[176] Compare: _Second Report of the Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the Civil Establishments_, 1888, p. xvi. In 1888 the salaries of the Lower Division Clerks of the Civil Service ranged from $475 to $1,250. The Royal Commission recommended that in the future the salaries in question should range from $350 to $1,750, with an efficiency bar at $500 at the end of seven years' service, and a second efficiency bar at $950 at the end of nineteen years' service. [177] _Report of the Inter-Departmental Committee on Post Office Establishments_, 1897, pp. 9, 11 and 1,088; and q. 4,256 and following, 4,161 to 4,162, 15,126 to 15,134, and 3,913 to 3,937. [178] _Hansard's Parliamentary Debates_, July 16, 1897, p. 323 and following. [179] Compare also _Hansard's Parliamentary Debates_, April 9, 1896, p. 597, Mr. R. W. Hanbury: "He had sat for some years as a member of the Royal Commission upon Civil Service Establishments, and the Members of that Commission had been greatly struck by the enormous pressure that civil servants in particular constituencies were able to bring to bear upon candidates, and in his view the House ought not to adopt any line of action that would encourage that pressure being brought into operation. So great, indeed, had been the abuses that it had even been suggested that civil servants ought to be disfranchised altogether.... Another great danger that had to be provided against was that in certain London constituencies, and in some of the large towns, it was quite possible that the civil servants might, by combining together, succeed in turning the balance at an election in the event of one of the candidates refusing to pledge himself with regard to raising the scale of wage, or an increase in the amount of pensions, or similar advantages which the civil servants might desire to obtain." [180] _Hansard's Parliamentary Debates_, April 27, 1900, p. 135; April 25, 1901, p. 1,325; and April 30, 1903, p. 1,022. [181] _Report of the Postmaster General_, 1906. CHAPTER XI THE POST OFFICE EMPLOYEES CONTINUE TO PRESS THE HOUSE OF COMMONS FOR INCREASES OF WAGES AND SALARIES