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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
209
Occasionally
letters
of
great
value
are
very
carelessly
treated
after
delivery,
through
misconception
as
to
what
they
really
are.
A
person
alleging
that
a
registered
letter
containing
a
number
of
Suez
Canal
coupons
had
not
reached
him,
the
Post-office
was
able
to
prove
its
delivery;
and
on
search
being
then
made
in
the
premises
of
the
addressee,
the
coupons
were
found
in
the
waste-paper
basket,
where
they
had
been
thrown
under
the
idea
that
they
were
circulars.
In
another
instance
a
registered
letter,
containing
Turkish
bonds
with
coupons
payable
to
bearer,
was
misdirected
to
and
delivered
at
an
address
in
the
west
end
of
London,
though
it
was
really
intended
for
a
firm
in
the
city.
The
value
of
the
enclosures
was
more
than
L4000.
When
inquiry
came
to
be
made
at
the
place
of
delivery,
it
was
found
that
the
bonds
had
been
mistaken
for
foreign
lottery-tickets
of
no
value,
and
were
put
aside
for
the
children
of
the
family
to
play
with.
Cases
come
to
light,
too,
involving
a
history--or
at
least
suggesting
a
history
without
affording
particulars--or
leaving
us
entirely
in
the
dark
as
to
the
circumstances
of
the
matter.
Thus,
two
packets
which
had
been
addressed
to
Australia,
and
had
been
forwarded
thither,
were
returned
to
England
with
the
mark
upon
them,
"unclaimed."
On
being
opened,
one
of
them
was
found
to
contain
100
sovereigns,
and
the
other
50
sovereigns;
yet
there
was
no
communication
whatever
in
either
to
show
who
had
sent
them.
It
was
supposed,
by
way
of
explanation,
that
a
person
proceeding
to
Australia
had
directed
the
packets
to
himself,
intending
to
reach
the
colony
by
means
of
another
ship;
and
that,
having
died
upon
the
passage,
or
his
ship
having
been
lost,
no
application
was
ever
made
for
them
at
the
office
to
which
they
had
been
directed.
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