9. If it is found that a loss has actually taken place, the names of all the offices through which the letter passed, or should have passed, should be carefully recorded in the book of record of applications for missing letters. These offices should then be carefully indexed and a minute examination made with the object of ascertaining whether any of the offices through which the letter passed, or should have passed, appears with unusual frequency in other cases of loss, and whether in such event there is any reason either from the resemblance in the character of the losses or the circumstances attending them to suspect that the losses may be attributable to the same office.
10. In the event of frequency of loss at a City Post Office, it should be ascertained through whose hands the missing letter would pass, and an endeavor should in this way be made to concentrate the several losses on the guilty party.
11. It is a well established fact that a person who has once committed theft will continue to steal, and a concentration of cases of loss, in the manner pointed out, will certainly afford a clue to his detection.
12. Commencing each month, number each office consecutively, as it appears in the record of cases of loss or abstraction. This will show:—
1st. The number of cases which have occurred at any particular office during the month; and
2nd. In each case the relative number of cases affecting each of the offices through which any lost letter, or letter from which an abstraction has been affected, has or should have passed.
13. It should be borne in mind that losses or abstractions may have occurred previous to the posting of the letters or after their delivery, and that the occurrence of two or more cases applicable to the same party posting or receiving letters is sufficient, at any rate, to awaken suspicion that the loss may not have taken place in the transit of the letters through the Post Office.
14. In cases of abstraction it is very important that both the cover and the letter from which the alleged abstraction has taken place should be obtained. A very careful and minute examination thereof will, in many cases, enable the Inspector to determine whether any abstraction has really occurred, or, if it has occurred, to narrow the suspicion down to the office where it has actually been committed.
1. Examine the flap of the letter, if necessary, by means of a magnifying glass, and ascertain if it shows the least sign of having been opened and re-fastened, either by slight tears in the paper, marks of dirt, or moisture, or the application of additional mucilage.
2. Weigh the letter with its alleged contents and see if the weight corresponds with the amount of postage paid on the letter.