The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-01 00:00:00

APPOINTMENTS.

The report of the Appointment Office shows the follow-
ing :
Number of post-offices established during the
year
IN umber discontinued

~ 1,653
~ 1,028

...-...-___
Increase -
Number in operation on June 30, 1868 .....26,481
Number in operation on June 30, 1869 —27,10.3
Number of offices to be filled by appointments
of die President 9BO
Number to be filled by appointments of the
Postmaster-General V,126
Appointments were made during the year:
On resignations 3,994
On removals
On eliam.7es of names and sites
On deaths: of postmasters 230
On establishment of new offices

•
Total appointments 8,731
Number of cases acted upon during the year
The number and aggregate compensation of especial
agents, route agents, mail route messengers, postal Jail-
way clerks, local agents, and baggage masters in service
during the year ended June 30, 1869, were :
48 special agents $134,342
503 route agents ". ... 494,160
74 mail-route passengers ... ... 40,350
324 postal railway clerk 384,300
57 local agents „. 45,090
161 baggage masters ... 9,660
Total $1,107,902
Full particulars of the operations of the appointment
office are exhibited in the appendix.

FREE DELIVERY.
The free delivery system has been in operation during
tho year in forty• eight of the principal cities, with the
following aggregate results :
Number of letter carriers ... ...
Mail letters delivered
Local letters delivered
Newspapers delivered ... ...
Letters collected „..
Amount paid carriers, including incidental
expenses ... $1,183,915 31
Postage on local matter ... ... 667,167 42
This shows an increase over last year of—
Letter carriers 4B
Mail letters delivered
Local letters delivered
Newspapers delivered 5,044,183
Letters collected 26,720,384
Amount paid carrier; including incidental
expenses 5187,890 72
Postages on local matter 190,185 06

1,246
80,071,052
18,380,627
21,954,898
89,885,009

DEAD LETTERS.
The number of the several classes of letters, domestic
and foreign, received at the dead Dead-Letter Office dur-
ing the fiscal year was as follows:—
Domestic letters, classed as—
Ordinary
Drop 450,000
Unmailable
Hotel 26,528
Fictitious 17,417
Registered
Returned from foreign countries 62,603

Total domestic letters
Foreign letters 193,186

Whole number
The amounts deposited in the Treasury were:—
For unclaimed dead letter money
For proceeds of sales of waste paper 2,067 05

Total

POSTAL MONEY-ORDER SYSTEM.
The whole number of money-order Post-offices in ope-
ration during the past fiscal year was 1,468. Two of
these, Roxbury, Massachusetts, and Fort Leavenworth,
liansas,were discontinued, circumstances having rendered
them unnecessary ; and 219 new money-order offices wore
established July 12, 1869, making the present whole num-
ber 1,685.
The number of orders issued during the
year was 1,264,143, of the aggregate
value of
The number paid was
1,248,874, amounting in
value to • $24,447,376 66
To which should be added
the amount of orders re-
paid to purchasers 20(,746 80

- 24,654,123 46

Excess of issues over payments 5193,935 47
Tho receipts and expenditures during the last fiscal
year, as adjusted and reported by the Auditor, were as
follows, Viz.:—
Fees received for money orders issued 8176,190 90
Amount received on premium on drafts 56 97

$17G,217 7

Total .
Commissions to postmast-
ers and allowances for
clerk Lire 5101,6? 19
Allowances for remittances
]ost in transmiss on by
Incidental expouses fur sta-
tionery and fixtures

5,797 00

3,831 81

110,694 00

Excess of receipts over expenditures, being
the amount of profit to the department
from money order business
I cannot better illustrate the great success and rapid
extension of the domestic money order system than by a
presentation of its operations from its establishment on the
Ist of November, 1864, to the present time, a summary of
which is contained in the following table :-
1865. 1866.

1867.

No. money or-
der offieLs 141 473 832
Issues $1,360,122 52 63.977,259 28 $9,229,327 72
Payments
Receipts from
fees
Expenses
Deficit
Surplus •

11,536 40 35,803 06 70,889 57
18,584 37 28,664 27 44,628 96
7,045 97

_ -
7,138 79 26,20 Cl

1868. 1869.
No. of money order offices 1,223 1,468
Issues $l6 197 858 47 24.848 058 93

Payments '101037 03 24,654,123 46
Receipts from fees
Expenses
Surplus •••••• 54,158 15 65,553 87
The great and constant increase, from year to year, in
the transactions of the money-order system, clearly indi-
cates its utility as a safe, convenient, and expeditious
mode of making small remittances, and shows that it is
steadily increasing in favour with the public, as practical
experience demonstrates its advantage. I regard it as
thoroughly established, and recommend its universal use
by the people wherever practicable.
With a view to its further efficiency, I respectfully re-
commend additional legislation to authorize its extension
to the stations, or sub-post-office; in the large cities.
Detailed regulations for the execution of the conven-
tion of October 12, 1867, for an exchange of postal orders
between the United States and Switzerland, were finally
agreed upon and signed at Washington July 2, 1869, by
the Postmaster-General, under the authority given by
the Act of July 27, 1868, and at Berne on the 26th July,
1869, by the chief of the Federal post department of Swit-
zerland. This first attempt to establish au international
money-order system by this department was put into
operation, by inutu.4l agreement, on the Ist September,
1869, and, notwithstanding frequent and considerable fluc-
tuations iu the value of currency, it has been conducted
without difficulty, and thus far has worked satisfactorily
in all its details. The number of offices at present
°authorized to issue orders for sums to be remitted to
Switzerland, and to pay orders for sums remitted from
that country, is 150. The amcunt of orders remitted
from this country to Switzerland from the Ist September
to the 16th October was 92,619 63, gold value, equivalent
to 93,515 97 in our currency at the time of transmission ;
and the amtunt of orders sent during the same time to
the United States was $3,191 in gold, or 94,200 20 in
currency. A. copy of the convention, with the detailed
regulations, and of the " instructions relative to the in-
ternational system" issued to postmasters by this depart-
ment, will be found in the appendix.