Communication. No. [The same No. a second
time for convenience of reference.] Mark of
Deposit and Notation of Paper Sent." Of
course it was only a portion of these headings
that he was as yet enabled to fill up; but his
entries, we observed, as far as he could go,
were precise and full. As soon as he had
done his entries, he threw into a basket—
labelled outside "Letters for the Board "—
all those letters which it was requisite that
the Commissioners should see; while the
others he placed in a basket on his left for
delivery to the several inspectors and
examiners to whose business they related—a
task of selection requiring great nicety of
observation, and a very general knowledge of
the whole duties of the several departments
of the office. This labour over, he now rang
his bell, and handed to a messenger the
basket of Board Letters for delivery to the
secretary.

Having done with to-day's letters—as far as
he was concerned—he now took up such of
the letters of yesterday, as had come out
from the Board with the directions of the
Board upon them, and entered the substance
of the orders in his register. He then took
down a  Delivery Boo " containing numbers
corresponding to those in the register, against
which he wrote the names of the officers to
whom the letters were to be delivered. The
book and letters were then handed to a
messenger, who carried them to the several
officers, and obtained their initials against
the names in proof of delivery. Thus another
portion of his day's work was done, and we
had received information of moment for
ourselves and others.

His next work was to attack the contents
of a basket, labelled  Letters to be cleared."
These he first of all sorted numerically,
and then proceeded to enter in his register
the number and date of the letter or report
which the out-letter clerk had marked upon
the in-letter. When, he had done this he
pinned a piece of paper to several letters, with
these words upon it: "Mr.—, fix initials to
letter, if done with;" and gave them to a
messenger for delivery. With some letters,
we observed, it was not necessary to take
this course, as the inspector or examiner
had already affixed his initials, and thus
lessened the labour attached to the teasing
and responsible duty of the registrar.

He now took (and yet a Government clerk!)
to another labour; that of clearing letters
through his register; giving a mark of
notation or deposit under the number,
showing that all necessary proceedings had
been taken upon the letters—in short, that
the letter had performed its work, was done
with, and was now only of use as a record.
As this proceeding advanced, a formidable pile
of "Letters for deposit " was soon collected,
and we were now more than ever curious to
see "What he would do with his letters?"
It was obvious at a glance that he kept
his letters opened out, and quite evident that
it would be a great convenience to him if all
his letters were written on paper of the
same size. We now saw the cause of his
dislike to little letters; for all his note,
quarto letter-paper, and Bath post
communications, he either wafered or pinned to
half-sheets of foolscap, remarking that Irishmen
and treasurers of County Courts, to say
nothing of clerks of the same little halls out
of Westminster Hall, were among his most
troublesome small-paper correspondents.

Seeing the trouble inflicted on—may we say
it?—a hard-working Government clerk, by
the system of writing official communications
on paper only fitted for invitations to dinner
or a little dance, we inquired of our friend if
any attempt had been made to try and
persuade correspondents that a letter to a public
office ought not to be received, unless it were
written on foolscap paper. ' My dear fellow,
yes," was our friend's reply. "Look at the
printed directions on almost every envelope;
directions almost like commands, with a dash
of entreaty in every second request,
As you are curious in this matter (our clerkly
friend continued), you should see what
envelopes ask."He then extended his right-hand
to his waste-paper basket, and took out, at
random, envelopes with printed "entreaties,"
as he insisted on calling them, some of which
we were allowed to take away as examples
for future use. Here are a few—and first, the
Board of Health:—

"All communications on Public Service should be
pre-paid, and directed
  " To THE GENERAL BOARD OF HEALTH,
                                             "GWYDYR HOUSE,
                                                        "WHITEHALL."
"And in case of further correspondence on the
subject of this communication, it is requested that
the number as well as the date of the enclosed letter
may be quoted. It is also desirable that all letters
whatever should be written on paper the size of
foolscap."

Listen to the vocal Woods:—

"All letters on Public Service, for any department
of the Office of Woods, must be addressed to
   " THE COMMISSIONERS OF HER MAJESTY'S WOODS,
                                " OFFICE OF WOODS, &e.,
                                                      " WHITEHALL."
"If any further correspondence on the subject of
the enclosed communication should be necessary, it
is requested that the number as well as the date may
be quoted; and, if it be accompanied by papers, they
should be tied together, or otherwise properly secured
against the accidents to which heavy packets are
unavoidably liable in the course of transmission by
post."

The Audit Office is not less precise:—

"All public letters to the Audit Office should be
addressed to
      " THE COMMISSIONERS FOR
             " AUDITING THE PUBLIC ACCOUNTS,
                       " SOMERSET HOUSE, LONDON."