The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

112 LIFE OF SIR ROWLAND HILL. [1849
for six hours, even a greater force being sometimes
required, I proposed, with a view of diminishing the
amount of Sunday work in the department as a whole
provincial as well as metropolitan that the existing
mail trains should bring up on the Sunday, in addition
to the present bags, the forward stamped letters, and the
forward stamped letters alone, so that there might be
neither any possibility of a Sunday delivery of letters to
the London public nor any unnecessary addition to the
Sunday accounts.
In order that the men employed might be able to
attend divine service, I proposed that the whole interval
from 10 A.M. till 5 P.M. should be left perfectly free, and
that the same arrangement should be extended, as far
as possible, to the duties already existing.
After glancing at the obvious fact that for any tem-
porary increase in force required at the chief office,
there would be at least a large and permanent set-off
elsewhere, I pointed out that the existing arrangements
led to a great amount of Sunday despatch and delivery
in the provinces, and consequently of Sunday letter-
writing and letter-reading there ; so that, taking the
whole country through, Sunday work would be un-
doubtedly
lessened. I further stated that there were
means by which, after the contemplated change, it
would be possible to reduce the Sunday labour even at
the chief office considerably below its actual amount.
I next stated the large reduction in Sunday labour
which in a recent minute I had proposed at the provincial
offices of England and Wales, and again advised
its adoption, and its extension in some of its features
to Ireland and Scotland. I added that its effect would
be to " release a very large number of persons now
engaged even during the hours of divine service," and
thus to " afford to many hundreds, perhaps even to