Widnes Examiner. — 1914-12-12 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE HOSPITAL. In the General Post Office there is an interesting department, known as the hospital where the letter doctor sits in authority to deal with letters which are in various stages of dilapidation. Here on heavily laden tables are loose letters, labels without packages, packages without labels, and a bewildering assortment of all kinds of articles in a state of exquisite confusion. Bad wrappers are mended if possible; if not, they are replaced by new ones and redirected, and the fact that this has been done is noted on the wrapper. When there is no mark left by which the destination can be determined the letter is sent to the Dead Letter Office there to await a claimant. Another fascinating division is the "Blind " department where almost illegib:e and foolish directions are deciphered. This office contains directories of every conceivable description, and a set of officials who run down the persons to whom these apparently unmanageable documents are sent, with a skill and ingenuity that is little short of marvellous. A letter was once sent to George Augustus Sala with his photo, and the word England on the envelope. Another had a picture of some rye growing up over a gate, and got correctly to Reigate. One letter, the smallest ever handled, was written on the back of a pentty stamp, and was duly delivered.  People pop a postcard or a letter in a letter-box, think little more about the matter, and go away in the certain hope that the missive will reach its destination. The matter has become so commonplace that we rarely stop to think of the methods of handling the letter from the time we throw it away till the moment when it lies upon the breakfast table of the person to whom it is addressed A visit to the General Post Office in London opens the eyes. There are so many rooms and so many employees that one begins to wonder how a letter ever reaches its destination at all,  The present buildings in St. Martin's-leGrand are comparatively new, but they stand on the site of the ancient monastery whose name they bear, a monastery that once possessed the privilege of sanctuary where any thief, murderer or other variety of scoundrel was safe once he had placed his foot within the church doors. If the letters that pass over the same spot to-day could be opened and their contents revealed to the public, they would probably show upon paper the same blending of the good and the bad, 'the saintly and the vicious. In these new and ever-growing buildings, work of the most complicated kind is carried on, and only the highest degree of organisation can possibly prevent everything getting into the most hopeless muddle. The work is, on a large scale, pretty much the same as is done smaller offites throughout the kingdom, but here the magnitude of the task is appalling.  THE LONDON LETTERS  The London letters are sorted under special heads, of which the " Suburban " pile is further divided into districts, and last of all into " walks. " A " walk " comprises the combined rounds of a batch of postmen varying in number from four to nine. The postmen of each walk perform the last of the sorting operations which is known as "setting in." A man takes up the letters for his own division, arranges them according to streets, and ties each street up in a separate bundle, with the letters placed according to the numbers of the houses. The length of time taken to complete delivery on any " walk " should not exceed one and a half hours, from the time of leaving the office. Owing to the extensive correspondence of some of the largest firms special mail-bags are kept for their use. Many very curious things are and have been despatched by post. These articles include not merely inanimate dangerous objects like lucifer matches, and imperfectly packed glass bottles, but active offenders of human peace like bees and live lobsters. France has sent us frogs, and Germany sansages through the same means, while one enterprising gentleman in South• Africa, despatched a stolen diamond as "Hosiery." Foreign letters are first divided into " Continental " and " Colonial " groups. The Continental letters are sent for reclassification ts their respective countries, but the Colonial lettess are divided in London, and arranged according to towns and cities. There is a resident doctor to attend to the bedily health of the huge staff employed. There are interpreters to assist foreigners in the transaction of their business, great shoots and lifts for dealing with the newspapers, Pneumatic tubes for blowing telegrams and