CURIOSITIES OF THE POST OFFICE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 765, 15 December 1876, Page 3

CURIOSITIES OF THE POST OFFICE.

The Fostmaster-'Geheral's 22nd annual report has just boon published, and, as usual, contains some curious facts. The usual astonishing carelessness in posting letters without any address was manifested dining-the yea;, when 25,000 such letters Were posted, 4G4 of them containing cash, bank notes, and cheques to the value of nearly L 6500. A letter was received in Liverpool in a thin envelope with an almost illegible address. It was delivered to a firm to whom it was supposed to bo directed, and by whom it was opened, when it was found to contain five LIOO notes, but intended for another firm altogether. A letter also reached Liverpool with the following unique address ;—'“ This is for Mrs M -. She lives in some part of Liverpool. From her father John , a 1 tailor, from ; lie would be thankful to some Postmaster in Liverpool if he would • fmd her out. ” The letter did not reach, and had to be sent to the Returned Letter Office. The following articles were posted during the year Silkworms awl gentles, flowers, fruit, and vegetables,.various kinds of game, wearing apparel, models of metal fittings and toys, leeches, snails, eggs, six white mice, a sparrow, two snakes, a Crayfish, and a dog. The last-Uamed creature was posted at the Lombard-street office, London, and having fallen into the bag affixed to the letter box was not diccovered until Iti Contents wore turned out at the General Post Office in St. Martiu’s-10-Grand In the West of Ireland arrangements were made for fitting up a wall letter-box, hut no

one would collect the letters inconsequence of a belief prevalent in the locality that a ghost, in the shape of a largo white turkey without a head,*'wont out nightly on parade." During the floods at Burton-on T-hept letters wore delivered from a cart at the windows of the houses by means of a long polo, but tho extra expense thus incurred was more than covered by the sale of additional halfpenny stamps for the postage of newspapers containing accounts of tho floods. L2O additional was thus earned in one week, indicating the posting of 9800 newspapers more than usual,— Evening Argus.