Postal Curiosities.
The British Post Office report for last year mentions some romantic and comical incidents. Among other things passed through the parcels post were a human skull with the top sawn off; thirty green frogs all alive ; a tin mould, containing a plum pudding, which had been sent to Australia three years previously and had been returned, as no trace could be found of the person to whom it was addressed—(the pudding was still in good condition) ; ladies' bustles, headgear, false hair, petticoats, a leg of mutton, a pair of stays, a parcel of tobacco, a rabbit stuffed with two tobacco pipes, a doll, a piece of bacon wrapped in a lady's jacket are unclaimed. In parcels stopped in transit as contrary to tho regulations were a cat, a squirrel, pigeons, lizards, dormice, snakes, a cuckoo, a musk rat, and moles, all alive, not to mention dead dogs and cats Four sovereigns were found in a mass of crushed grapes, six more in a packet of tobacco, and half a sovereign was found mixed up with smashed eggs and butter. A letter was received from Naples, bearing for the address a roughly-drawn pencil sketch of the branch of a tree bearing a couple of fine pears, with the word " London " written underneath. The " blind men "at the post office, whose solo duty is to decipher queer addresses, read the address thus : "To Pears, London," and the letter was sent to the famous firm of soapmakers, who complimented the accuracy of the department.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD18891101.2.36
Bibliographic details
Postal Curiosities., Evening Star, Issue 8053, 1 November 1889
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253Postal Curiosities. Evening Star, Issue 8053, 1 November 1889
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