TATTERSALL’S SWEEPS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIII, Issue 1066, 7 November 1911, Page 4

TATTERSALL’S SWEEPS.

The officials at the Sydney G.P.O. have just spent a busy two days returning to the senders a batch of 8000 letters sent to the Commercial Bank of Tasmania, Hobart (says the Sydney Daily Telegraph). The Federal Government a fortnight ago, in pursuance of powers under section 57 of the Post and Telegraph Act, -ordered that all letters addressed to the Commercial Bank of Tasmania should be stopped, the object being to prevent the bank assisting Tattersall’s iu the conduct of sweeps. For five days the prohibition was iu force, and many thousands of letters were stopped. However, the bank gave an assurance not to infringe the Act, and the embargo was removed. The mail from Tasmania on Tuesday last brought back the first batch of the letters which had been stopped. As the first letters all contained postalnotes, coin, cheques, or other negotiable securities, the Postal Department is registering all letters containing remittances of 10s or over. The smaller amounts are returned as they were received. A great deal of work attaches to the opening and re-addressing of the letters, each of which is booked up as a check on its return. The department is making no charge for registration, though a charge is the rule when money or an article of value is sent through the post unregistered. Sydney is not the only city to which letters intended for Tattersall’s are being returned. People in all the other States, New Zealand and places abroad, are getting their remittances back instead of their sweep tickets. Further large batches of letters may be expected back within the next few days, as there would surely be more than Sooo applicants for tickets in connection with the Melbourne Cup consultations.