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Dunstan Times, Issue 523, 26 April 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

A curious coincidence occurred in connexion with the Prince of Wales's state. A rough old Norfolk farmer, in conversation, utterly repudiated the possibility of a fatal termination to the fever. “ Pie 1” he said in his his rough East Anglican dialect, “ Die ! Not he. He’ll wake up one of these days, and ask for a quart o’ ale-” The revival of the Prince on the 13th, and the beverage he asked for, certainly did, to some extent,fulfil the prophecy. The physicians, during the 13tb of December, gave His Eoyal Highness three glasses of bitter beer, from which he seemed to gain strength.

A Post-office return shows that in 1870, 936,375,505 unregistered letters and book packets passed through the post. It was alleged that 27,913 were lost; but it was ascertained that many of these were never posted, or were really delivered. 3,005,994 inland registered letters and packets passed through the post in the year, and only 12 were lost. In the five years, 1866-70, 193 persons were prosecuted by the Post-office for stealing letters, namely, 169 persons in the service of the Post-office, and 24 other persons, the latter for robbing mail bags or stealing letters from post-offices and pillar-boxes, 183 persons were convicted, About half the convictions were for stealing letters containing postage stamps.