Petitions and addresses to Her Majesty, or to members of either House
of Parliament, forwarded for presentation to either House, may be sent
free, provided that they do not weigh more than two pounds, and are
either without covers, or enclosed in covers open at the ends or sides.
They must not contain any writing of the nature of a letter, and if,
upon examination, anything of the kind be found, the packet is liable to
be charged under the book-post arrangement.
Letters on the business of the Post-Office, relating to any of its
numerous branches, may be forwarded to the head offices of London,
Edinburgh, or Dublin, by the public, free of all postage. Letters for
the different departments of the Government in London may be prepaid, or
otherwise, at the option of the sender.
Letters addressed by the public to the district surveyors of the
Post-Office, on postal business, may also be sent without postage,
though all letters addressed to local postmasters should be prepaid by
stamps.
It is absolutely forbidden that information respecting letters
passing through the Post-Office should be given to any persons except
those to whom such letters are addressed. Post-Office officials are
strictly prohibited from making known official information of a private
character, or, in fact, any information on the private affairs of any
person which may be gathered from their correspondence.
Letters once posted cannot be returned to the writers under any
pretence whatever—not even to alter the address, or even the name, on a
letter. Further, postmasters have not the power to delay forwarding,
according to the address, any letter, even though a request to that
effect be made on the envelope, or to them personally, either orally or
in writing. Each letter, put into the Post-Office, is forwarded,
according to its address, by the first mail leaving the place, unless,
indeed, it be posted "too late," when it is not forwarded till the next
succeeding mail.
Each postmaster is required to display a notice in the most
conspicuous position in his office, giving every necessary information
respecting the time of despatch and receipt of mails, delivery of
letters, hours of attendance, &c. &c.
On Sundays there is usually but one delivery of letters, viz. in the
morning, and two hours are allowed during which the public may purchase
postage-stamps, have letters registered, or pay foreign and colonial
letters, &c.; but for the rest of the day all other duties, so far as
the public are concerned, are wholly suspended. In the General
Post-Office in London no attendance is given to the public. In all the
towns of Scotland, and also in one or two towns in England, no delivery
of letters takes place from door to door, but the public may have them
by applying during the time fixed for attendance at the post-office.
In England and Ireland, where, as a rule, letters are delivered on
Sunday mornings, arrangements are made under which any person may have
his letters kept at the post-office till Monday morning by simply
addressing a written request to the postmaster to that effect. Of
course, all the correspondence for such applicant is kept, even
supposing some of it should be marked "immediate;" and no distinction
is allowed. Letters directed to be kept at the post-office in this way
cannot be delivered from the post-office window, except in the case of
holders of private boxes, who may either call for their letters or not,
as they may think proper. Instructions sent to the postmasters of towns
under this arrangement are binding for three months, nor can a request
for a change be granted without a week's notice.
Any resident, in town or country, can have a private box at the
post-office on payment of an appointed fee. That fee is generally fixed
at a guinea per annum, payable in advance, and for a period of not less
than a year. Private bags in addition are charged an extra sum.
"No postmaster is bound to give change, or is authorized to demand
change; and when money is paid at a post-office, whether in change or
otherwise, no question as to its right amount, goodness, or weight, can
be entertained after it has left the counter."
Except in the case of foreign or colonial letters about to be
prepaid in money, a postmaster or his clerks are not bound to weigh
letters for the public, though they may do so provided their other
duties will allow of it.
Postage-stamps or stamped envelopes (the latter to be had in packets
or parts of packets, and charged at an uniform rate, viz. 2s. and
3d. for a packet of twenty-four envelopes) may be obtained at any
post-office in the United Kingdom at any time during which the office is
open—in most cases, from 7 or 7.30 A.M. till 10 P.M.
A licence to sell postage-stamps can be obtained, free of expense,
by any respectable person, on application to the office of Inland
Revenue, Somerset House, London, or (in the provinces) by application to
the district stamp distributor.
Every rural messenger is authorized to sell stamps and embossed
envelopes at the same price at which postmasters sell them; and when, in
the country, the rural postman is applied to for these articles, he must
either supply them, or (if he has none in his possession) must take
letters with the postage in money, and carefully affix stamps to them
when he arrives at the end of his journey.
Each postmaster is authorized to purchase postage-stamps from the
public, if not soiled or otherwise damaged, at a fixed charge of 2½
per cent. Single stamps will not be received, but those offered must be
presented in strips containing at least two stamps adhering to each
other. This arrangement was fixed upon primarily in order to discourage
the transmission of coin by post.
Letter-carriers and rural messengers are prohibited at any time from
distributing letters, newspapers, &c., except such as have passed
through the Post-Office. They are not allowed to receive any payment
beyond the unpaid postage on letters or newspapers delivered.[209]
Further, in delivering letters, they are not allowed to deviate from the
route laid down for them by the proper authorities.
Persons living within the free delivery of any town cannot obtain
their letters at the post-office window, unless they rent a private box,
in which case they may apply for them as often as a mail arrives. In
some cases where there are not frequent deliveries of letters, persons
may apply at the post-office for their letters arriving by a particular
mail after which there is not an immediate delivery from door to door.
Persons having a distinct residence in any town cannot have their
letters addressed to the post-office (except a private box be taken),
and a postmaster is warranted, when such letters arrive so addressed, to
send them out by the first delivery. The "Poste Restante" is meant for
commercial travellers, tourists, and persons without any settled
residence. Letters so addressed are kept in the office for one month,
after which, if they are not called for, they are returned to the
writers through the Dead-Letter Office. "Ship-letters" in sea-port
towns, or letters addressed to seamen on board ship expected to arrive
at these towns, are kept three months before they are thus dealt with.
When any letters, &c. remain undelivered, owing to the residences of
the persons to whom they are addressed not being known, a list of such
addresses is shown in the window of the post-office to which they may
have been sent, during the time (only one week in these cases) they
are allowed to remain there.