Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-OfficeLewins, William
History
Her Majesty's Mails: An Historical and Descriptive Account of the British Post-Office
Lewins, William
Postal service -- Great Britain
As the question whether continual railway travelling is prejudicial to
health has frequently been discussed of late, it may not be out of place
to instance the case of the travelling _employés_ of the Post-Office,
which seems to show that persons in the enjoyment of good health are
benefited by railway travelling. The ratio of sickness among the
Post-Office clerks and sorters engaged upon railways is certainly not
greater, we are told, than among the same class of officers employed at
the London establishment. The fact seems to be that, were it not that
the former travel generally at night-time, are exposed to sudden changes
of weather, and are, on certain emergencies, forced to travel oftener
and further than the authorized limits, the ratio would be considerably
less than it is. Dr. Waller Lewis, the medical officer of the
Post-Office, supplies us, in a recent report, with a number of cases
that have come under his immediate notice, where incessant, and even
excessive railway travelling, does not seem to have been at all
detrimental to the health of those so engaged. "One of our best
officers," says Dr. Lewis, "states that he has no doubt that, during the
period of twenty years that he has been engaged in railway duties, he
travelled, on an average, a hundred miles a-day, Sundays included. All
this time he not only enjoyed excellent health, but he was stouter and
stronger than he has been since leaving that duty." Dr. Lewis further
tells us, that it is part of his duty to examine candidates for
appointment in this department of the public service, and again to
examine them after they have undergone a probation varying from six to
eighteen months. "In reply to my question, addressed to such officers
after a probationary term, of how they found the travelling agree with
them, some stated that they had never been so well in their lives. A
considerable number of them replied that they had not had an hour's
illness since they commenced railway duty." Of course, these
last-mentioned persons were _candidates_ for appointments in a lucrative
branch of the Post-Office, and their statements must be received subject
to this understanding and with due caution: still, it seems certain that
the general testimony borne in the travelling offices is not
unfavourable to the healthiness of the employment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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