department the modus operandi is altered evening the case, as it is called, is sent to so as to suit the peculiarity of the despatch the office of the Inspector of Letter-carriers and delivery, so that the sorting and other where it is entered in the application-book, duties are necessarily of a different descrip- and on the following morning the lettertion, though essentially the same. The de- carrier is asked if he remembers anything tail is, probably, hardly so prolix as that of it. If his reply is found correct, the anof the general sorting. swer given forms the "endorsement" on From the latest instructions as to post- the case, which is usually written by the ing and despatch in this very useful section Assistant-Inspector, and signed by the Inof the service, we gather the fact, that in spector. This endorsement is counterLondon there are daily ten deliveries of let-signed by the Superintending-President, as ters, packets, and newspapers, within a principal of the Inland Department, and circle of three miles from the chief office in thence transferred to the Secretary's ofSt. Martin's-le-grand. Within six miles fice, where the case is written off, and an five deliveries; and within twelve miles answer, in accordance with the endorsethree deliveries daily, and one delivery and ment, is sent to the applicant. an evening collection, on the Sabbath day.

More serious cases, such as letters not Though this office bears a name which delivered, stated to contain coin, or articles imports that the parties employed in it are of value, either " inwards" or "outwards" only engaged in the distribution of local are sent to a special office, called the correspondence it should be remembered "Missing Letter-office." From this dethat these men are employed in distributing partment communications are sent to the General Post letters, also beyond the limit Deputy Post-Masters, where it is stated of that office which is three miles from the that the letters missing were posted, the Post-office only. Most of the mid-day and applicant having been furnished with a foreign arrivals, and many of the ship letters blank form to fill in every particular. It are got out," and distributed by them, will be readily seen that such an elaborate after the General-post letter carriers have returned home from the early duty.

The business in this office is, of course, continuous from an early hour in the morning until nine in the evening. Upon an average there are upwards of six hundred "officers and persons" employed in this branch of the service, daily.

the

mode of doing business must occupy the time of many officers according to the shape any inquiry may take. If any dishonest proceedings are discovered during search, the matter is referred to the Solicitor who, at once, institutes farther investigation, and whose duty it is to take care that no infringement of the Post-office enactments takes place. To find a single letter,

MISCELLANEOUS DUTIES AT THE POST-OFFICE it frequently happens that several depart

DURING THE DAY.

ments are troubled. The Inspector of Letter carriers, or his Assistants, must look As it is our intention to give an outline for it; the clerks in the Superintending of the mode in which the services of the President's-office must say it is not in the several officers in the Post-office are render- Inland-office; the Dead-letter clerks, that ed during the day in the auxiliary offices, it cannot be found there; and the "Misswe shall, for brevity's sake, notice the rou- ing letter" officers must declare that " no tine in the case of inquiries, complaints, trace of it appears in that office." Fre&c., which cause such attendance necessary quently, however, it happens on enquiry, from the time of the morning delivery to that the writer himself was to blame. The the commencement of the evening duty. letter when found was out of course to the All complaints or inquiries sent to the party for whom it was intended, but in the Secretary are at once forwarded to the proper course of the practice. Probably it proper department, where only they can be was mis-directed, or the party had gone answered. Consequently, it is far better away and left no address, or it had been refor all parties who have such complaints or fused in ignorance of the party living at inquiries to make, to prefer them at once the house; or wrongly numbered or adat the office where they may be effectively dressed "John-street, London ;" or "Lonand speedily met. Suppose an inquiry is don" only; or-as in one case we rememmade for a letter expected in London, but ber to have met with-it causes inquiries which has not arrived. The party disap- and expense and trouble to the public serpointed writes to the Secretary. That vice, and vexation to those who expect to

receive them? People do not like the idea ¡ large amount of gold required for the daily of having their letters opened at the Dead service, from the Bank, he is also responsiLetter-office, and finally consigned to the ble. Thirteen officers (chief clerks, and waste-paper basket of that department. others) assist daily in this duty. Let them never forget, that through carelessness or thoughtlessness they may cause a great outlay in swelling the cost of management in these inquiries; and, as the transit rate is now so exceedingly moderate, the least the public can do is, not to annoy the office and waste the time of the officers, and thus squander the revenue by an increase of evils which a little care would at once annihilate.

Besides these officers, necessarily engaged in advancing the subsidiary duties from day to day, there are others, employed in the Accountant and Receiver-General's offices, and also in the office of the Superintending President, at the London district office. In the Accountant General's office, a large amount of business is done. The Accountant has the general control and superintendence of the accounts and checks, relating to the revenue. He furnishes the items of expenditure, and provides for their production at the Audit-office once a year, where they are examined and allowed. The clerks are employed in superintending the bye and cross road accounts throughout the kingdom; examining the accounts of the inland and London district office, and those of the letter-bill, postage stamps, rural posts, and the colonial and foreign accounts with the office, and in the entry of remittances. There are employed in these duties about forty officers daily.

Inquiries, applications, and complaints of all kinds, either with reference to letters or newspapers sent through the London District Post-Office, are examined and replied to in the Superintending President's Office, as well as all the "rides" in that department, and the Surveyor's work, which requires careful and, indeed, unremitting attention.

The mid-day mail is superintended by the President of the Inland Office. Several of the General Post sub-sorters assort the letters daily, and the delivery in the central parts of the metropolis is effected by the General Post letter-carriers, while those of the District Post-Office circulate the remainder of the correspondence, which now begins to be very considerable.

The mail-guard service is separately regulated. Officers are on duty all day; and the guards, who attend to the delivery of the bags throughout the country, are sent out by day or by night, as their services may be required.

THE MONEY ORDER OFFICE.

One of the most valuable branches of the Post-Office service is the Money Order Office. Commenced as a private speculation by Robert Watts, Esq., about half a century since, it has continued to increase from year to year in importance, until it has at length become the "working man's bank," through which he may send when at a distance, his earnings to his wife and family. It is enough with reference to the utility of this department and the high esti

since its establishment the number of orders issued and paid within the year has increased upwards of thirty-fold. Its branches have been extended to every town in the United Kingdom where a Post-Office of comparative substance is to be found, so that now but little difficulty exists in obtaining either an issue or the payment of money orders.

The Receiver-general's office is one entirely independent of the Post-office, though connected with it. As the operations performed therein are a check upon the Post-mation in which it is held, for us to say, that office, the chief officer takes his appointment not under the Post-Master-General, but by warrant from the Lords of the Treasury. The Receiver-general is responsible for the gross receipts of the revenue. He pays all salaries, and other expenses; signs all drafts upon the Bank of England both on revenue and money order accounts; pays into the Exchequer the net revenue, signing the specifications and "write offs" for that purpose. The requisitions to the Stamp Office for postage stamps he also signs, and it is he who is responsible for the general accounts of receipts and payments to the Commissioners for auditing public To the Treasury, this officer sends a weekly account of receipt and expenditure and for the safe custody of the

accounts.

Nearly three hundred officers are employed in this service in the London Office in Aldersgate-street alone, and several others at the Branch Offices in the Metropolis. The hours are from ten to four, and the amount charged for commission is 3d. for sums under £5, and 6d. for amounts transmitted beyond that sum. In the year, ended the 5th of January, 1847, 7,024,882 money-orders were issued and paid, the

total amount of money represented by which, reached the enormous total of £14,115,153. 19s. 9d.

Inquiries for money orders lost may be made in the same manner as those for missing letters.

THE GENERAL POST EVENING DUTY.

Perhaps the most interesting of all the manifold duties performed at the Post-Office, is what is called the evening duty, which consists of the reception of the vast body of correspondence posted in, and for twelve miles round London, besides the large despatch into the Provinces of the morning, evening, and weekly papers.

the building. As the letters thus teem in, the work of obliteration and affixing the dated stamp, proceeds; and as this is accomplished the correspondence is handed over to the sorters who divide the letters into what are termed "roads,”—or rather "lines of road," traversed by the several mail conveyances or embraced on the routes of the lines of railway.

The letters so divided are then collected and taken to other assorters, or "clerks at the roads," who make the final assortment by placing each letter into boxes labelled with the name of the post towns comprised in the division or road. Besides this, letters which have been registered by the payIt is scarcely possible to convey to the ment of a fee of one shilling, are all entergeneral reader a complete idea of this gi- ed in what is called the country letter gantic work indeed such a description book;" thence they are transferred to the would far exceed the limits which could be "road," where the clerk enters the name spared in a serial publication. We will, and address of the party to whom they are however, endeavor, so far as convenient, to sent on the bill of the post-master; and present a bird's-eye view of the duty which, finally they are tied up in the "way bill," it is hoped, will prove interesting, inasmuch separately from all the other letters, that as it will show what system will do even in the deputy may send, with the bill, back the most gigantic of all our public institu- to the Post-Office the next day, the receipt tions where the greatest amount of duty is showing that the " money letter" has been to be performed in the smallest allowance" duly received" by the proper party. Up of time, before the mass of correspondence to six o'clock in the evening, the "glut " must be on its way in every species of con- of the letters is excessive; and a casual veyance, hastened forward by all the kinds looker-on would wonder how it is possible of motive power with which we are at pre- that so great a mass of correspondence can sent acquainted. be possibly got through. Presidents, howThe evening duty in the General Post-ever, exert themselves to the uttermost in Office and at the several branch offices order to spread the duty as much as possible; throughout the Metropolis, commences and clerks, sorters, messengers, and other about four o'clock in the afternoon. The officers, do all they can to keep the duty first process at the chief office is the recep-"down" as much as can be, or they would tion of the contents of the several mail be speedily overwhelmed and reported for carts employed throughout London, the collection of the different bags from the receiving houses and the pouring out the letters and newspapers upon what are called the "facing tables" in the inland and newspaper offices. This preliminary business is performed by the junior hands, who place all the letters with the directions uppermost, that the obliterators and the other stampers may have easy access to them. At this moment the interior of the receiving rooms where the boxes are placed, communicating with the hall, presents a most busy and animated appearance, showers of letters teeming through the openings and continually falling into the large drawers fixed for their reception The clerks at the windows and the paid letter messengers are also fully ngaged, and the busy hum of the stampers resounds through the whole of this part of

being "late" at their division. The hour of six having struck, the correspondence arrives more gradually, in consequence of the late "fee;" and then the officers are enabled to "master" the pressure, by hard working until about quarter before eight o'clock, when only a few straggling, badly directed, or doubtful letters have to be sorted. Immediately afterwards the bundles, being all tied up, are placed in the bags brought over from the newspaper-office to receive the letters thus prepared for them in the Inland-office.

Simultaneously with the above duty, the work of assorting the newspapers is performed, but in a different part of the building-an upper-room over the Inland-office. The great body of newspapers is received from the London vendors a few minutes before six o'clock in the evening, 40,000 be

ing posted within ten minutes, 50,000 hav-| management, are considered, while "the ing been received and assorted in the course rights of the many" are too frequently overof the afternoon and evening. After six looked, or only very cursorily and tardily o'clock the supply is limited, there being inquired into. That principle, in a public from that hour until half-past seven one establishment cannot be a good one, which halfpenny fee. Upon upwards of 1,000 regards the rank of the officer only, and not per night, however, this fee is paid upon his actual value to the service; and that each paper. The newspapers are not stamp- scheme must be faulty which prevents a ed, they are sorted similarly to the letters; worthy subordinate officer from rising in but, being more bulky, the process is neces- rank beyond his own class, however indussarily of a slower character than the letter trious he may have proved himself or fit for sorting. From time to time during the duty higher duty and increased salary. Nor is the boxes are emptied, and the papers put this the end of the evil. In the upper deinto the bags; and at 7:45 these bags are grees of seniority in clerkships the amount sent into the Inland-office, some of them of remuneration is princely; while in the being let down by slides into the office, and first classes of the lower offices, the pittance others of them being conveyed by the steam- is "poor indeed." This should not be; for machine to the clerks in that department. the fact is that in both cases the responsibility is,-to say the least,-equal; and the actual labor falls, without question, far most severely upon the worst paid men, though the date of appointment in both instances may be the same. And in the case of superannuation allowances the well-paid clerk, who rises from an easy seniority to the maximum sum of £450 per annum has always efore him the pleasing prospect of a

At length the final letter is sorted, and the bags "brought over." In five minutes all the letters are deposited; and in five more the bags are tied up in sacks, and given in charge to the several guards, who from that moment become responsible for their safe delivery to the Deputy Postmaster in the provinces. Messengers convey them to the different omnibuses, and in the course of a few more minutes-as the clock of the Post-liberal pension. According to the scale office strikes eight, the rumbling wheels of the various vehicles announce the fact, that this vast body of correspondence is on its way to its destination to every part of the United Kingdom, the colonies, and the most distant parts of the habitable globe.

The Post-office is, after this hour, comparatively deserted: nobody remains there except the night messengers waiting for foreign arrivals, and the private watchmen who perambulate its silent offices and empty apartments, until the early morning duty again awakens life and activity by new arrivals from the provinces and abroad.

CONCLUSION.

Having now enumerated the different duties of the Post-office establishment, both of an executive and departmental character, it remains for us only to glance at the mode of appointment and the rate of pay provided for the "officers and persons" connected with this vast social machine. Glad should we have been to have had it in our power to say that the "working classes" in this most responsible and important section of the public service were fitly and adequately remunerated. It is to be regretted that such is not the case; and so much the more, because it is to be feared that the interests of the "few," under the existing system of

furnished in the Acts of Parliament 3 Geo. IV., c. 113, and 4 and 5 William IV., c. 24, he can look forward to certain twelfths of his salary and emoluments, according to length of service, this allowance increasing every five years up to 45 years' servitude, at which time this officer is entitled to the WHOLE of his salary and emoluments, if appointed before the 6th of August, 1829, and two-thirds if he was appointed since that date. But what is the case in the instance of "sub-sorters" and "letter-carriers ?" They are allowed (if in the General-post) £20 per annum from 15 to 20 years' servitude; £30 from 20 to 25 years' active duty; £40 from 25 to 30 years, and if they remain 30 years more, they cannot obtain any addition to £50 per annum! The messengers receive a trifle extra, as they are permitted to rise to £60 per annum after 35 years service. But what do the poor London district-postmen get the men who most need help, because during active service they are the worst paid? Nine shillings per week after 25 years service; seven shillings from 20 to 25; six shillings from 15 to 20; and under 15 years an allowance not to exceed five shillings per week, and that only in very special cases. Naturally enough we inquire why this is so? The answer is returned in a document relating to