettre, Lat. committere, to entrust; the modern Fr. equivalent comite is derived from the Eng.)

committee was appointed in See also:

JUNE

June 1895 with See also:

Lord Tweedmouth as chairman, to consider the pay and position of the post office staff, excluding the clerical force and those employed at See also:

head-quarters. The committee reported on the 15th of See also:

DECEMBER (Lat. decent, ten)

December 1896 and its recommendations were adopted at an immediate increased expense of £139,000 a year, which has since risen to £500,000. In 1897 additional concessions were made at a cost of £100,000 a year. In See also:

JULY

July 1890 a number of postmen in London went out on strike. Over 450 were dismissed in one See also:

MORNING

morning, and the See also:

WORK

work of the post office was carried on without interruption. The men received no sympathy from the public, and most of them were ultimately successful in their plea to be reinstated. A quasi-See also:

POLITICAL

political agitation was carried on during the general See also:

election of 1892 by some of the London sorters, who, under the plea of See also:

CIVIL

civil rights, claimed the right to See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence candidates for See also:

PARLIAMENT (Anglo-Lat. parliamentum, Fr. parlement, from parler, to speak)

parliament by exacting pledges for the promise of See also:

PARLIAMENTARY

parliamentary support. The leaders were dismissed, and the post office has upheld the principle that its officers are to hold themselves See also:

FREE

free to serve either party in the See also:

State without putting themselves prominently forward as political partisans. Parliament has been repeatedly asked to See also:

SANCTION (Lat. sanctia, from sancire, to decree or ordain)

sanction a parliamentary inquiry to reopen the See also:

settlement of the Tweedmouth Committee, and the telegraphists have been especially active in pressing for a further committee. The rates of pay at various See also:

DATES

dates since 1881 are set out with See also:

GREAT

great fullness in the Parliamentary papers (Postmen, No. 237 of 1897; Sorters, Telegraphists, No. 230 of 1898, and See also:

REPORT (O.Fr. report or raport, modern rapport, from O.Fr. reporter, mod. rap porter, Lat. reportare, to bring back, in poetical use only, of bringing back an account, news, &c.)

Report of the Select Committee on Post Office Servants, 1907; this latter contains important recommendations for the removal of many grievances which the staff had been See also:

long . agitating to have removed).

In See also:

NOVEMBER (Lat. novem, nine)

November 1891 an important See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change was made in the method of recruiting postmen, with the See also:

OBJECT

object of encouraging military service, and providing situations for those who after serving in the army or navy are See also:

LEFT

left without employment at a comparatively See also:

early See also:

AGE (Fr. age, through late Lat. aetaticum, from aetas)

age.

End of Article: POST OFFICE

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