THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1559, 21 September 1886, Page 1

THE DEAD LETTER OFFICE.

The postal authorities tire going (o have a general clearing up of (he contents of the Dead Letter Office. Occasional clearances have been made before but not of all the pioperty which has come into their hands. The unclaimed valuables, etc,, will R submitted to auction. Considering that a portion of the cellection dates from the year 1862, there is, not nearly so much portable wealth in the safes of the department ns might be imagined, a fact which speaks well for the diligence with which owners haye, been traced out. The most valuable of the articles are memen'oes of the digging days. There are quite a number of small parcels of gold, which wer«| entrusted to the post-office in various years from 1862 to 1867, both is the shape of dust and nogaeis. Of the latter there are good and rather valuable specimens. The jewellery is mostly in the shape of tings, but none is of any great value, and there are some greenstone ornaments, and a large brooch with a man’s portrait, a locket or two, some earrings, and a , bundle of old-fashioned trinkets. There is also a War Office Imperial medal for service io New Zealand which had been sentwithout any enclosure to a soldier of the 65th regiment, and neither sender nor receiver could be traced. I'he less valuable items are chiefly small artich-s of clothing, fancy flax baskets, and one or two tools, etc. Alt the above will he sold by auction. The cash, £2Ol 14s in notes and coin which still remains in the hands of the Department will not he so treated ; that goes to swell the consolidated revenue, but the unclaimed money orders will be so much gain by the Post Office, Then there is a long and startling list of cheques, bills, etc., which have never been claimed. Xome, of course, may have been paid at a later demand, but it is certain the majority have never been cashed. It is quite astonishing to fled among I li.se documents a cheque for £6OB J2s2d. In another letter were ten,cheques for £Bl in all. Other cheques unclaimed are for £133, £66, £146, £697 ; and several of £3O or £4O, There are not many drafts, the largest being for £450, £245, and £l3O, but there are innumerable bills of exchange, many f< r good sums. The largest are £7OO, £650, two for LSOO, L 473, L4OO, L 250 and L2OO. The authorities are in some doubt what to do with all three valuable pieces of paper. If they could persuade the Banks to cash them the consolidated revenue would come in for a welcome windfall, but it is more likely that eventually they will be destroyed. The remaining articles to be disposed of are books and newspapers, which it is intended to distiibute among the hospitals and charitable institutions. None of the books are valuab ! e or rare, but they range from school texts to Bibb s. The collection, it should be mention.-- 1 , with the exc-ption of jewellery and gold has mostly accumulated since 1877.