Meanwhile, I thought that the time had arrived for effecting an additional Sunday relief which I had contemplated from the first. Under the old arrangement there had always been performed on the Sunday certain work which properly belonged to the Monday; the reason for this proceeding being that the amount of duty accumulated on the Monday by the Sunday suspension of business was, without such relief, more than could be dealt with. The relief, however, that arose from the Sunday transit of letters had made it beyond question practicable for Monday to execute all its own work. That it should be made to do it I had advised in the very outset, feeling confident that it could do it; but I had been met not only with the usual declaration that the thing was impracticable, but with objections so plausible that, for once, I abated self-confidence, and supposed that the practical officers must be right. To my great surprise, on now moving in the matter, I found that, to a considerable extent, the impracticable change had already been effected, though, unluckily, no corresponding reduction had been made in the Sunday force. Such a reduction I began, therefore, to urge; and before the close of the year Mr. Bokenham had reluctantly consented to reduce his Sunday force by eleven men. He gave, at the same time, promise of further reduction on the following Sunday, if practicable; a question soon settled, for the Postmaster-General sanctioned, on the second day of the next year (January 2, 1850), minutes reducing the Sunday force in the London Office from twenty-six men, the number ordinarily employed for many years, to three; ten or eleven, however, being employed either before five o'clock in the morning or after eight o'clock at night in the mail carriages. When, earlier in these proceedings, I wrote to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, telling him that I thought an additional expenditure of £500 a-year would enable me to adopt measures indicated in my minute of the previous February for bringing the Sunday force within its original limits, his answer was that, if necessary, I might take £1500. "_December 28th._--Another minute has been sanctioned, subject to the approval of the Treasury, which will abolish certain day-mails, cross-posts, and double despatches, now rendered useless by the discontinuance of the second delivery on the Sunday at provincial offices. In addition to this the receipt of inland letters will be confined to the stamped and unpaid, and, as a general result, the offices throughout England and Wales will close from 10 a.m. for the rest of the day, instead of opening again at 5 p.m. as they now do.... By these means additional rest, averaging from three to five hours, will be given at the provincial post offices."