Victoria: 1854-1901.
Regulations and Schedules forTelegraph Messengers.

Some notes of the conditions under which Telegram Messengers were expected to work are summarised below under the headings:

  1. Hours of work - 1860.
  2. Conditions of employment - 1874;
  3. Conditions of employment - 1875;
  4. revised conditions - 1879.
  5. Salary.
  6. Sacking of qualified messengers.

Hours of work for messengers - 1860 and 1865.

In the Victorian Legislative Assembly on 11 January 1860, Mr. G. M. Stephen gave notice, that on the following day, he would ask the Postmaster-General "whether it was true that the boys employed as messengers in the telegraph office, were employed 14 or 15 hours per day, and, if so, whether it was intended to provide any remedy".

In the same place, on 3 May 1865, Mr. McLelland moved "that there be laid upon the table of this House, a copy of all papers connected with the case of operators and messengers in the Electric Telegraph Department and any opinion that may have been given by the hon. the Attorney-General, in reference to the right of messengers (previously appointed) to be entitled to the benefits and privileges of the Civil Service Act".

Mr Houston seconded the motion. Mr McCulloch said he "believed there were no papers connected with the case but he should offer no objection to the production of such papers". (Laughter) The motion was agreed to amidst some laughter.

No satisfactory follow-up action can be located. 

 

Conditions of employment of messengers - 1874.

The 1874 Post Office and Telegraph Department, Regulations and Schedules relating to Telegraph Messengers were as follows (with reference to other positions omitted):

I. Every candidate for employment as a ... Telegraph Messenger shall be able to read manuscript, write from dictation, and have a knowledge of the first four rules of arithmetic; he shall also show that he is of sober habits, and in other respects of good character, and shall produce a certificate from the Chief Medical Officer, or from some other medical man nominated by the Minister of the department, that he is free from any infirmity of body or mind; otherwise he shall not be eligible for appointment to any of the offices above named, wither in the First or Seond Class.

II. No person shall be appointed as a ....Telegraph Messenger if he shall be under thirteen, or above sixteen years of age.

...

X. The Officers of the First Class in the Schedules annexed to these Regulations who have beeen ten years in the service and have not been reduced for misconduct may receive three weeks leave of absence for recreation in each year, and the days appointed in the Government Gazette as public holidays; and the Officers in the First Class in the Schedules annexed who have not been ten years in the service may receive two weeks' leave of absence for recreation in each years, and the days appointed in the Government Gazette as public holidays.

XI. The Officers of the First Class in the Schedules annexed to these Regulations who may be absent from duty on account of sickness, may receive full pay during such absence provided it does not exceed thirty six working days; but if any officer is absent for a longer period in the same year, such officer shall receive half pay only for such tie as he may be absent on sick leave in excess of the number of days above mentioned.

XII. Officers of the Second Class, when absent for recreation or on account of sickness, shall not be entitled to any wages for the time they may be so absent; but may be allowed, conditionally upon good conduct, at the termination of each financial year, a bonus allowance equivalent to two weeks' pay.

...

XV. The ordinary number of hours that the officers named in these Regulations may be employed shall be eight hours a day, and when the exigencies of the public service require their attendance for a longer period they shall be paid overtime; if between the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the same rate per hour as for an ordinary day's work; if after 6 p.m. and before 6 a.m. they shall be paid for such extra work twenty-five percent additional to the rate per hour for an ordinary day's work.

The Schedule Regulations for Telegraph Messengers in this document are as follows:

1874 schedule
Page 8 of the 1874 Victoria Post Office and Telegraph Department Regulations and Schedules relating to Appointment, etc of Sorters, Line-Repairers, and others.

Conditions of employment of messengers - 1875.

In 1875, the Victorian Postmaster-General began to introduce reforms (as from 1 July 1876) for the employment of post and telegraph messengers. In summary:

  1. every employee in the Department will have to enter as a lad in the lowest grade as a telegraph messenger;
  2. his salary will be comparatively small at first — about 12s. per week — but he will receive an annual increment for a certain number of years until reaching a maximum weekly amount;
  3. if he shows an aptitude for telegraph work he will be removed into the ranks of operators;
  4. should telegraph work not be in his way, he will have another chance by being reeved into the 'postman' class, still with an annual increasing weekly salary until he reaches a certain maximum; following those stages, come another series of officials, which are to be called 'senior sorters' who have a periodical increase of salary until they reach the maximum of £200 per annum. A man can only however become a 'senior sorter' if there are no complaints against him while in the junior ranks.

 

The revised regulations - 1879:

    1. Every candidate for employment as telegraph messenger, letter carrier, stamper or line repairer, shall be able to read manuscript, write from dictation, and have a knowledge of the first four rules of arithmetic, and shall be examined therein by an officer of the department nominated by the Minster, or, in the case of a telegraph messenger, shall produce a certificate from the department of Public Instruction that he has been educated up to the required standard.Every candidate for employment as above shall also show that he is of sober habits and in other respects of good character, and shall produce a certificate from the medical officer of the department, or from some other medical man nominated by the Minister, that he is free from any infirmity of body or mind otherwise he shall not be eligible for appointment to any of the offices named herein.
    2. No person shall be eligible for appointment as telegraph messenger unless he is above 13 and under 16 years of age, or as a letter carrier or stamper unless he be above 10 und under 25 years of age, or as a line repairer if he shall be above 35 years of age.
    3. Where, on the lst July, 1879, officers referred to in these regulations shall receive rates of wages beyond the minimum rates of their grade, they shall continue to receive the same wages, but shall not receive any annual increment thereto until the time at which, if they had entered at the minimum rate of wages of such grade from the date of their first continuous employment, they would be entitled to an annual increment.
    4. Where, on the 1st July, 1879, any officer referred to in these regulations shall receive beyond the minimum rate assigned to his grade, but below the rate of wages to which he would have been entitled if these regulations had been in force at the time he entered the service, such officer shall receive such additions to his present rate of wages as he may be entitled to by his period of service.
    5. Notwithstanding anything contained in these regulations, or in the schedule of regulations annexed, any person who at any time has been, or shall hereafter be, employed in any of the offices named herein, who has left the service and has not been dismissed, may be appointed to any of the classes in the schedule annexed in the same manner as if he had never left the service.
    6. Officers in the Post Office and Telegraph Department under the third schedule of the Civil Service Act not mentioned in these regulations shall be eligible for appointment to any of the offices named herein, and at such rates of pay within the first class of such office as may be determined by the Minster of the department, notwithstanding anything contained in the schedule regulations annexed.
    7. Officers of the first class in the schedules annexed to these regulations who have served five years in their class, and who have not been reduced for misconduct, may, when convenient to the department, receive three weeks leave of absence for recreation in each year, and the days appointed in the Government Gazette as public holidays.
    8. Officers of the first class in the schedules annexed to these regulations who have not completed five years in their class may, if they have not been reduced for misconduct, receive two weeks leave of absence for recreation in each year, when convenient to the department, and the days appointed in the Government Gazette as public holidays.
    9. Sorters and officers of the first class in the schedules annexed to these regulations who may be absent from duty on account of sickness, certified by the medical officer of the department, may receive in each year 14 days sick leave on full pay and, upon the recommendation of the medical officer, the Postmaster General may grant extended leave for such period and on such terms as he thinks fit.
    10. Officers of the second class and female assistants shall not be entitled to pay for any time they may be absent from duty (except upon occasions when the Post Office may be closed and their services are not required) but after one year of continuous service they may be allowed, conditionally upon good conduct and when convenient to the department, two weeks leave of absence in each year on full pay.
    11. Nothing contained herein will prevent the Deputy Postmaster-General from requiring the attendance of the officers named in these regulations on the days appointed in the Government Gazette as public holiday when necessary for the public service, but in that case such officers may be allowed in lieu thereof leave on other days when convenient to the department.
    12. No officer employed under these regulations shall be entitled to overtime payment for any additional duties he may be called upon to perform, except under special circumstances.
    13. Assistant sorters appointed under the regulations of the 6th March, 1874, shall continue to receive the same rates of wages, with the annual increments attached thereto, as provided in the said regulations, until they have completed seven years of service, when their wages shall be increased by annual increments of 2s per week to 57s per week; thence for the next succeeding year to 60s. per week, after which their increments shall be in accordance with and subject to the provisions of these regulations for sorters.
    14. Officers who are now employed as assistant clerks in the mail branch shall, after the 30th June, 1879, be eligible for appointment as sorters on the staff, at such rates of wages as are specified in the regulations of 6th March, 1871, for assistant sorters next above the rates which they may be now receiving, subject thenceforward to such increments as are provided in these regulations for assistant sorters appointed under the regulations of 6 March,1871.
    15. Officers who now hold the rank of despatching officers shall, after the 30th June,1879, be deemed to be sorters, and shall be appointed as such, and shall be subject to the provisions of these regulations relating to sorters, provided that no increment shall be deemed to have accrued to the wages of any such sorter until such time as he would be entitled thereto by annual increment if he had commenced at the minimum rate of pay of the second class letter carriers.
    16. Appointments to the grade of sorter shall be made from the grade of letter carrier or stamper, as vacancies may occur, and no person shall be deemed eligible for a promotion to the rank of sorter until he shall have completed his term of service as a letter carrier or stamper in accordance with the provisions of these regulations relating to letter carriers and stampers.
    17. The minimum rate of pay for men employed as porters, pillar clearers, drivers, bagmenders and storemen shall be 36s per week, subject to a yearly increment of 1s 6d. per week, to 48s per week, to take effect from date of first appointment.
    18. Officers who having been over 45 years of age, and thereby precluded from promotion to the staff, under clause 3 of the regulations of 6th March, 1874, shall be eligible for promotion to the first classes of their grades at the rate of pay next above those they may be receiving on the 30th June, 1879.
    19. Increments and promotions under these regulations shall be dependent upon good conduct and continued efficiency in the performance of duty.
    20. Telegraph messengers of the first class who have served one year at the maximum o£ their class shall be eligible for promotion as letter carrier of the second class without probation at the minimum rate of pay of such class, and their appointments as telegraph messengers under the third schedule of the Civil Service Act shall, on such promotion, be thereby cancelled.
    21. Telegraph messengers who have served one year at the maximum of the first class, if specially qualified, shall be eligible for appointment as assistant clerks in the telegraph branch at the minimum rate of pay.
    22. Telegraph messengers of the first and second classes will be afforded facilities for acquiring a knowledge of telegraphy, and shall, after they have passed an examination therein satisfactorily, be eligible for appointment as assistant operators at such rates of pay as may be determined upon by the Postmaster General.
    23. These regulations shall not apply to any officer who, during the period that the regulations of 6th March, 1871, were in operation (viz., from lst July, 1874 to 30th June, 1879), was employed as a telegraph messenger, letter carrier, line repairer or sorter outside those regulations
    24. These regulations shall be in lieu of the regulations approved by the Governor in Council on the 6th March, 1874, and of all other regulations whatsoever relating to matters determined herein, which are hereby cancelled, and the rates of pay and increments set forth in the schedules annexed hereto shall be subject to the votes of Parliament from year to year, and shall take effect from the 1st July, 1879.

J. B. Patterson, Postmaster General.
Post Office and Telegraph Department,
Melbourne, 20th May, 1879.


Sacking of qualified messengers.

"The announcement made by the Public Service Board a few days ago of its intention to dispense with the services of a  number of telegraph messengers simply because they have succeeded in reaching a state of proficiency which entitled them to the maximum salary allowed for the position, has given rise to expressions of indignation in the Department.

The salary of £1 per week is not much even for young, unmarried men, but unfortunately, owing to the stress of bad times,  there are hundreds of men with families who would consider themselves well off if they could be certain of earning £52 per year. The proposal of the Public ServiceBoard, if it is carried into execution, will have the effect of throwing these hundred or so able-bodied young men into competition in a market that is already very heavily over-stocked.

The fact that the places of the young fellows will have to be filled gives cause for more intense bitterness, especially as the board proposes to engage boys at half the salary to do the work. The excuse that most of the boys had not the intelligence to become operators is denied, and the fact that many of the operators now in the service have risen from the position of messenger is quoted as an instance to show that the assertion is not correct.

As to the charity of cutting young fellows adrift and making them strike out for themselves, which is advanced as a valid reason why the wholesale dismissals should take place, it is pointed out that many of the boys will probably remain idle for months, simply because there are no avenues of employment open, and will become either a burden on their parents or an additional drag on the taxpayers".
Albury Banner 20 May 1898.

In the following month, the Postmaster-General tried to rationalise his decision by saying that "there is a misunderstanding with regard to the action being taken in connection with the telegraph messengers. It is not intended to interfere with the "overgrown youths" who are now in the department. If any chance of promotion arises, they may be drafted into other departments, but there is no intention of discharging any of them.

With regard to future appointments, however, a limit as to age will be insisted upon. This, it may be stated, is the practice in Victoria, all such messengers being retired at the age of 17 years unless they can qualify for some better post".