A letter being written and copied, has to be posted; but before being posted it must be addressed.  The address should be written neatly and plainly, neither too high up nor too low down.

To say, Be sure to put the direction on your letters is not unnecessary advice.  Thousands of letters are posted every year without any address whatever.  In the year ending 31st March, 1886, there were no fewer than 26,228 of them, and of this large number 1,620 contained cash and cheques to the amount, in all, of L3,733 17s. 5d.

Be sure, too, that your letters are properly fastened.  On this subject, hear Mr. George Seton.  “There is,” he says, “no real security in wafers, and probably still less in adhesive envelopes, which are now in almost universal use.  Both may easily be loosened by the application of either water or steam.  The best mode of securing a letter is first to wafer it and then seal it with wax.  When, however, an adhesive envelope is used, the proper course is to damp, rather than wet, both sides of the flap before pressing it down; and if the paper is very thick, the upper side should be again damped after being pressed down.”

Insufficient and wrong addresses occasion a great deal of trouble to the Post Office officials, and this trouble one of the present Postmaster-General’s predecessors remarks, with some pathos, “ought scarcely to be given to make up for what generally arises from the carelessness of the writers, without an additional charge.”  Last year, through some fault in the addresses, no fewer than 12,822,067 letters, postcards, newspapers, and parcels were received in the returned letter offices.

As an example of an insufficiently-addressed letter, we may mention one the subject of a complaint made by a Mrs. Jones of Newmarket.  She stated that a letter had been posted to her, but had not reached her.  It appeared, however, on inquiry, that there were twenty-nine Mrs. Joneses at the place, and that there was nothing in the address to help the postman to decide between their several claims.

When money or anything of value is sent through the post, the letter in which it goes should be registered.  By this means we can be almost absolutely sure of its travelling safely.  The fee for a registered letter was at one time half-a-crown, and not so long ago was a shilling.  In 1878 it was reduced from 4d. to 2d.  Not only has the fee been reduced to what may be thought the lowest possible point, but registered letter envelopes are now sold in different and convenient sizes.  The Post Office also undertakes to make good, under certain reasonable conditions, up to L2 the value of any registered letter which it loses.