The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-10-28 00:00:00

WITH WHOM DOES THE BLAME LIE?

The greatest grumbler will not attempt to deny but
that the facilities afforded by our postal arrangements, for
the transit of letters from one part of this kingdom to the
other, is a great boon to the public. That is an admitted
feet ; although, at the same time, there cannot be a doubt
but that still greater reforms might be achieved in that
department, with a little exertion on the part of the
authorities. This, in time, will doubtlessly be accomplished.
But there is one department connected with the postal
arrangements which, it would seem, is exceedingly defec-
tive, and needs some great and sweeping alterations to
amend it—we allude to the letters that ARE posted and
never arrive at their destination. With whom:the blame
rests it seems as difficult to ascertain, as it does to know
who are the parties responsible for the losses sustained
by the non-delivery of a letter, let its contents be ever so
important. A case has :lately occurred, which clearly,
shows that some steps should be taken by the Post-office
authorities to remedy this evil. It is as follows :—On the
13th Sept., a letter, containing an important document,
was posted in a small village in Lincolnshire, and in due
course, should have been delivered in Liverpool the fol-
lowing morning. That letter, although properly and
clearly directed, was never delivered. On the Ist of Oct.
the person who should have received letter, with the
person who wrote and posted it, attended at the Post-
office in Liverpool to make enquiries for it. A sheet of
questions was handed by the clerk to fill up. The answers
given detailed full, clear, and explicit particulars, relative
to the letter. There was not a question put down but
which was answered:in such a manner that the greatest
dolt of a policeman, with one tythe of the information,
bad it been a".case of felony, but would have traced it. At
the post-office, it must certainly be admitted that the
greatest civility was shown by the clerks, and every
promise was made to endeavour to trace the lost letter.
From the Ist to the.7th, nothing more was heard from the
post-office. On the latter date the following printed com-
munication was received :

Post-office, Liverpool, 6th Oct, 1856.

Sir,—l beg to inform you that every possible enquiry
has been made at this office relative to the missing letter
respecting which you applied to me, but there is no trace
or recollection of it to be found here. I have reported the
particulars of the letter to the Secretary at the General
Post-office, London, who will have the necessary enquiries
made respecting it at the other offices through which it
would pass, and if any intelligence be obtained of it, you
will be informed.—l am, sir, your obedient, faithful
servant, C. B. INIANNINfI, Postmaster.

From that time up to:the present nothing further has
been heard of the letter or from the Post_office authorites.
Now, the loss of this letter has occasioned the parties
great inconvenience, and will also entail an expense for
which they have no redress. No persons are reponsible,
and it would seem that none of the authorities would
take the trouble to investigate the matter, although it can
be clearly proved that the letter was poiited, that it never
was received, and that it only passed through one Post-
office, where an antiquated old lady presides as the prima
donna. This is only one of the many cases of a similar
nature that frequently occur. We would ask, is it not
quite time that the Post.office authorities took some steps
to work a reform in this particular department coming
under their control, or, at least, endeavouring to investi-
gate such a clear case, in order to bring the real offenders
to justice, with a view of preventing similar losses to the
public ?
Since writing the above, our attention has been called to
the following official notice upon the subject:—
Much confusion is created by letters marked " regis-
tered' being deposited in the letter boxes instead of being
given in at the windows of the post-office, and proper
receipts obtained. In order to discourage this practice,
on and from the Ist of November next, all such letters will
be liable to a registration fee of one shilling, in addition
to the proper amount of postage; the amount of this fee,
or such portion of it as may not have been prepaid, will be
charged to the person to whom the letters are addressed.
It must, however, be distinctly understood, that although
a fee of one shilling will thus be levied on such letters as
are observed (from which time they will be treated as
registered), the post-office undertakes no new responsibility
with regard to letters so marked which may escape
observation. The irregular practice of posting letters
marked " registered'' in the letter boxes operates prejudi-
cially to the well working of the system of registration
which now secures the safe transmission of about one
million of letters annually, and the additional fee in ques-
tion is levied solely with a view to check the evil. Letters
so marked, when not observed, are obviously more liable
to failure in delivery than letters which do not bear the
word registered on the address ; for the securities of
registration are not obtained, whilst attention is directed
to the fact that such letters may contain articles of value.
Should it happen that letters which have been properly
registered have been charged the double fee in error, in
consequence of being accidentally put out of course, the
overcharge will be returned. The Postmaster-General
takes this opportunity of again calling the attention of the
public to the very baneful practice, which is still most
extensively resorted to, of sending valuable letters by the
post without having them registered, and he would urge
that it is a moral duty to refrain from subjecting the
officers of the post-office to unnecessary temptation.

THE BODY OF A FEMALE FOUND IN THE SANDON DOCK.—
Yesterday, about twelve o'clock, the body of a female was
found in the Sandon Dock. She has not yet been iden-
tified. She was very scantily attired, having no other
covering than a dark dress. In her pockets was found
some pawnbrokers tickets, bearing the name of " Mary
Lewis," and the articles were pledged at Downey's pawn
office. An inquest will be held on the body this day.