In many of our large post-offices postmasters have baskets placed inside for the reception of letters. These are invariably too small, and it not unfrequently occurs that the aperture through which letters pass gets choked up, the basket being full to its mouth. Any person could from the outside take a handful of letters without any one being aware of it. Honest men, however, making the discovery, notify the clerks of the situation of the letters, but not until it is very natural to suppose some letters may have been stolen. This will account in some measure for the mysterious disappearance of letters which have caused many an innocent person to be suspected and the business operations of an office justly censured. These baskets, instead of being wide and shallow, are deep and narrow. If properly constructed and arranged, there would be no necessity for clerks shouting out, “Swamp on the baskets.” This is very much like locking the stable-door after the horse has been stolen. We would suggest, therefore, that when dropping a letter, newspaper, &c. into a letter-box, always to see that the packet falls into the basket or box, and does not stick in its passage. _SUGGESTIONS TO THE PUBLIC, ETC._ The following sensible suggestions are taken from “The British Postal Guide:” let us advise our readers to pay some little attention to them:— “To see that every letter, newspaper, or other packet sent by post is securely folded and sealed, and that, when postage-stamps are remitted, they are enclosed in paper sufficiently thick to prevent them from being seen or felt through the cover. It should be remembered that every such packet has to be several times handled, and that even when in the mail-bag it is exposed to pressure and friction. Unless, therefore, the article be light and pliant, it should be enclosed in strong paper, linen, parchment, or some other material which will not readily tear or break. The observance of this precaution is especially necessary whenever any fragile articles of value are forwarded by post. These should always be enclosed in a wooden or tin box. Owing to neglect of these precautions many postal packets burst open, causing much trouble to the department and risk to the owners, it being sometimes impossible to determine to what packet a particular article belongs. “To fasten the covers of newspapers firmly, so as to prevent the contents from slipping out. When, for additional security, the address is written on the newspaper itself, such address (if the newspaper be franked by an impressed stamp) must in case of re-transmission be cut off; otherwise the newspaper will become subject to a postage of 2_d._ It is not sufficient that the old address be _obliterated_, as the rules forbid writing or marks of any kind in addition to the true address.