HER MAJESTY'S MAILS.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3222, 27 October 1881, Page 3

HER MAJESTY'S MAILS.

The last report of the Postmaster-General of England is an exceedingly interesting document. The number of letters delivered in the United Kingdom during the last 12 months was 1,176,423,600; the number of postcards, 122,884,000 ; there have been added 337 new sub-offices, 620 letter-boxe3, and 800 officers. The storms of Jan. 18 and Maroh 4 seriously interfered with the poßtal Bervice, and there was found on Jan. 24 in the Thames, near Deptford, in a snow drift carted from the city and thrown into the,river, a letter containing a £1000 cheque which .had never passed through the post office, and was duly returned to the sender. Of 5,300,000 letters dealt with in the Returned Letter Offioe, 475,000 could not be delivered or returned. One contained a bank note of £100, still unolaimed, while attached to the seal of another was a sovereign, which was-returned to the owner, who haa forgotten to remove it. Not less interesting is theoircumstance that the return of a letter posted without an address to a firm whose direction appeared within led to the discovery of a systematic robbery of goods and the apprehension of the offenders. Animal and perishable matter, such as fish, sausages, birdß to be stuffed, clotted cream, fruit, yeaat, salads, jellies, live kittens, and dead oats, are transmitted through the post to a most reprehensible extent. The telegraph business of the-Post Office is also flourishing, and 29,966,965 messages were sent during the past year. There has also been an immense increase in tbe Savings Bank deposits, and, the new opportunities for thrift placed at the disposal of the public have been extensively utilised.