"It may not be too much to say that half the people in this country who use the Post-Office do not know clearly all the benefit they may derive from it."—Household Words, 1856.

We have already directed the attention of those engaged in frequent correspondence, especially with our colonies and foreign countries, to the necessity of consulting the official books published for their guidance. The following digest of Post Office regulations may, perhaps, answer the ordinary requirements of the general reader.

THE LETTER-POST.

As at present constituted, the British Post-Office has, with the few exceptions noticed in our historical survey, an exclusive authority to convey letters within the United Kingdom. It is also required by law to convey newspapers when the public choose to use the post for that purpose. The Post-Office further undertakes the conveyance of books and book-packets, and the remittance of small sums of money. Still more recently, it has entered into competition with the banking interest of the country: it now threatens a scheme which will compete with benefit societies and insurance offices. It is only with regard to the carriage of letters, however, that the Post-Office possesses any special privileges, the other branches of its business being open to any person or persons who may choose to undertake them.

• (a) The rates of postage on all letters passing through the Post-Office are now regulated by weight,[206] irrespective of distance, and (with some exceptions, which we will mention presently) altogether irrespective of their contents. Letters weighing less than four ounces may be sent unpaid, but they will be charged double postage on delivery. Letters may be sent insufficiently stamped, but that deficiency, whatever it may be, will also be charged double postage on delivery. The rate for letters is familiar to every reader.
• (b) All re-directed letters are liable to additional postage, but at the prepaid, and not the unpaid rate. Thus, for a letter under half an ounce, re-addressed from one post-town to another, additional postage, to the amount of one penny, is levied. Re-directed letters, not addressed to a fresh post-town, but to a place within the district belonging to the same post-town to which they were originally sent, are not charged with any additional postage, the first payment franking them until they are delivered. Letters for officers in the army and navy, and private soldiers and seamen employed on actual service, have their letters re-addressed to them from place to place without any charge for re-direction.
• (c) No letter, &c. can be forwarded through the post which is more than two feet in length, breadth, or depth, nor any unpaid letter or packet which weighs more than four ounces, unless three-quarters of the postage due on it have been paid. The exceptions to this rule are—
  • 1st. Packets sent to or received from places abroad.
  • 2d. Packets to or from any of the Government departments or public officers.
  • 3d. Petitions or addresses to the Queen, whether directed to Her Majesty or forwarded to any member of either House of Parliament.
  • 4th. Petitions to either House of Parliament.
  • 5th. Printed parliamentary proceedings.
• (d) Late letters, &c. are received till within five minutes of the despatch of the mails, except where the Post-Office surveyor may deem a longer interval necessary, and providing that this arrangement does not necessitate any office being open after ten o'clock at night. In each post-office window placards are exhibited showing the time up to which such letters may be posted.

  No late letters can be forwarded by the mail preparing for despatch unless prepaid in stamps, including the ordinary postage and the late-letter fee. Government letters are an exception to this rule; they may be posted, without extra fee, up to the latest moment.

• (e) Letters containing sharp instruments, knives, scissors, glass, &c. are not allowed to circulate through the post, to the risk of damaging the general correspondence. Such communications, when posted, are detained and forwarded to the Metropolitan Office, where correspondence is at once opened with the senders.

  Letters for the United Kingdom found to contain coin are only forwarded to their destination under certain restrictions. Such letters, if not registered, are at once treated as if they were, and charged on delivery with a double registration-fee, or eightpence in addition to the postage.

REGISTERED LETTERS.

The registration-fee of fourpence, prepaid in stamps, will secure careful treatment to any letter, newspaper, or book-packet addressed to any part of the United Kingdom. Record is kept of all such letters throughout their entire course. The registration of a packet makes its transmission more secure, by rendering it practicable to trace it from its receipt to its delivery. For a fee of sixpence letters may be registered to any British colony, except Ascension, Vancouver's Island, British Columbia, and Labuan, for which places they can only be registered part of the way. Letters may be registered to several foreign countries at varying rates. (See British Postal Guide.)

Every letter meant for registration should be presented at the post-office window, or counter (as the case may be) and a receipt obtained for it, and must on no account be dropped into the letterbox among the ordinary letters. If, contrary to this rule, a letter marked "registered" be found in the letter-box, addressed to the United Kingdom, it will be charged an extra registration-fee of double the ordinary fee, or one of eightpence instead of fourpence.

The latest time for posting a registered letter on payment of the ordinary fee is generally up to within half an hour of the closing of the letter-box for that particular mail with which it will require to be forwarded. A registered letter will be received at all head offices up to the closing of the general letter-box, or until the office is closed for the night, on payment of a late fee of fourpence in addition to the ordinary registration fee. All fees, as well as postage, of registered letters must be prepaid in stamps. A registered letter, when re-directed, is liable to the same additional charge as if it were an ordinary letter, the original register fee, however, sufficing until it is delivered.

By Act of Parliament, the Post-Office is not responsible for the absolute security of registered letters, though every care and attention are given to them. Each registered letter may be traced from hand to hand, from posting to delivery, with unfailing accuracy, and there can be no question as to the great security which is thus afforded. Any officer who may neglect his duty with registered letters is called to strict account, and, if the Postmaster-General should see fit, will be required to make good any loss that may be sustained. In cases where registered letters have been lost (in the proportion, it is said, of about one in ninety thousand), or some abstraction of their contents, the Department makes good the loss, if the fault is shown to rest with the Post-Office, and if the sum lost be of moderate amount and the sufferer a person not in affluent circumstances.

FOREIGN AND COLONIAL LETTER-POSTS.

For information of the despatch of foreign and colonial mails; rates of postage; and as to whether prepayment be optional or compulsory; see the "British Postal Guide," published quarterly.

Letters addressed to places abroad may be prepaid in this country either in money or stamps, but such payment must be made either wholly in stamps or wholly in money. The only exception to this rule is when the rate of postage includes a fractional part of a penny, for which, of course, there are no existing English stamps.

With certain exceptions, the only admitted evidence of the prepayment of a foreign letter is the mark agreed upon with the particular foreign country or colony.

When prepayment is optional, any outward letter (e. g. going abroad) posted with an insufficient number of stamps is charged with the deficient postage in addition, unless the letter has to go to Holland, or to the United States, or to a country through France, in which case it is treated as wholly unpaid, the postal conventions with these countries not allowing the recognition of partial prepayment. When, however, prepayment of the whole postage is compulsory, a letter, or aught else posted with an insufficient number of stamps, is sent (by the first post) to the Returned Letter Office.

Letters for Russia and Poland are also treated as wholly unpaid, if the full postage has not been paid in the first instance.

Letters to or from Ceylon, Australia, New Zealand, British West Indies (except Turk's Island), Honduras, and St. Helena, posted wholly unpaid, or paid less than one rate, are detained and returned to the writers for postage. If the letters should be paid with one rate (paid for half an ounce, for instance, when the letter weighs more than half an ounce), they are forwarded (except in the case of New Zealand), charged with the deficient postage and sixpence as a fine. Letters for New Zealand must be fully prepaid.

Letters for nearly all our remaining British colonies, if posted unpaid, either wholly or in part, are, on delivery, charged sixpence each in addition to the ordinary postage.

Letters intended to be sent by private ship should, in all cases, have the words "By private ship," or "By ship," distinctly written above the address. The postage of letters forwarded by private ship is sixpence—if the weight does not exceed half an ounce—and the postage must generally be prepaid. Exception is made to most of our North American and African colonies, to which places prepayment by private ship is not compulsory. (See table in the British Postal Guide.)

When the route by which a foreign or colonial letter is to go is not marked on the letter, it will be sent by the principal or earliest route. In some cases, the postage paid (provided it be by stamps) is regarded as an indication of the wish of the sender, and the letters are forwarded by the route for which the prepayment is sufficient. Thus, letters for Holland, Denmark, Norway, &c. which, as a rule, are sent vi Belgium, are sent vi France, if the prepayment be insufficient for the former, but sufficient for the latter route.

North American and Indian Mails.—Letters for passengers on board the Cunard mail packets for America touching at Queenstown, provided they be addressed to the care of the officers in charge of the mails on board such packets, and be registered, may be posted in any part of the United Kingdom up to the time at which registered letters intended for transmission to America by the same packets are received, and they will be delivered on board the packets at Queenstown.

Letters for passengers on board the Mediterranean packets about to sail from Southampton for India, China, Australia, &c. and the Canadian mail packets touching at Londonderry, may, under similar conditions, be posted up to the same time as registered letters for India and Canada.

The letters should be addressed thus: "Mr. ——, on board the mail packet at Queenstown, Londonderry, or Southampton (as the case may be), care of the officer in charge of the mails."

Letters directed to the care of the packet agent at Suez, and despatched by the Indian mails vi Marseilles, which always leaves after the mails vi Southampton, will most probably there reach passengers for India, &c. who may have previously sailed in the Southampton packets.

NEWSPAPER POSTS.

(a) It is not compulsory to send newspapers through the post.

(b) The rate for newspapers stamped with the impressed stamp is one penny for two sheets, three-halfpence for three sheets, and twopence for four sheets, of printed matter.

(c) No newspaper, or other publication, can pass through the post, unless the impressed stamp be of the value of at least one penny.

(d) The title and date of every publication so passing must be printed at the top of every page.

(e) The impressed stamp (or stamps, if more than one publication be sent under one cover) must be distinctly visible on the outside. When a newspaper is folded so as not to expose the stamp, a fine of one penny is made in addition to the proper postage of the paper.

(f) The publication must not be printed on pasteboard or cardboard, but on ordinary paper, nor must it be enclosed in a cover of either material.

(g) Newspapers bearing the impressed stamp cannot circulate through the post after they are fifteen days old.

(h) They must not contain any enclosure, and must either have no cover at all, or one which shall be open at both ends. They must have no writing either inside or outside, except the name of the persons to whom they are sent, the printed title of the publications, and the printed names of the publishers or agents sending them. If one of these newspapers be addressed to a second person, the address in the first instance still remaining, it is regarded as an infringement of the above rule, and renders the paper liable to be charged as an unpaid letter.

(i) In order that newspapers may be sent abroad, the publishers must first have had them registered at the General Post-Office.

(j) Newspapers intended for transmission to our colonies or foreign countries must, in all cases, be prepaid with postage-stamps, the impressed stamp here, in all respects, standing for nothing. Though this is the case, all newspapers sent abroad are liable to the same regulations as English newspapers bearing impressed stamps.

(k) It must be borne in mind, that the arrangements for inland newspapers forwarded under the book-post regulations, and paid with the ordinary postage-stamp, are entirely distinct from the above.

PARLIAMENTARY PROCEEDINGS.

(a) Printed proceedings of the British Parliament are forwarded through the Post-Office at a special rate, and possess privileges in their transmission not belonging to either the newspaper- or book-postage. Parliamentary proceedings, however, may pass through the post at either the special rate, the newspaper rate, or book-post rate, always provided that the conditions of the particular rate chosen be complied with.

(b) "Parliamentary proceedings," if these words are written or printed on the cover (otherwise they are liable to be charged letter rate), may circulate through the United Kingdom at the following rates of postage:—

and so on; one penny being charged for every additional quarter of a pound or fraction of a quarter of a pound.

(c) Prepayment of parliamentary proceedings is optional throughout the United Kingdom. Prepayment may also be made in part, when the simple difference only will be charged on delivery.

Parliamentary proceedings can only be sent to the colonies or foreign countries by means of the book-post system, and, of course, only where book-posts are established.

THE BOOK-POST.

(a) Written or printed matter of any kind—including matter which may be sent by the ordinary newspaper-post, or under the special privileges of parliamentary proceedings—may be sent through the book-post under the following rates and conditions:—

(b)

and so on; twopence being charged for every additional half-pound or fraction of a half-pound.

(c) The postage on book-packets must be prepaid, and that by postage-stamps affixed outside the packets or their covers. If a book-packet should be posted insufficiently prepaid, it is forwarded, charged with the deficient book postage together with an additional rate; thus, one weighing over four ounces and only bearing one penny stamp, would be charged twopence additional postage on delivery. If a book-packet is posted bearing no stamps at all, it is charged as an unpaid letter.

(d) In cases where a book-packet is re-directed from one to another postal district in the United Kingdom, the same charge is made on delivery as was originally made for the postage, one penny for four ounces, twopence for a packet under eight ounces, and so on.

(e) Every book-packet must be sent either without a cover, or with one open at the ends or sides, in order that the contents may be examined if it be thought necessary. For greater security, it may be tied round the ends with string, though each postmaster is empowered to remove it for the purpose of examining the packet. He will re-secure it, however, after examination. As a security against fraud, it has been found necessary to adopt precautionary measures with book-packets and newspapers: it has been demonstrated over and over again that many people will evade the Post-Office charges, cheap as they now are, if it be possible to do so.[207] When any head postmaster has grounds for suspecting an infringement of the rules of the book-post, and occasionally when he has no suspicion, he is required to open and examine packets passing through his office, in order to assure himself that the privileges of the book-post are being legitimately used.

(f) A book-packet may contain any number of separate books or other publications (including printed or lithographed letters), photographs (when not on glass or in cases containing glass), prints, maps, or any quantity or quality of paper, parchment, or vellum. The whole of this description of paper, books, and other publications, may either be printed, written, engraved, lithographed, or plain, or the packet may consist of a mixture of any or all these varieties. The binding, mounting, or covering of books and rollers, &c. in the case of prints or maps, are allowed. In short, whatever usually appertains to the sort of articles described, or whatever is necessary for their safe transmission, may be forwarded through the post at the same rate charged for the articles themselves.

(g) Among the general restrictions, we find the following:—

• No book-packet must exceed two feet in length, width, or depth.
• No book-packet must contain anything inclosed which is sealed against inspection, nor must there be any letter inclosed, or anything in the way of writing in the packet of the nature of a communication, either separate or otherwise. Entries on the first page of a book, merely stating who sends it, are allowable (and even desirable in case of failure of delivery) inasmuch as they are not regarded as of the nature of a letter.
• Any packets found with a communication written in it (if the communication in question cannot be taken out, but forms a component part of the packet) will be charged with the unpaid letter postage, and then sent forward.
• If a packet be found containing an enclosure, whether sealed or otherwise, or anything of the shape of a letter, such enclosure or letter will be taken out and forwarded separately to the address given on the packet. It is sent forward, of course, as an unpaid letter, but, in addition, another single rate is charged. Thus, if the article taken out of the packet does not exceed half an ounce in weight, the charge of threepence will be levied on delivery, while the remainder of the packet, if prepaid, will be delivered free at the same time.

(h) And lastly. The conveyance of letters being the main business of the Post-Office, the authorities make distinct stipulations that book-packets and newspapers must not interfere with the quick and regular conveyance and delivery of letters. Though it is believed to be of very rare occurrence, head postmasters are authorized to delay forwarding any book-packet or newspaper for a period not exceeding twenty-four hours beyond the ordinary time, if the other interests of their office demands it.

Arrangements for an inland pattern-post, such as has been in existence for a short time between this country and France, for the conveyance of patterns, have just been made. The pattern-post is now in operation, and must prove beneficial to those engaged in mercantile pursuits.

(a) At present, parcels of patterns may be forwarded through the post, subject to the undermentioned regulations, at the following fixed rates, prepaid with stamps, viz.:—

and so on; threepence being charged for every additional four ounces.

(b) The pattern must not be of intrinsic value. All articles of a saleable nature, wearing apparel, medicine, &c. or anything which may have a value of its own and not necessarily a money value, are excluded by this rule.

(c) The patterns-packet must not contain any writing inside, except the address of the manufacturer or trademark, the numbers, or the prices of the articles sent.

(d) The patterns must be sent in covers open at the ends or sides, in the same way as book-packets, so as to admit of easy and thorough examination. Samples of seeds, drugs, and other things of that character, which cannot be sent in open covers, may be inclosed in bags of linen, paper, or other material, tied at the neck with string. If transparent bags are used, as in France, the articles may easily be seen; but even then the bags must not be tied so that they cannot easily be opened in their passage through the post.

(e) Articles such as the following are prohibited by this new post, and few of them can be sent even at the letter-rate of postage, viz. metal boxes, porcelain or china, fruit, vegetables, bunches of flowers, cuttings of plants, knives, scissors, needles, pins, pieces of watch or other machinery, sharp-pointed instruments, samples of metals or ores, samples in glass bottles, pieces of glass, acids, &c., copper or steel-engraving plates, or confectionary of all kinds. In almost all these cases, the contents of a letter-bag would be in danger of being damaged or spoiled.

MONEY-ORDERS.

(a) Inland money-orders are obtainable at any of the offices of the United Kingdom on payment of the following commission:—

The commission on money-orders made payable in any of the British Colonies where money-order business is transacted is four times the sum charged for inland orders, except at Gibraltar and Malta, where the commission is only three times the British rate.

(b) The amount of any one money-order cannot exceed 10l., nor less than 1d. No order is allowed to contain a fractional part of a penny.

(c) Applications for a money-order should always be made in writing. "Application Forms" are supplied gratuitously at all money-order offices. The surname, and, at least, the initial of one Christian name of both the person who sends the order, and the person to whom the money is to be paid, must always be given. The address of the remitter of the money should also be given. The following exceptions are allowed to the above rule:—

• (1) If the remitter or payee be a peer or bishop, his ordinary title is sufficient.
• (2) If a firm, the usual designation will suffice—if that designation consist of names of persons, and not of a company trading under a title.
• (3) Money-orders sent to the Privy Council may be issued payable to "The Privy Council Office."
• (4) When the remitter notifies that the order is to be paid through a bank, he may withhold the name of the person for whom it is intended if he chooses; or he may, if he wishes, substitute a designation instead of a person's name; as, for example, he may make an order payable, through a bank, to "The Cashier of the Bank of England," or "The Publisher of The Times."

(d) A money-order is always issued on the head office of any town where there are several money-order offices, except the persons sending it request that it should be made out for some other subordinate office.

(e) The sender of any money-order may make his order payable ten days after date, by simply signing a requisition at the foot of the order to that effect, and affixing a penny receipt-stamp to his signature.

(f) An order once made out cannot be cancelled by the officer issuing it under any circumstances. If the sender should require to transmit it to a different town than the one he first mentioned, or to a different name, he must apply to the issuing postmaster, and make the necessary application on the proper form which will be furnished to him. Directions on all these subjects are printed on the back of money-orders.

(g) When an order is presented for payment (not through a bank), the postmaster is required to see that the signature on the order is identical with the name to which he is advised to pay the money, and that the name be given as full in the one case as it is in the other. If this is so, the person presenting the order is required to state the name of the party sending it, and should the reply be correct, the order is paid, unless the postmaster shall have good reason for believing that the applicant is neither the rightful claimant, nor deputed by him. If presented through a bank, however, it is sufficient that the order be receipted by some name, and that (crossed with the name of the receiving bank) it be presented by some person known to be in the employment of the bank. The owner of a money-order is always at liberty to direct, by crossing it, that an order be paid through a bank, though the sender should not make it so payable. The ordinary questions are then dispensed with.

(h) Money-orders, when paid, do not require a receipt-stamp.

(i) Under no circumstance can payment of an order be made on the day on which it has been issued.

(j) After once paying a money-order, by whomsoever presented, the Post-Office is not liable to any further claim. Every endeavour, it is stated, will be made to pay the money to the proper party, or to some one believed to be delegated by the proper party.

(k) A money-order in the United Kingdom becomes lapsed, if it be not presented for payment before the end of the second calendar month after that in which it was issued (thus, if issued in January, it must be paid before the end of March). A second commission for a new order will then, after that time, be necessary. Six months are allowed in the colonies.

If the order be not paid before the end of the twelfth calendar month after that in which it was issued, all claim to the money is lost.[208]

(l) In case of the miscarriage or loss of an inland money-order, a duplicate is granted on a written application (enclosing the amount of a second commission and the requisite particulars) to the Controller of the Money-Order Office of England, Scotland, or Ireland (as the case may be), where the original order was issued. If it be desired to stop payment of an inland order, a similar application, with postage-stamps to the amount of a second commission, must be made to the controller of the money-order office in that part of the United Kingdom in which the order is payable. All mistakes made in money-orders can only be rectified in this manner by correspondence with the chief metropolitan office and by payment of a second commission. Whenever the mistake is attributable to the Post-Office, however, and a second commission is rendered necessary, the officer in fault is called upon to pay it.

Proper printed forms, moreover, are supplied for every case likely to arise, and full instructions are given on money-orders. In addition, however, to supplying the proper forms, the postmasters are required to give every necessary information on the subject of second or duplicate orders.

(m) No money-order business is transacted at any post-office on Sundays. On every lawful day, the time for issuing and paying money-orders is from ten till four at the chief offices in London, Edinburgh, and Dublin, and from nine till six at provincial offices. On Saturday nights it is usual to allow two extra hours for this business.

POST-OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS.

We have already explained at some length the origin and ordinary working of these banks; the following rÉsumÉ of the distinctive features of the new plan may therefore suffice:—

• (a) Nearly all the money-order offices in the United Kingdom are now open each working-day for the receipt and payment of savings-bank accounts.
• (b) Deposits of one shilling, or any number of shillings, will be received, provided the total amount of deposits in any one year does not exceed 30l., or the total amount standing in one name does not exceed, exclusive of interest, 150l.
• (c) Each depositor, on making the first payment, must give every necessary particular regarding himself, and sign a declaration. He will then receive a book (gratis) in which all entries of payments and withdrawals will be regularly made by an officer of the Post-Office.
• (d) Interest at the rate of 2l. 10s. per cent. is given on all money deposited.
• (e) Secrecy is observed with respect to the names of depositors in post-office banks, and the amounts of their deposits.
• (f) Depositors have direct Government security for the prompt repayment, with interest, of all their money.
• (g) Married women may deposit money in these banks, and money so deposited will be paid to the depositor, unless her husband give notice of marriage, in writing, and claim payment of the deposits.
• (h) Money may also be deposited by, or in behalf of, minors. Unlike some ordinary savings-bank, depositors over seven years of age are treated here as persons of full age, though minors under seven cannot withdraw, or have drawn, their deposits until they attain that age.
• (i) Charitable societies and penny-banks may deposit their funds in the Post-Office banks, but a copy of their rules must, in the first instance, be sent to the Postmaster-General. Special aid is given to penny-banks established in connexion with those of the Post-Office.
• (j) Friendly societies, duly certified by the Registrar of these societies, may also deposit their funds, without limitation or amount, under the same condition.
• (k) A depositor in an old savings-bank may have his money transferred to the Post-Office banks with the greatest ease. He has only to apply to the trustees of the old savings-bank for a certificate of transfer (in the form prescribed by the Act of Parliament regulating the transactions of these banks, viz. 24 Vict. cap. 14), and he can then offer the certificate to the Post-Office bank, and it will be received as if it were a cheque. Of course he can draw out from one bank and pay into the other in the usual way, but the transfer certificate will save him both trouble and risk.
• (l) A depositor in any one of the Post-Office savings-banks may continue his payments in any other bank at pleasure without notice or change of book. The same facilities of withdrawal, as we have previously shown, are also extended to him.
• (m) Additional information may be obtained at any post-office, or by application to the Controller, Savings-Bank Department, General Post-Office, London. All applications of this kind, or any letters on the business of the savings-banks, as well as the replies thereto, pass and repass free of postage.

MISCELLANEOUS REGULATIONS.

1. Petitions and addresses to Her Majesty, or to members of either House of Parliament, forwarded for presentation to either House, may be sent free, provided that they do not weigh more than two pounds, and are either without covers, or enclosed in covers open at the ends or sides. They must not contain any writing of the nature of a letter, and if, upon examination, anything of the kind be found, the packet is liable to be charged under the book-post arrangement.
2. Letters on the business of the Post-Office, relating to any of its numerous branches, may be forwarded to the head offices of London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, by the public, free of all postage. Letters for the different departments of the Government in London may be prepaid, or otherwise, at the option of the sender.
3. Letters addressed by the public to the district surveyors of the Post-Office, on postal business, may also be sent without postage, though all letters addressed to local postmasters should be prepaid by stamps.
4. It is absolutely forbidden that information respecting letters passing through the Post-Office should be given to any persons except those to whom such letters are addressed. Post-Office officials are strictly prohibited from making known official information of a private character, or, in fact, any information on the private affairs of any person which may be gathered from their correspondence.
5. Letters once posted cannot be returned to the writers under any pretence whatever—not even to alter the address, or even the name, on a letter. Further, postmasters have not the power to delay forwarding, according to the address, any letter, even though a request to that effect be made on the envelope, or to them personally, either orally or in writing. Each letter, put into the Post-Office, is forwarded, according to its address, by the first mail leaving the place, unless, indeed, it be posted "too late," when it is not forwarded till the next succeeding mail.
6. Each postmaster is required to display a notice in the most conspicuous position in his office, giving every necessary information respecting the time of despatch and receipt of mails, delivery of letters, hours of attendance, &c. &c.
7. On Sundays there is usually but one delivery of letters, viz. in the morning, and two hours are allowed during which the public may purchase postage-stamps, have letters registered, or pay foreign and colonial letters, &c.; but for the rest of the day all other duties, so far as the public are concerned, are wholly suspended. In the General Post-Office in London no attendance is given to the public. In all the towns of Scotland, and also in one or two towns in England, no delivery of letters takes place from door to door, but the public may have them by applying during the time fixed for attendance at the post-office.
8. In England and Ireland, where, as a rule, letters are delivered on Sunday mornings, arrangements are made under which any person may have his letters kept at the post-office till Monday morning by simply addressing a written request to the postmaster to that effect. Of course, all the correspondence for such applicant is kept, even supposing some of it should be marked "immediate;" and no distinction is allowed. Letters directed to be kept at the post-office in this way cannot be delivered from the post-office window, except in the case of holders of private boxes, who may either call for their letters or not, as they may think proper. Instructions sent to the postmasters of towns under this arrangement are binding for three months, nor can a request for a change be granted without a week's notice.
9. Any resident, in town or country, can have a private box at the post-office on payment of an appointed fee. That fee is generally fixed at a guinea per annum, payable in advance, and for a period of not less than a year. Private bags in addition are charged an extra sum.
10. "No postmaster is bound to give change, or is authorized to demand change; and when money is paid at a post-office, whether in change or otherwise, no question as to its right amount, goodness, or weight, can be entertained after it has left the counter."
11. Except in the case of foreign or colonial letters about to be prepaid in money, a postmaster or his clerks are not bound to weigh letters for the public, though they may do so provided their other duties will allow of it.
12. Postage-stamps or stamped envelopes (the latter to be had in packets or parts of packets, and charged at an uniform rate, viz. 2s. and 3d. for a packet of twenty-four envelopes) may be obtained at any post-office in the United Kingdom at any time during which the office is open—in most cases, from 7 or 7.30 A.M. till 10 P.M.
13. A licence to sell postage-stamps can be obtained, free of expense, by any respectable person, on application to the office of Inland Revenue, Somerset House, London, or (in the provinces) by application to the district stamp distributor.
14. Every rural messenger is authorized to sell stamps and embossed envelopes at the same price at which postmasters sell them; and when, in the country, the rural postman is applied to for these articles, he must either supply them, or (if he has none in his possession) must take letters with the postage in money, and carefully affix stamps to them when he arrives at the end of his journey.
15. Each postmaster is authorized to purchase postage-stamps from the public, if not soiled or otherwise damaged, at a fixed charge of 2½ per cent. Single stamps will not be received, but those offered must be presented in strips containing at least two stamps adhering to each other. This arrangement was fixed upon primarily in order to discourage the transmission of coin by post.
16. Letter-carriers and rural messengers are prohibited at any time from distributing letters, newspapers, &c., except such as have passed through the Post-Office. They are not allowed to receive any payment beyond the unpaid postage on letters or newspapers delivered.[209] Further, in delivering letters, they are not allowed to deviate from the route laid down for them by the proper authorities.
17. Persons living within the free delivery of any town cannot obtain their letters at the post-office window, unless they rent a private box, in which case they may apply for them as often as a mail arrives. In some cases where there are not frequent deliveries of letters, persons may apply at the post-office for their letters arriving by a particular mail after which there is not an immediate delivery from door to door.
18. Persons having a distinct residence in any town cannot have their letters addressed to the post-office (except a private box be taken), and a postmaster is warranted, when such letters arrive so addressed, to send them out by the first delivery. The "Poste Restante" is meant for commercial travellers, tourists, and persons without any settled residence. Letters so addressed are kept in the office for one month, after which, if they are not called for, they are returned to the writers through the Dead-Letter Office. "Ship-letters" in sea-port towns, or letters addressed to seamen on board ship expected to arrive at these towns, are kept three months before they are thus dealt with.
19. When any letters, &c. remain undelivered, owing to the residences of the persons to whom they are addressed not being known, a list of such addresses is shown in the window of the post-office to which they may have been sent, during the time (only one week in these cases) they are allowed to remain there.
20. Greenwich time is kept at the Post-Office.

LONDON DISTRICT POSTS.

1. The London district comprises all places within a circle of twelve miles from St. Martin's-le-Grand, including Cheshunt, Hampton, Hampton Court, Sunbury, and the post towns of Barnet, Waltham Cross, Romford, Bromley, Croydon, Kingston, and Hounslow.
2. There are ten postal districts, each of which is treated in many respects as a separate post town. The names of the districts are as follows, the initial letter or letters of the name forming the necessary abbreviation to each, viz.:—East Central, West Central, Western, South-Western, North-Western, Northern, North-Eastern, Eastern, South-Eastern, and Southern.
3. The portion of each district within three miles of the General Post-Office is designated the Town Delivery. Within the town limits there are eleven deliveries of letters daily, the first or principal commencing at 7.30 and generally concluded by 9 A.M.; the last delivery commences at 7.45 P.M.; there being something like hourly deliveries within the interval. Each town delivery occupies on an average forty-five minutes. There are seven despatches daily to the suburban districts.
4. As a general rule, the number of despatches from the suburban districts is the same as the number of deliveries.
5. Information relative to the time of delivery and the time for each despatch to the head office, and also from thence to the provinces, is afforded at each town and suburban receiving-house. At each of these houses, several hundreds in number, stamps are sold, letters are registered, and separate boxes are provided for "London District" and "General Post" letters.

   THE "POSTE RESTANTE" AT THE GENERAL POST-OFFICE.

6. The "Poste Restante" arrangements for London are somewhat different to those in the provinces; but like the latter they are meant to provide for strangers and travellers who have no permanent abode in London,—residents in London not being allowed the privilege.
7. Letters addressed to "initials" cannot be received; if so addressed they are returned to their writers through the Returned Letter-Office.
8. Letters addressed "Post-Office, London," or "Poste Restante," are delivered only at the Poste Restante Office, on the south side of the hall of the General Post-Office, between the hours of 9 A.M. and 5 P.M.
9. All persons applying for letters at the Poste Restante must be prepared to give the necessary particulars to the clerk on duty, in order to prevent mistakes, and to insure the delivery of the letters to the persons to whom they properly belong. If the applicant be a subject of the United Kingdom (and subjects of states not issuing passports are regarded as British subjects), he must be able to state from what place or district he expects letters, and produce some proof of identification; and if he sends for his letters the messenger must be supplied with this information, as well as show a written authority to receive them. If the applicant be a foreigner, he must produce his passport; or should he send for his letters, the messenger must take it with him.