POST OFFICE.

[Sidenote: Sign.]

The words "Post Office," in large and conspicuous letters, should be exhibited outside every building in which a Post Office is kept.

[Sidenote: Letter Box.]

A Letter Box should also be fixed, with an opening accessible from the road or street, the words "Letter Box" being painted over the same in plain legible characters.

[Sidenote: Separate office.]

A separate office or apartment, conveniently fitted up for the purpose, should be provided by the postmaster for conducting the business wherever the duties are sufficiently extensive or important to require such accommodation. The internal fittings of the office should vary according to the nature of the duties.

[Sidenote: Lobby.]

At every princ.i.p.al office there should be a lobby or standing place within doors for the accommodation of parties applying at the office.

[Sidenote: Where separate office not required.]

Where the Postmaster General may consider that a separate room may be dispensed with, the letters and papers, both for delivery and despatch, are to be kept in a secure place, and, if practicable, under lock and key.

[Sidenote: Bar-room not to be used.]

A bar-room or public room in a tavern is never to be made use of as a post office, nor should the entrance to a post office be through a bar-room.

[Sidenote: Unauthorized persons.]

No person except the postmaster or his sworn a.s.sistant should, on any pretence whatever, be allowed to have access to the letters and papers in a post office.

[Sidenote: Situation.]

A Post Office should be in a convenient and central situation, and must not be removed from one part of a town, village, or settlement, to another without the approval first obtained of the Postmaster General.

[Sidenote: Protection.]

Postmasters are required to take every precaution to secure their offices against burglary and fire.

OFFICE HOURS.[Sidenote: Princ.i.p.al offices.]At the princ.i.p.al Post Offices in Canada the hours of opening and closing are regulated by the Postmaster General.[Sidenote: Country offices.]In country places Postmasters are required to keep their offices open during the usual hours of business in the locality, and to attend at such other hours as may be necessary to receive and despatch the mails.[Sidenote: Sundays, Canada West.]On Sundays Postmasters in Canada West are at liberty to close their offices to the public.When an office in Canada West is closed to the public on Sunday it must be closed to all persons alike, and no exceptional or partial delivery to particular persons can be allowed.[Sidenote: Sundays, Canada East.]In Canada East, Postmasters keep their offices open on Sundays at least one hour either before or after Divine Service, as may be most convenient to the public generally.[Sidenote: Notice of hours.]A Notice, stating the hours at which the office is opened and closed, should be posted in every office, in such a position as may be readily observed by the public. MAILS.[Sidenote: Canada railways.]Mails are conveyed twice each way every day, except Sunday, over the princ.i.p.al lines of railway in Canada. Over the less important lines of railway they are carried only once each way every day, except Sunday.[Sidenote: Canada common roads.]Mails are also conveyed once each way every day, except Sunday, over the princ.i.p.al lines of common road, and once, twice, or three times per week over the less important lines of common road.[Sidenote: Lower Provinces.]