COMPULSORY REGISTRATION OF LETTERS.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2696, 28 November 1882, Page 2

COMPULSORY REGISTRATION OF LETTERS.

It is a curious state of affairs when an idea inculcated by a law has to be enforced by means that are themselves hardly within the law. Wo find that several postmasters have of lata been compulsorily registering letters addressed to Ads Matuna and other mythical personages, it being known that the letters contain money for chances in racing consultations. Now, we should i to know what possible right 1 a postmaster has to do this. The registration of letters is provided for by law. Oa the payment of a small snm, extra care is ensured, and the Post Office ' is paid for that trouble. But the law does not provide for the compulsory registration of letters. In the present instance these postmasters alluded to above have become a law unto themselves for the purpose of assisting the “ Gaming and Lotteries Act.” With that Act they have abont as much to do as they have with the management of the Suez Canal. If the Act is weak it is the fault of the Legislature. It may bo a triumph to impound some thousands which would have gone to the consultations, but is the game wcr:h the candle? The Post Office is a delicate department to trifle with, and it is as well not to shake public condfidence. A postmaster has no right, officially speaking, to know who Ada Mantua may happen to he. If a burning desire to do good to his fellows compels a postmaster to stop letters addressed to that individual, an equal pliilantrophy may cause him to stop letters addressed to Ada Brown, Jones, or Robinson. “Let the cobbler stick to his last,” Postmasters are appointed to their posts to administer the affairs of the Post Office, and not to help the Legislature ont of bangles caused by imperfect Acts.