1825 LIVERPOOL ~ Sundry Information ~ No.7

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You will remember that the last time I visited the Post Office to see my friend WILLIAM BANNING Esq., I spent the day copying up information in my notebook about the workings of his establishment. At the end of that very long day, I enjoyed a good meal of Lancashire hot-pot and promised that I would copy up the rest of the Post Office regulations etc., by the warmth of my own fire-side. The day outside is very inclement, heavy rain lashing in from the river and very few souls venturing beyond their front doors. The time has therefore come for me to take a break from my rambles and put pen to paper. As the amount of information is substantial, I will break for a meal half way through.......... .....on with the task!

Officers endorsing letters, knowing them not to be on the     
    private concern of such seaman or soldier,  under his         
    command, to forfeit five pounds for every offence.
 
Officers endorsing letters of seamen, &c., not under their     
    command, to forfeit five pounds.
 
Any person directing a letter to any seaman, &c. intended
    for another person, to forfeit five pounds.
 
Any person procuring any seaman, &c. to obtain the             
    signature of his officer, which shall not be on his own
    private concern; or if any seaman, &c. obtain his
    officer's signature, for any purpose contrary to what
    is here intended, each and every person so offending
    to forfeit five pounds.
 
One-half of any of the above sums to the use of his 
    Majesty, the other to the informer, recoverable before
    any justice of the peace where the offence is committed;
    in default of payment to be committed to the House of
    Correction, for any space not exceeding one month,
    or till the penalty be paid.

HIS MAJESTY'S WEST INDIA ISLANDS, GIBRALTAR,
    MALTA, NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA, AND THE
    CONTINENT OF EUROPE:-
 
For letters conveyed by packet boats between Great Britain
    and part of his Majesty's West India Islands and
    North America..........................................2s 3d
Gibraltar.......................................................2s 11d
Malta and Mediterranean...............................3s 3d
Brazils, Buenos Ayres; Rio Janiero, Monte
    Video, Chili, and Peru................................3s 7d
Madeira, Azores, Canary Islands, Cape de
    Verde Island.............................................2s 8d
Portugal.......................................................2s 7d
Spain, via France..........................................2s 11d
France.........................................................1s 11d
Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Turkey...................2s 8d
Holland and Netherlands................................2s 1d
Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden,
    Prussia, Russia, and all the North of
    Europe.....................................................2s 5d
 
Letters for foreign parts, except the British American and
    British West India Islands, must be paid for at the
    post office, when put in, without which they cannot be
    forwarded. In default they are sent to the general post
    office, where they are opened and re-directed to the
    writers.

                      POST NIGHTS
 
For Jamaica and North America, the Tuesday before the
    first Wednesday in every month.
 
For the Leeward Islands and Demerara, the Tuesday
    before the first and third Wednesday in each month.
 
For Brazils, Madeira, Gibraltar, and the Mediterranean,
    the Monday before the first Tuesday in each month.
 
For Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, Chili, and Peru, the
    Monday before the third Tuesday in every month.
 
For Portugal, every Monday.
 
For Spain, France, Italy, Sardinia and Turkey, every
    Monday, Tuesday and Thursday.
 
For Holland, Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland,
    Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, and Russia every
    Monday and Thursday.
 
The return of the packets are calculated thus:-
    to Jamaica and back 16 weeks; America, 15 weeks;
    Leeward Islands, 13 weeks; Malta, 14 weeks;
    Brazils, 20 weeks; Lisbon, 4 weeks.
 
From July to December inclusive, the packet touches
    at Pernambuco and Bahia, on her outward passage
    to Rio Janeiro: the other six months on her home
    ward passage.
 
In November, December, January and February, the
    packets touching at Bermuda, go to New York
    direct; the other eight months they go and return
    by Halifax.
 
Letters for places abroad, to which there are no 
    packets -  as China, New South Wales, Sierra
    Leone, Cape Coast Castle, Goree, Senegal, St.
    Helena, and many parts of South America, are
    forwarded in sealed ship letter bags, by vessels
    sailing from London or the out-ports. The postage,
    which must be previously paid, is 1s 9d.
 
To prevent the loss of money sent in letters by post,
    for which the post-office is not accountable, a clerk
    attends at the money-order-office, post office, from
    eleven in the morning until three in the afternoon
    (Sunday excepted) to pay orders drawn upon the
    Post-master, Liverpool, and to give orders payable
    at sight, on the post-masters where the remittance
    is required to be paid, to any part of the United
    Kingdom, for any sum not exceeding five guineas.
 
For the convenience of the inhabitants of this town,
    the post-men go their respective rounds with bells,
    in the same manner as in London, to collect letters
    for the general post, by nine o'clock every evening
    (Sunday excepted) and charge one penny for each
    letter within the delivery.
 
The clerks in waiting at the general post-office, London,
    publish a daily and weekly statement of sailings and
    arrivals of the packets; also a general shipping and 
    commercial list, with necessary information for the
    use of the mercantile world in their foreign corres-
    -pondence
                            Wm. BANNING ~ Post-Master.
 
Newspapers, magazines, and periodical publications,
    forwarded to the West Indies, America, and the
    Continent, on application to the Post-Master.