New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-09-03
SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION N EGYPT.
4 LINEN BAG AND EIGHTEEN GRE4TSE4LS

Russian Letter to The Manchester Examiner.
OF all forms of Russian post Office crcumiocu.
ton the palm for tediOusneSs lncOngrulty, loss OF
time and money, is carried Oft by the formulas and
processes Inv okcd uurlng the dispatch OF regis
tered letter to the United Kingdom. You NAV send
aG eTem 6th IN
to France, Germany or Italy may be dispatched
without preliminary misunderstanding only with
five otncal seals each about the size of two
shilling piece. But for money sent to Her
Britannia Majesty's dOminions special precautions
must he taken. In the first place three printed
forms must he filed up. In one you furnish a gem
eraI statement of your Intentions with special
reference 10 your address and that of the person
who - TO receive tue money. In each OF inc other
two are twelve columns to be filled up. his task
accomplished, you hand the papers 10 the clerk:
insert YOUR bank notes in a linen envelope. and
having addressed the latter. present 1t for regstr-
ton Alas YOU have reckoned without the post
office authorities. The envelope, Won are tOId,
must be discarded for something more substantial.
bell Is lung, chinorntk comes disappears, ouI
finally returns, bringing with him stout linen Dde
and tao rough pieces of board. The CLERK taxes
your bank notes, places them between the boards
and sgueezes the boards into the linen bag. Thus
prepared for him, the package Is handed TO the
chinoraik who spends exactly quarter oil an houI
a second ChibOrnik appears. lie carries an OnciaI
seal in one hand and a stick OF sealing wax IN the
other. Sealing wax Is the DIVINITY OF the RUSSIAN
post.oiice. You will have 10 pay iOr IT, ana theTe
is consequently reason why II should be stlnted
II is not stlnted. With slow and cautious move
ments Ipulating the stick in the !tiame rs
a vacuum tube the ckinOrIiE deposits one after
other all the back, partly the front, at the
corners and at the sides of the package. eighteen
preposterous seals. There is just room for the adj
dress and when you nave written that with
careful hand for ink spreads Rapidly on linen. you
think YOUR troubles are at al end. Not quite.
You first pay for the sealing-waX. Then the
clerk having made some my steriuOs marks
on the package, with red chalk, weighs
it, and informs you that there % Cd to
paw You hand the money over the counter, and
Immediately rush from tue Office, glad to escape
after a detention Of between two and three hours
ovel a process which. absurdly formal it was,
need not have occupied more than twenty
minutes But you are pursued, and it Is only after
Won have paid the CtinOrn6 ID. more for the linen
bag and the strong boards that you are allowed TO
deDart.
| give this scene precisely as have witnessed it
myself. I give 1t not only in the interests of Eng
lish residents in Russia, but because OF the singular
statement which | have heard made in its iustfca-
tiOn. Questioning the post office authorities here
on the subject, 1 was Informed that most Of the
decentralization and sealing-Nax | complained Of
was English. not Russian at all-that in fact, Her
Britanrlc Maiesty's Postmaster-Ge refuses
absolutely 10 receive any consig nInents Of money
from Russia unless they are placed between
boards, thrust into linen bags, and made glorious
with the wax of eighteen seals! Now, | am not
little arguing against this. At the time |
should ike TO ask TO what special dangers money
packages coming 10 the United kinGdpm are ,eY-
posed. IL II 10 lie understood that there Is less
honesty in England among post officials than on
rha Continent