LETTERS TO THE FRONT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 308, 17 September 1918, Page 9

LETTERS TO THE FRONT

HINTS TO THE CARELESS. (By R; E. Beech, in tho "Daily Mail.") Out df tho course of my ordinary military routine, I was recently called upon to redirect several hundred newspapers, letters, arid parcels to soldiers serving with various units in France. This mail had been subjected to a certain delay, arid in tho progress of my duty I could not but entertain tho fear that some of the articles would 1 bo entirely unworthy of delivery—so bad had their condition become. It was easy to observe that they had suffered not by the handling of the postal officials, but as a result of faulty packing. Newspapers, for examplo,'were in mai:,y cases simply tied up with a. piece of string or . cotton. • The address was written on the newspaper itself, which, had absorbod the ink to . such an extent as to make the address almost indecipherable. . , Th? necessity., of accuracy, in regimental numbers and. companies, in addition to ,th? unit or other formation with, which a man is serving,_ cannot bo too stronglv emphasised, if delay or failure' in delivery, is to bo avoided. The'practice of enclosing cigarettes in letters is. one to bo discouraged. I notjeed in a great number, of cases whore cigarettes had. been enolosed that both ends .of. the envelopo a tendency, to tear, and, in certain circumstances,...the contents had been ejected in consequence.. At least.3o'. Tier cent', off the parcels were "wrecked"—the coutents exposed, <iven. when they had not been lost. A large proportion, of the. parcels _ were boxes of thitt cardboard, or similar weak material,' not. suited for the .'purpose. These had .gained an liriseemly. appearance—the .outer covering of paper being torn, the ..box .broken, arid the contents displaced or dispersed.. In .these cases, 1 noted tho ill-arrangc-nienfc and. ill-assortment of the goods, such as oranges—of a nicy, order—side bv Hide with dry goods—tobacco and the like.,;. When misfortune overtakes /i parcel of this kind the .resulting "mix-up" ueed hardly he explained. Tho outstanding case which came to mo was that of <4 parcel, (as yet iindi'sI coycred) which had contained loose coins..' The parcel had presumably, been broken, and tlie money was found ! at the bottom'df. a mail bag. Difficulty'is likely to be encountered in tracing tho intended recipient. These , parcels', on an average, must havn'cost at least ten shillings to make up arid dispatch; they arrive'at their destination/ destitute of any value at all. . In addition to that expense there'has been the necessity of transportation':on both sides and across the Channel; and much trouble, so far as the postal arithorities' are concernedall to no purpose.