Mr. Raikes was charged with inconsistency and unnecessarily interfering with the right of combination among the postal servants; but the Postmaster-General defended his action, and maintained that he had dealt leniently in the circumstances. The reduction had been accompanied with a caution to abstain from such questionable methods of agitation for the future; but a few months later the secretary of the postmen’s organisation tempted fate still further, and the end came. A printed notice had been issued and signed by Dredge calling a mass meeting at the Memorial Hall, without the proper sanction of the Postmaster-General having been obtained, and in contravention of Rule 42 of the regulations. This meeting the Postmaster-General prohibited, but a few days afterwards, Dredge called a general meeting for the purpose of discussing matters of departmental control, including the action of the Postmaster-General. For this he was called on to explain as to why, after being emphatically cautioned, he had persistently endeavoured to stir up agitation. His explanation notwithstanding, Dredge was dismissed. The Postmaster-General’s treatment of this particular case, and his attitude towards the postmen’s agitation at this period, may seem strangely in contrast with the indulgence shown towards the letter-sorters. But it has to be remembered that with the latter body there was never any attempt to force the right of public meeting before the rule was relaxed; and besides, they experienced little indulgence at Mr. Raikes’s hands till some time after the period of Dredge’s dismissal. It was not till a year after that Mr. Raikes began to mellow in his demeanour towards the sorters’ agitation.