The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1851-4] MAIL BAG APPARATUS. 237
' '
Half Yorkshire,' he says, was assembled at Northallerton ; but,
though very much delighted, the people appear
to have had no
notion of what was really accomplished. Seeing a set of bags
hanging from a sort of lamp-post before the train arrived, and a
similar set in a net below after it had passed, their notion was that
the use of the machinery was merely to transfer the bags from the
one to the other."
Interest and amusement, however, were not un-
mingled with feelings of a very
different kind. It
scarcely need be said that the operation in question
requires very careful management both in the train
and at the station. Even with such management an
element of danger remains, increasing in proportion to
the speed of the train and weight of the bags. In
fact, as the use of the bag-apparatus extended, some
I induced the
slight accidents occurred. In my anxiety
Postmaster-General to call for a report from Sir William
Cubitt on the subject ; and this being delayed through
Sir William's indisposition, I took upon myself, (the
Postmaster-General just then being absent), to issue
instructions restricting, and in some cases suspending,
their use. This difficulty, I may however state, was
ultimately overcome by an improvement, devised by
my son, in the bag-exchanging apparatus. I may be
allowed to add that Sir William Cubitt, who had
himself failed to devise means for surmounting the
difficulty, candidly and kindly expressed a very high
opinion of my son's expedient.
RECTIFICATION OF ACCOUNTS.
The reader will remember* how long and how in-
I effectually once strove to obtain the rectification of
accounts relative to the true amount of the postal
* See page 185. ED.