Page:The life and letters of Sir John Henniker Heaton bt. (IA lifelettersofsi00port).pdf/312

 arrived for expediting delivery of the mails in large towns by establishing three classes of mail matter :— 1. Letters and post-cards; 2. Newspapers; 3. Parcels; which respectively should be delivered by first, second, and third-class postmen, priority in delivery being given to the first class.

A writer from York asks that cartes télégrammes should be introduced—i.e. correspondence should be transmitted from one part of a city to another through pneumatic tubes at a special rate.

Let him wait for a perfecting of the express system: I don't approve of these underground methods.

Here is a letter from a Glasgow man saying his letters are not delivered until 8 o'clock, whereas he got them twenty years ago at 7.30 a.m., before he went to business, and now he sometimes does not get his letters until night time. He has been told that the postal system generally has increased so much that individuals must put up with the inconvenience. He does not think this reply satisfactory.

Just acknowledge his letter. You cannot satisfy that type of mind. At least he gets more time for digesting breakfast, besides half an hour's respite from bad news.

A querulous person complains that "though living in the heart of London, I never get any letters here, by any chance, until a quarter-past eight in the morning, and frequently the last post, due at 9 p.m., is not delivered until 10 p.m. As you are aware, there is no delivery of letters on Sunday; which puts anyone like myself, who has a large correspondence with the Continent, to great inconvenience; there is no proper outgoing mail to the provinces on that day;