The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-11-06 00:00:00

THE WORK OF THE POST-OFFICE
IN 1874.

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The Postmaster-General, in his report for 1874,
states that the number of post-offices in the United
Kingdom was increased last year by 280, making in all
nearly 13,000, about 900 of which are head offices.
The number of road letter boxes is nearly 9,700, as
compared with 9,000 in 1873. Thus, the total number
of postal receptacles in the United Kingdom, is now
more than 22,000, as compared with about 15,600 ten
years ago, and with little more than 4,500 before the
establishment of penny postage in 1840. In London alone
there are nearly 1,700 such receptacles. The number of
letters transmitted in England and Wales in 1874 was
804 millions; of post-cards, 66 millions; and of book
packets and newspapers, 207 millions. In Ireland and
Scotland the numbers were brought up to 967 million
letters, or an increase of fli per cent. in the year; 79
million postcards, or an increase of 9i per cent. ; and
259 million newspapers and book parcels, or an increase
of 2 per cent. The number of registered letters in the
United Kingdom during the year was upwards of
4,000,000, or about one in 250 of the total number of
letters. The number of letters received in the
Returned Letter Office was more than 4,400,000.
being about one in every 220 of the total number of
letters. As respects more than three-fourths of these
it was found possible either to re-issue them or to
return hem to the write's. Upwards of 20,000
letters were posted without any address; one of
these letters containing more than £2,000 in bank
notes. A registered letter from Switzerland was found
open in the chief office, London. The contents, which
han become exposed owing to the flimsiness of the en-
velope, consisted of cheques for upwards of £2OO, and
of bank notes to the value of more than £5OO. A
registered • letter containing Turkish bonds, with
coupons, payable to bearer, worth more than £4,000,
intended for a firm in the City of London, was mis-
directed to a street in the West-end, where it was de-
livered. On inquiry being made for the packet it was
found that the bonds had been mistaken for "foreign
lottery tickets" of no value, and had been put aside
for the children of the family to play with. In the
chief office in London two gold watches were found,
each enclosed in an unregistered book-packet addressed
to New Zealand; the leaves of the books having been
cut so as to admit of the watches being enclosed. The
packets were sent to the Returned Letter Office,
whence information was forwarded to the addresses,
there being nothing to show who were the senders.
There was again a large increase in the amount of
postal telegraph business; the number of messages (ex-
clusive of newspaper telegrams) having last year been
about nineteen million, or ten per cent, more than in
1873.
The business of the Post-Office Savings Banks con-
tinues to increase steadily. Last year there were
178 new offices opened in England and Wales; 23
in Scotland; and 14 in Ireland; the total number
in the United Kingdom at the end of the year being
upwards of 5,000. Since the establishment of the
Post-Office savings banks, thirteen years ago, the
number of old savings banks has diminished from 638
to 476; which latter number is less by 100 than the pre-
sent number of Post-Officesavings banks in the London
district alone. The number of depositors has increased
by about 112,000, making the whole number at the end
of the year nearly 1,670,000; while the amount
of deposits, including interest due, was upwards of
£23,000,000, being about £2,000,000 more than in 1873.
The whole sum deposited during the year was upwards
of £8,300,000, as against nearly £6,900,000 withdrawn,
the average amount of each deposit having been about
£2.145., as compared, with about a 8340e-Ir:wage
amount of each withdrawal. The usual tendency has
been for the deposit average slightly to diminish, and
for the withdrawal average considerably to increase
but last year the tendency in each case, though. very
small, was in the other direction. The proportion of
depositors to population was about 1 to 20, the largest