In accordance with the provisions of an international treaty concluded at Berne in 1876, the whole of the States of Europe, the United States of America, and Egypt formed themselves into a General Postal Union for the reciprocal exchange of correspondence, and agree to adopt low and uniform rates of correspondence dispatched from one State of the Union to another. These provisions extend to letters, post cards, newspapers and other printed papers, patterns of merchandise, and legal and commercial documents. COLONIAL AND FOREIGN LETTERS.

The rates of postage on letters to the colonies and foreign countries will be found in the British Postal Guide.

To some countries prepayment of the postage is compulsory. In other cases the whole of the postage cannot be prepaid.

A letter posted unpaid, or paid only in part, directed to go by a route by which prepayment is compulsory, is sent to the Returned Letter Office, to go back to the writer, unless there is another route by which prepayment is not required, in which case the letter is sent by the latter route. Letters, however, for Australia and New Zealand, if prepaid as much as one rate (even though the prepayment be insufficient), are not detained, but are forwarded charged with the deficient postage and an additional rate.

A letter posted insufficiently prepaid for a place to which prepayment is optional is sent forward charged; the value of the stamps, however, being,

as a rule, taken into account.

The same rates are chargeable in this country upon unpaid or insufficiently No letter for any colony or foreign country may be above two feet in length or one foot in width or depth. Letters, &c, for Brazil, Montevideo, Peru, Bolivia, and Chili, if specially directed"By Supplementary Mail, via Bordeaux," and posted in time for dispatch from London by the Day Mail of Friday, will in due course overtake, at Bordeaux, the packet dispatched from Liverpool on the previous Wednesday.

paid letters received from the above-named places.

Letters for such places in Turkey and Asia Minor as have no Austrian post office should be addressed to the care of an agent residing in the nearest port at which an Austrian post office has been established. Letters for places on the Persian Gulf are forwarded via Bombay, if specially directed by that route and prepaid the rates of postage for Bombay.

FOREIGN CARD POST. Foreign post-cards may be send to Canada and to all the countries comprised in the General Postal Union, with the exception of British India. The postage of a card is in every case one half the rate for a single letter. Foreign post-cards with an impressed stamp of 1d. each are sold at that rate, and are transmissible to the majority of the countries of the Union without extra charge.

INDIAN PARCEL POST.

1. Persons wishing to send parcels to any part of British India can do so through the Indian Parcel Post Agency-established under authority of the Director-General of the Post Office of India-at 122, Leadenhall-street, E.C.; and (Branch Office) at 25, Cockspur-street, S.W.

optional), covering transit from London to destination in India. Insurance 2. The charge for parcels is is. per lb. or fraction of a lb. (prepayment may be effected, if desired, at the rate (to be prepaid) of 1s. up to £3 value, 2s. 6d. up to £10 value, and 5s. up to £20 value. Indian Customs duty (if chargeable) will be realised from the addressee. N.B.-Parcels containing books, or articles treated as books under the British Inland Book Post Rules, will be charged at half rates-viz., 6d. per lb.

COLONIAL AND FOREIGN PATTERN AND SAMPLE POST. countries, but it is restricted to bona fide trade patterns or samples of There is a Pattern and Sample Post to certain colonies and foreign

merchandise.

Goods sent for sale, or in execution of an order (however small the quantity may be), or any articles sent by one private individual to another which are not actually patterns or samples, are not admissible. The rates of postage are the same as for Book Packets.

POST OFFICE SAVINGS BANKS AND INSURANCE. There is a Post Office Savings Bank in every town and in most villages, and at most savings banks there is an Insurance and Annuity Office. A list of them is kept at all post offices.

LETTERS TO BE CALLED FOR."

There is a Poste Restante both at the General Post Office, St. Martin's-leGrand, and at the Charing-cross Post Office, where letters "to be called for" can be obtained between the hours of nine a.m. and five p.m. There is also a Poste Restante at Woolwich, available during the ordinary hours of business. No letters (except communications from the Savings Bank Department) are taken into be called for" at the other district or branch offices, and any so directed are sent to the Returned Letter Office to be

returned to the writers.

strangers and travellers who have no permanent abode in London, letters The Poste Restante being intended solely for the accommodation of for residents must not be addressed to the Post Office" to be called for; and any letters for a resident so addressed, although delivered at the Post Office for one week, are, after that time, sent out by the letter carriers. Even strangers are not, as a rule, allowed to use the Poste Restante for more than two months; and the end of which time they are expected to have their letters sent to a private address.

Letters addressed to initials or to fictitious names at the Poste Restante are not taken in, but are at once sent back to the writers.

INLAND BOOK POST.

The postage is one halfpenny for every 2oz. or part of that weight. A packet posted wholly unpaid is charged with double the book postage; and if posted partially prepaid, with double the deficiency.

A book packet may contain any number of separate books or other publications, photographs (when not on glass or in cases containing glass or any like substance), drawings, prints, or maps, and any quantity of paper, or any other substance in ordinary use for writing or printing upon; and the books or other publications, prints, maps, &c.. may be either printed, written, engraved, lithographed, or plain, or any mixture of these. Further, all legitimate binding, mounting, or covering of a book, &c., or of a portion thereof, is allowed, whether such binding, &c., be loose or attached; as also rollers in the case of prints or maps, markers (whether of paper or otherwise) in the case of books, pens, or pencils, in the case of pocket-books, &c.; and, in short, whatever, is necessary for the safe transmission of such articles, or usually appertains thereto, but the binding, rollers, &c., must not be sent as a separate packet.

COLONIAL AND FOREIGN BOOK POST.

The limit of size for a book-packet addressed to any place abroad is 24 in. in length and 12 in. in width or depth.

Whatever is allowed to be sent in an inland book-packet may be sent in a book-packet to places abroad, except that water-colour drawings are not allowed to be sent in a book-packet to France or Algeria.

No writing or manuscript mark, however, beyond the name and address of the person to whom it is sent is admissible in or upon a packet forwarded via France to the Argentine Confederation, Bolivia, Chili, Ecuador, Hayti, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru, St. Thomas, Uruguay, United States of Colombia, or Venezuela."

INLAND CARD POST.

A single post-card, or any number of post-cards-whether "stout" or "thin" may be purchased. The prices respectively are as follows:Stout cards: one, d.; two, 1d.; three, 2d.; four, 2d.; five, 3d.; six, 4d. Thin cards: one, ad.; two, 1d.; three, 1d.; four, 24d.; five, 3d.; six, 3 d.

ARTICLES NOT ALLOWED TO BE SENT BY POST.

It is forbidden to forward by post any indecent or obscene print, painting, photograph, lithograph, engraving, book or card, or other article, or any letter, newspaper, publication, packet, or card having thereon any words, marks, or designs of an indecent, obscene, libellous, or grossly offensive character. Anything posted contrary to this prohibition will be stopped and sent up to the Returned Letter Office, London. Postmasters are instructed not to receive any letter which there is good reason to believe contains anything likely to injure the contents of the mail or to do bodily harm to any officer of the Post Office. If such a packet be posted without the Postmaster's knowledge, or if at any time before its dispatch he should discover any such packet, he is directed not to forward it, but to report the case, with the address of the packet, to the Secretary. The following are examples of the articles referred to :

A glass bottle, or glass in any form; lecches, game, fish, meat, fruit, or vegetables; bladders or other vessels containing liquids; gunpowder, lucifer matches, or anything which is explosive or liable to sudden combustion; razors, scissors, needles, forks, or other sharp instruments.

MODES OF PREPAYMENT.

Inland letters, newspapers, and book-packets cannot be prepaid in money, but must be prepaid by means of stamps, either adhesive or embossed or impressed. This rule applies also to registered letters.

Exceptions. At the Chief and District Post Offices, and at the Charingcross and Lombard-street Post Offices in London, as well as at the Head Offices in Edinburgh and Dublin, letters and book-packets may, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., be prepaid in money, provided the amount be never less than £1, and that the letters and book-packets be tied in bundles representing a postage of 5s. each, with the addresses arranged in the same direction. Letters to places abroad must be prepaid wholly in stamps. Newspapers, book-packets, and sample-packets for places abroad can also be prepaid only by means of stamps; and in their case prepayment is always compulsory.

British postage-stamps, though available for all letters, &c., going out of this country, are not, as a general rule, available for letters, &c., coming into it; the principal exception being in the case of letters posted by naval officers, marines, and seamen serving abroad, which, if posted in the ship's bag, must be prepaid by means of British postage-stamps.

REGISTRATION (INLAND AND FOREIGN.) The fee for registering a letter, newspaper, or book-packet passing between any two places in the United Kingdom is fourpence. The fee chargeable for registration to places abroad will be found in the British Postal Guide.

Every letter to be registered should be presented at the counter, and a receipt obtained for it, and should on no account be dropped into the letterbox. If, contrary to this rule, a letter marked "Registered" be dropped into the letter-box, it will, if directed to any place in the United Kingdom or the British Colonies, be liable to a registration fee of Sd., instead of the ordinary fee of 4d.