a in the minds of those who regarded it as the forerunner of other restrictions, and within a month a memorial against further change was presented by Viscount Duncan, the other member for the city, signed by the mayor and nearly five thousand other persons, "Clergymen, officers of the navy and army, gentlemen, members of the various professions and trades, and others." It thus appeared that, important as it was to afford Sunday relief, any movement for the purpose, if not cautiously made, might excite opposition, perhaps too strong to be overcome. The difficulty, too, was increased by unreasonableness and even absurdity in some of the demands put forth; as, for instance, one for the complete stoppage on their route of the mail-trains and all other vehicles in the mail-service, from midnight on Saturday till midnight on Sunday. As, however, the Sunday suspension of money-order business at Bath appeared on trial to produce no public inconvenience, I recommended its extension, first to Leeds, and afterwards to Birmingham, these towns having likewise presented memorials on the subject. In both cases my recommendation was adopted by the Postmaster-General. I now began to take measures to extend this Sunday closing of the money-order offices to the whole kingdom. By the beginning of 1849 it was extended to England and Wales, and thus, in one day, four hundred and fifty offices were relieved from money-order duty, many of which had been previously open for that purpose during the whole Sunday, just as on ordinary days. Three months later, the experiment still proving successful, the measure was extended to Ireland and Scotland, relieving two hundred and thirty-four additional offices, and making the Sunday suspension of money-order business complete. Meantime, also, I was taking steps for bringing all other Sunday work in the provincial offices within narrower limits. In October, 1848, I submitted a minute suggesting that inquiry should be made as to Sunday proceedings at the offices in Scotland (where restriction had always been carried further than in England), and how far such arrangements were found satisfactory to the public and the department. The information thence derived led me to hope that the English offices might be closed at least during the hours of divine service, and the Sunday deliveries limited in all cases to one. I consequently suggested that the opinion of the surveyors should be ascertained on these points, and at the same time I recommended that the offices should, in the first instance, be closed from ten to five (except for the receipt and despatch of any mails in the interval).