The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-23 00:00:00

POSTAL COMMUNICATION TVITH

FRANCE.

A letter from Paris says :—Talking of letters, I
may mention that the morning post from London
is of very little advantage to persons in Paris to
whom letters or papers are sent by it. Having
noticed how frequently these were not delivered, I
kept a memorandum on the subject for the six
nights from Monday, the 15th, to Saturday, the
20th inst. The result is that neither letters nor
papers due on the 15th, 17tb, and 20th were deli-
vered until the next morning, an hour or so before
those sent by the night mail. On the 19th the
letters were delivered, but not the papers. The
proper hour of delivery is about half past 7—a little
earlier or later, according to the part of the letter-
carrier's beat one lives in,—and, from what I hear,
I believe the cause of the frequent non-delivery to
be that if the letters are not received sharp to a
particular hour the carriers go home for the night.
Thus a matter of ten minutes may make all the
difference, and probably often does, for it is un-
likely that the mail train is frequently much
behind time. Surely 8 o'clock would not be an
unreasonably late hour for the delivery, which
Is now fixed at half-past 7 ? Another Post-
office detail which is frequently complained of is
the very small weight allowed for a single letter
passing between Prance and England. It is only
three-fourths of the French inland weight, and 1
believe only half that stipulated by French 13, overn.
meat, it is understood, would not object to augment
the weight, and, if so, it is obviously the duty of
our Post-office to move in the matter. By the
pre-
sent system persons are constrained to write on
in-
conveniently thin paper or to pay double postage ;
and another inconvenience is that foreigners, accus-
tomed to a larger weight in their own country, are
continually understamping letters, which are then
charged on delivery something considerably more
than the whole proper postage would have been—at
what rate I cannot say, for, judging from my own
experience, it seems to vary in a manner obscure to
the non-initiated in post-office mysteries. At last
the French are beginning to use postage stamps
with rows of holes between them, as in England,
muoh to the satisfaction of the vendors, and also of
the genera, public. It is strange that this should
have been so long coming about in a country
generally so quick to adopt improvements.

DOG AND LOBSTER.—A few evenings ago (says
the Montreal Witness) a large, thorough-bred bulldog, was
passing by the store of Mr. N. O'Hara, in Craig-street, when
its attention was attracted by the movements of a gigantic
lobster, crawling in front of the door. The dog attacked
the lobster, when the latter at once showed fight, extended
its tremendous claws, and seized its antagonist by the leg.
The dog vainly endeavoured to pierce its adversary's coat
of mail, but still coltitued to fight. At length the lobster,
letting go its hold of the dog's leg, grasped the animal's tail
with its powerful weapons of offence, and the dog at once
relinquished the contest and ran off, its adversary still
maintaining its hold. At the corner of St. Lawrence Main-
street the lobster was detached, when the dog bolted, and
in a few minutes was out of sight. A large crowd witnessed
this singular combat, and were as much surprised at its
termination as at its commencement. The lobster was a
most formidable specimen of its class, and weighed no less
than 271 b.

A letter from Lyons says that the vintage is being
brought to a conclusion in that neighbourhood. The
vine-growers have taken advantage of the last few fine
days to expidito the work. It is calculated that the wine
crop will be abundant. In some vineyards the produce is
douple that of last year, which 'nevertheless, was not in-
ferior to an ordinary crop.

LIVERPOOL COTTON-MARKET, S';t 22.—The
market was dull toridaY. Deuia7:).. small, and prices not SQ
4113.4 AA All Sattirdliv-
:ales, 2,000 to 3,000 balos---h0( oR
spocidati— - .
—v44 pd for export.