The Life of Sir Rowland Hill and the

66 LIFE OF SIR ROWLAND HILL. [1847
advantage of submitting every candidate for regular
clerkship to a probation in the extra corps. The
Postmaster-General seemed favourable to the prin-
ciple, which, indeed, had been occasionally recognised
in practice, but unfortunately I never succeeded in
obtaining its adoption as a rule, the real obstacle
being, no doubt, that it would have acted as an
impediment to patronage.
My second abortive measure I regarded as of great
importance, nor has my opinion of it undergone any
to the
change ; though how far it may be applicable
circumstances of the present day is another question.
Wishing to procure for the Post Office the unrestricted
use of all the railway trains, and that at a moderate
fixed rate, I suggested that Government, as 'a means
of procuring the ready acquiescence of the railway
companies, should include in a bill then preparing for
Parliament a provision in their favour, which seemed
to me to be in strict accordance with justice, and with
the true -interests of the public. In my Report * on
this subject, I first showed that in order to enable
the Post Office effectually to serve the public, it was
necessary that the department should make far greater
use of the railways. Under the existing law, owing
to uncertainty as to the rate of payment, the excessive
awards frequently made, and other causes, this was
I therefore proposed that an attempt
impracticable.
should be made to obtain an Act empowering the
Railway Commissioners, at that time an organised
Board, with the present Lord Belper at its head, to
take the following steps :
i st. To issue a general tariff of charges for the
* The Report (dated 1st January, 1847) was subsequently laid before a
Parliamentary Committee, and is given in extenso in the Fifth Report of the
Select Committee on Railway and Canal Bills, Appendix, p. 246. (Par. Pro.
1853, No. 736.)