The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-31 00:00:00

the poorest class of the community; nor must it be
forgotten that the postage stamps form a very con-
venient currency, for they are practically the signs
of money. Money orders were at first not' allowed
to exceed £5 ; now they may be obtained for £lO.
The Post Office renders effectual service to edu-
cation by the cheap delivery of book packets. In
1862 the number of these was 14,000,000, being an
increase on the previous year of 1,700,000. It acts
also as the distributor of news and of politiccal
opinion. In 1862 it circulated 73,000,000 news-
papers, or half a million more than in 1861. In
this manner it indirectly aids the various trades
connected with literature.

The latest career in which the Post-office has
embarked is that of savings banks, commenced in
September, 1861. The scheme has proved highly
successful, for during the year 1862 accounts were
Wales, opened by 180,000 depositors. In the same period
there were in England and 1933 , in Ire-
land, 300 ; and Scotland, 299 of these banks con-
nected with the Post-office. Since the beginning
of the current year there has been an addition
of 332 banks, and the deposits with the interest
figure for £2,952,296. These institutions have
been largely used by friendly, provident, and
ndhytthe the
reportmanagers of penny
that " one
charitable
banks.
It societies,
is
observed in the
important advantage of Post-office savings banks is
that they give any person the power of making a
deposit or taking out money in any part of the
country in which he may happen to be, without
reference to the place where his account was origi-
nally opened. This power is largely used. Last
year there were not fewer than 20,872 such deposits
and 15,842 withdrawals." The old savings banks
are expiring under this competiiton,:and the volun-
tary retirement of the trustees of 36 such esta-
blishments is already recorded, and £340,000 have
been transferred from them to the Post-office banks.
Tne new transactions have become so numerous
that they extend to 114,000 books.
The ocean mail service, chiefly performed by
private companies under contract, is admirably
conducted, and the punctuality with which it is
t-xseuted is one o; the most wonderful achievements
of this wonderful age. A few examples cannot fail
to interest our readers. " The arrival of the mails,
via Marseilles, dispatched from Sydney, New South
Wales, distant nearly 13,000 miles, on the 22d
September ; from Calcutta, distant 8,000 miles, on
the 10th October; from Shanghae, distant upwards
of 11,000 miles, on the 19th, and from Hong Kong,
distant upwards of 10,000 miles, on the 27th Sep-
tember; the mails were all due in London on the
18th November, at midnight, and they arrived one
hour and ten minutes before that time." The mails
sent from Southamton to the West Indies and
Central America have arrived at their destination
at the precise moment when they are due; and
those from Chili, after having been carried across
the Isthmus of Panama, have been delivered at
Vaiparaise, 9,000 miles from Southampton, two
hours before the appointed time. Transit, there-
fore, is calculated with as much certainty by sea as
by land—a distinctive triumph of human intellect,
attesting the skill of the naval architect who con-
structs the machine, and of the navigator who
acquires an absolute master over its operations. To
keep up this regularity the fleet of steam ships,
their tenders not included, is 96, with an aggregate
of 140,000 tons, and of 36,000-horse power. The
largest and most powerful vessel employed in this
service is the Scotia, of 3,871 tons and 1000-horse
power; and the smallest is the Vivid, ;of 300 tons
and 128 horse power, which runs between Dover and
Calais and Dover and Ostend. This Post-office fleet,
if we may so call it, is manned by a force of 8,000
sailors and officers, and 33 naval agents who are
officers in the royal navy. Such is a rapid outline
of this administrative machinery, as admirable as it
is complicated, as useful as it is wonderful.

The next question is the cost. The net gross re-
venue properly appertaining to the year 1862 was
£3,777,304, an increase over that of 1861 of £114,306.
The expenditure was £2,540,363. The net revenue
described as " the difference between the adjusted
gross revenue and adjusted expenditure," figures for
£1,236,941. If, however, the whole cost of the
packet service were placed to the debit of the Post-
(Alice, instead of part of it being assigned to political
purposes, the net revenue would be reduced to
£742,681. The staff of the Post-office consists of
25,380 persons, and this number includes agents in
foreign countries for collection of postage, As a part
of /no internal administration, in which the public
at large have no direct concern, we must mention
the Mutu4l Guarantee Fund, which relieves the effi-
cers of the department subscribing to it of the he-
cessily of giving bonds. A very small pa) meet per
head is found to be sufficient, as defalcations are
rare. The system has been adopted for several years
at the chief offices, Iu the London office there are
how more than 2,700 such subscribers, 297 clerks,
and 2,428 letter carriers, sorters, and messengers.
It is the practice of the officers to insure their lives,
the Post Office paying part of the premiums--
and this rule has been followed by some of the
great railway companies. Candidates for admission
into the service are examined by a medical officer.
In the year 1862 there were 173 candidates exa-
mined, of whom 21 were rejected as physically
unfit for the duties. It is recommended that none
shall be appointed who have not been vaccinated,
or taken the disease naturally. Out of this section
of the report two facts may be mentioned, as they
interest many persons. Rheumatism and diarrhoea
have been less frequent and less intense since
Mackintosh capes have been discontinued ; and it
is said, from the experience of the medical officer,
that railway travelling is not attended with injuri-
ous effect to the healthy and strong if it be not ex-
cessive ; but that them who begin it at 25 er 33
years of age are more liable to suffer from it than
those accustomed to it from an earlier period of life.

Extensive Dock Projects at Cardiff,

The rapidly advancing port of Cardiff at the present time
possesses most extensive dock accommodation, but the trade
of exportation of coal and iron has for the last four or five
months proved so great that the docks have been crowded to
excess, while numbers of ships wait their turn in Ponarth
roads. The existing dock accommodation consists of the
East Bute dock, acreage 45a 3r 3p; West Bute dock, acre-
age 19a 3r 2p; tidal harbour, _about I.oa ; Glamorganshire
canal, about 14a (used by shipping) ; Penarth tidal harbour
and Penarth dock (almost completed), about 13a. From
GOO to 800 vessels visit the port monthly, and during one
month of the present year upwards of 150,000 tons of tool
were exported alone. The trustees of the Manlius of Bute
1 have ziven notice of application to Parliament at the next
session for permission to construct new docks, and so ex-
tensive have been the projects proposed that they will al-
most require a lifetime for their accomplishment, and the
expenditure of more than two millions of money. The '6'.?t744,
Times of last week issues a map of the port, with the pro-
posed new docks, &c , accompanied by'ertanatory and de-
scriptive matter. From it we find tito new docks are three
iq number, which, with the tmount of lands, &c., for I
Ta
orl
wharves, will enclose a space of some 500 or 600 acres.
king the docks in ae, the first which receive!,, atten-
tion.is the boating deck, which, as regardsrtsitfoli, lies in a
conttnu°,'l, line with the existing Fast and West Bute
docks. this sheet of rater will be a, large extension of the
present "at," gand in area be about 40 acres. It will be entered by a large basin and three gates, and there will be
sufficient water at. all states of the tide to allow for exit and
entrance e
ttm-westerly (look, running
parallel to tbe
To the west of the floating dock will
u'h4
aboatthinegndeorw.etkan3' Its area will 7
be about 29 acres, and it trill be
entered by the basin loading t,, fl wing.
k The new
south-eastcrly dock will be the largest t=hroe; of water of the whole, having an area of 68 acresgoad a basin of 12 acres.
In. position :it will lie diagonal to the Mating dock, the
northern extremity inch/sine: to the east. The depth of
water on the sills at high spring tides will be 31 feet, and'
it will consequently admit ships of very largo burden.
Among other works is a landing pier, which. will be 1,600
yards long and 300 yards below low water mark. Its posi-
tion is to the east of the floating and south-easterly docks;
it is at an angle of about 45 degrees to the floating dock.
and at almost right angles to the south-easterly doxat. It
will also act as a breakwater to protect the shipping from
easterly winds, and in that respect will fict an important
part in the economy of that system of commercial develop.
meat which this gigantic scheme will aid in carrying out.

[ADVERTISENENT.I—HoIIoway's Ointment. —All va-
rieties of ulcerations, sores, wounds, and eruptions can be
cured by the diligent use of this cooling, soothing, and
healing unguent. The old and often failing fashion of
strapping the edges of ulcers together with plaister has
entirely given way beft9re the more reasonable treatment
by Holloway's Ointment, which builds up from the bottom
of the wound witli4ound and healing granulations ; these
gradually grow till they reach the level of the surface, then
contract, harden, and immediately become covered with a
new and wholesome akin. The proper application of this
Ointment diminishes the inflammation, causes "Ic un-
healthy discharge first to grow thick, then to
the swelling distippears, and *likturat