Sunken Treasure.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVII, Issue XII, 21 September 1901, Page 537

Sunken Treasure.

There must be a lot of careless folks in this world, is the mental comment one makes on reading of the collection of articles which 'find their way into the dead letter office through being incorrectly or inadequately addressed. It is a long list, even in such a comparatively small place as New Zealand, and a valuable one too. This last year the postal authorities had to take into their possession gold and silver watches, chains, gold and silver rings, post office orders, bank drafts, and notes cheques, and gold to the total value of £4174, and a miscellaneous eoUection of things too numerous to particularise. What an amount of disappointment must surely be associated with the failure of these articles to reach their destination; what romance may not be connected with them. These ten gentlemen’s gold rings, and three ladies’ ditto—what may not their loss have occasioned to the sender, or the individual for whom they were destined? They may easiiy have been pledges of p affection, and their non-ar-rival . may have wrecked the loves and lives of more than one poor mor- • tai. The presence of seven pawn tickets and twenty-seven share certificates among the unclaimed articles is more easily explained. These as the property of the improvident or the speculative, had less chance of reaching their proper destination, yet the fate of the former affords ample ground for romantic speculation. A pawn ticket is a most significant document, and one can imagine the perplexity of mind, body, and estate which might even now. be

relieved if the post office authorities eould convey them to their rightful owners. Useless to' the authorities, how exceedingly precious to the latter would they be?