Note 96 — Chapter XXI
Reading edition
“April 3rd, 1852.—In a minute of Maberly’s on the custody of the Post Office the following sentence occurs:—‘That every officer (including the house-keeper, &c.) within the building, except the Postmaster-General, the Secretary, Assistant-Secretary, and Chief Clerk, shall be considered as under the directions of the clerk-in-waiting for the time being, whilst the Chief Clerk is not on duty in the Office, and they shall take their instructions from that officer alone, in case of any emergency or accident.’
“The effect of this would, of course, be to place myself and Frederic under the direction of the ‘clerk-in-waiting;’ and the Postmaster-General having passed it unnoticed, I have for some time been uneasy on the subject; but on my pointing out the actual position of things to the Postmaster-General, he at once altered Maberly’s minute, by adding an s in each case to the word ’secretary’ (in accordance with his peculiar orthography).”—Sir R. Hill’s Journal.—Ed.