MONEY LETTERS.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13847, 8 March 1909, Page 2

MONEY LETTERS.

SPECIAL NOTICE FROM THE ' POST OFFICE. The Post Office,, by means of a. conspicuous notice placed over every posting-box in the Dominion,. cautions the public against sending money and valuable, articles in unregistered letters.. Notwithstanding this warning, money continues to. be sent by pose in unregistered letters in the most careless manner. It will hardly be credited by people who exercise ordinary prudence in such matters that it is a common thing to find in the post-office letters crammed full with bank-notes, and often in the flimsiest of covers. Frequently the contents protrude from the ' envelopes, and as frequently letters filled with iiotes are as carelessly thrown loose into railway vans for the guard /to deliver with the mails. Many ■ other cases could 'be instanced of carelessness on the part of the public in sending money by post. lo often happens that' letters containing money are' alleged to have been lo?t in the post-office,' and it lias generally been proved that such let-' ters were either not posted or were mislaid or lost after due delivery. When an unregistered money-letter alleged to liavo been sent by post, is reported missing it may happen that suspicion is cast on every one concerned —viz., on the person supposed to have posted the letter, the officers of the post-office through whose, hands the ■letter would pass, and the person who would in ordinary course receive the letter from the post-office, either from a street-door letter-box or a. private letter-box over the post-office counter, or from the hands of a letter-carrier. No record is kept of unregistered letters, and persons who post such letters containing money expo.se to temptation every one., through whose hands they may pass, and in the event of non-delivery suspicion is cast on many innocent persons. The public are again earnestly requested to "register" all letters containing money or valuables intended to he sent by post. Letters can bo registered at. every post-office in the Dominion, and the fee for such legislation is only twopence. Receipts are given lor registered letters. The letters are traced ironi hand to hand, and a receipt obtained on delivery; therefore it is very lare that a registered letter is lost.