In 1878, one Woodhouse, a postman at Norwich, was suspended for two days for irregular attendance, having been late 42 times in three months. In 1880, he was suspended for three days, having been late 173 times during the year. Woodhouse also had been very troublesome to the inspector, setting a bad example to the younger men. In 1882, he was absent from duty because of intoxication, was grossly insubordinate to the local postmaster, whom he set at defiance, and also grossly insubordinate to the surveyor. The local postmaster recommended that he be dismissed. "At headquarters, however, with a large, and some people think a very undue, leniency, it was decided to give him one more trial." In 1889, Woodhouse was cautioned by the postmaster for insubordinate conduct to the inspector. In 1891 and 1892, the postmaster refused to recommend him for good conduct stripes. In 1894 there was a marked improvement in Woodhouse's conduct. The improvement was maintained, and in 1896, Woodhouse was recommended for good conduct stripes. Of this man, Mr. J. S. Smith, the official representative of the provincial postmen, said, in 1896, before the Tweedmouth Committee: "The last 17 or 18 years of Woodhouse's career have been of a most exemplary description, a good time-keeper and zealous in the discharge of his duties, and yet, though he had been a postman for 25 years, he has never been the recipient of a good conduct stripe. By this means he has been deprived of about $450, truly a great loss for a postman to suffer through having this vast sum deducted from his wages. It needs no words of mine to point out the great injustice that has been inflicted upon Woodhouse. Any little irregularity that may have occurred (such as bad time-keeping, which is admitted) in the first 7 or 8 years of his service, has been amply atoned for by 17 or 18 years' punctuality and excellent behavior."[334] In November, 1895, a letter carrier at Manchester came "under the influence of drink," and reached at 3.50 p. m. a point in his walk which he should have reached at 2.30 p. m. "On the following day he was again under the influence of drink and unfit to make his delivery." The punishment was the deprivation of one good conduct stripe.[335] In December, 1895, a postman at Newcastle, while off duty, but in uniform, "was reeling along [one of the principal streets] intoxicated at 3 p. m." The case was sent up to the Postmaster General, who decided that the man should lose one good conduct stripe. Mr. Spencer Walpole, a member of the Tweedmouth Committee, and the Permanent Secretary to the Post Office, said dismissal would not have been too severe a punishment; and Mr. H. Joyce, Third Secretary General Post Office, London, assented to the statement.[336]