The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

1851-4] SALARIES AND PROMOTION. 245
low rate, I pointed
out to him that it would be much
better to apply for a general book-post, and the appli-
cation was modified accordingly.
Meantime, with the concurrence of the Commissioners
of Post Office Inquiry in the East Indies
and of the East India Company, I obtained from Lord
Hardwicke, though with some difficulty,* sanction to a
measure for extending the book-post to the East Indies.
SALARIES AND PROMOTION.
Early in 1852 my brother Frederic completed a
measure adjusting the salaries of the rural sub-post-
masters (about six thousand, I believe, in number),
advancing some and depressing others, according to
the ascertained amount of work, and laying down a
rule for the decision of all future cases. Somewhat
later, the Postmaster-General having decided, on
receipt of a memorial from the clerks of the Money
Order Office, that their salaries should be revised, I
prepared a minute, which received Lord Hardwicke's
ready sanction, and which I intended to serve as a
model for other departments. Its substance was, first,
to prepare a scheme of salaries, classes, &c., according
to the best practicable ideal ; to make this the ground
of all future appointments, and gradually to apply it,
with due modification, to the clerks already in the
* Lord Hardwicke would seem to have had a strong dislike to the book-post, to
judge from the following entry in Sir R. Hill's Journal :
"June 1 5th, 1853. Breakfasted with Chevalier Bunsen. He promises to urge
on his Government the adoption of the Book-post. He told a characteristic anec-
dote of Lord Hardwicke. At the time Lord H. was Postmaster-General,
Chevalier Bunsen met him at the Queen's Drawing Room, where, it seems, if
people talk at all,
what Chevalier Bunsen thought of 'Hill's Book-post,' expressing
it must be in a low tone of voice. Lord Hardwicke asked
his own dislike
of the measure. Chevalier Bunsen defended it, on which Lord H. became
excited, and talked so loud that the Queen despatched an attendant to point out to
him that, if he wanted to converse, there was an adjoining room convenient for the
purpose." ED.