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Alexandretta, Antivari, Bourghas, Caifa, Durazzo, Ineboli, Jaffa, Latakia, Mersina, Mytelene, Prevesa, Sinope, Tenedos, Valona, and Volo, via Trieste, by Prussian closed mail ....

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The rates above mentioned are the full postage through to destination, with the exception of "Turkey, Wallachia, Moldavia, Servia, Levant, and Turkish Islands in the Mediterranean," as requiring the prepayment of 30 cents a letter, which is the United States and Prussian postage.

Newspapers to be sent in the Prussian closed mail must be prepaid six cents each, which is the full United States and Prussian postage. If to go through said closed mail to the British possessions in the East Indies, or to Hong Kong, they must be prepaid ten cents, and if to other points in China, or to countries beyond the East Indies, thirteen cents each. But to the East Indies and China it is believed that the cheapest route for newspapers is in the British mail via Southampton, four cents each, to be prepaid, being the full United States and British Postage.

With reference to the Prussian closed mail, we are desired to remark, also, that in many instances, letters which should come in this mail, particularly from the southern part of Germany, are received in the open mail generally via France, thus rendering them subject to additional and much higher rates of postage; and it is suggested that writers would aid greatly toward correcting this irregularity by requesting their correspondents in Germany to inform themselves as to the correct rates of postage, and to mark their letters specially to be forwarded in the "Prussian closed mail via Ostend and London."

It should also be observed that a prepayment in either country of less than the combined rate of thirty cents on a single letter goes for nothing, no account being taken of partial payments.

ACCOUNTS AND RETURNS OF POSTMASTERS IN THE UNITED STATES. Every postmaster, according to the Union, speaking on the authority of the PostOffice Department, is required to make up his accounts and forward transcripts of them to the third Assistant Postmaster-General, at the end of every quarter, which is on the last days of March, June, September, and December. In case of death, resignation, or removal of a postmaster, or the discontinuance of an office, or in case of the giving of a new official bond in consequence of a change in the name of an office, the expiration of the term for which the postmaster may have been appointed, or otherwise, the accounts are required to be made up to the day (though it is not the end of a quarter) in which the office ceases to operate, or the new appointment, or the new bond, as the case may be, takes effect. Many postinasters have been in the habit of forwarding to the department their original accounts, keeping no duplicate or copy. This is contrary to the regulations of the department, and will not be permitted. The department requires, in all cases, transcripts or copies only to be sent, and the original accounts to be carefully preserved for inspection.

POSTAGE ON BACK NUMBERS OF NEWSPAPERS.

Back numbers of newspapers, if addressed to a regular subscriber, are chargeable with a postage of one cent cach, payable either at the office of publication or the office of delivery; but if sent to a person not a subscriber, they are considered transient papers, and as such are chargeable with one cent each if prepaid, and with two cents if not prepaid. None but regular subscribers to newspapers are entitled to the benefit of quarterly or yearly prepayment.

PUBLICATIONS SENT TO THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS AND SMITHSONIAN IN

STITUTE.

The fifth section of the act of Congress, approved 3d March, 1855, extending the right to send books, maps, and charts, or other publications entered for copyright, and which, under the act of August 10, 1846, are required to be deposited in the Library of Congress and in the Smithsonian Institute, by mail, free of postage, does not conflict with the provisions of the third section of the act approved 30th August, 1852, which provides" that there shall be no word or communication printed on the same after its publication, or upon the cover or wrapper thereof, nor any writing or marks upon it, nor upon the wrapper thereof, except the name and address. There shall be no paper or other thing inclosed in or with such printed matter;" and "if such conditions are not complied with, such printed matter shall be subject to letter postage."

The written notification from the author or publisher of works to be entered for copyright should be forwarded by mail prepaid, as the right to receive maps, charts, or other publications, free of postage, does not embrace written letters accompanying them, though the letters may relate exclusively to the subject.

THE DUTIES OF POSTMASTERS IN REGARD TO WASTE PAPER.

JAMES CAMPBELL, the Postmaster General, has made the following important order in regard to waste paper:

"It shall be the duty of the postmaster, or of one of his assistants, in all cases immediately before the office is swept or otherwise cleared of rubbish, to collect and examine the waste paper which has accumulated therein, in order to guard against the possibility of loss of letters or other mail matter, which may have fallen on the floor, or have been intermingled with such waste paper during the transaction of business. The observance of this rule is strictly enjoined upon all postmasters, and its violation will constitute a grave offense. Postmasters must be careful to use, in mailing letters or packets, all wrapping paper fit to be used again; and the sale of any such paper is strictly forbidden by the regulations of the Department."

REGISTRATION OF LETTERS.

In the new system of registration for the greater security of valuable letters sent by mail, with each letter bill sent from the mailing office a blank letter bill is sent, which is denominated the return letter bill, and which should be filled up at the office of delivery according to instructions, and returned to the mailing office from which it was received. We are informed that several postmasters, disregarding the general instructions with which they have been furnished, and misunderstanding the instructions printed on the bill received from the mailing office, (which is, to return to "this office,") are in the habit of returning these bills to the Department. We are advised that postmasters at distributing offices, in making their entries in their account of distributed registered letters sent, should treat such letters precisely as if not registered, taking no account whatever of the registration fee. No distribution commis. sion is allowed them on the registration fee.

LOST DRAFTS OR WARRANTS.

The Washington Union learns from the Postmaster General, that in all cases where application is made for the issue of a duplicate draft or warrant, upon the allegation that the original is lost, every such application must be addressed to the Auditor for the Post-Office Department, and must be accompanied by a statement, or

oath, or affirmation by the applicant, or by the person who is the legal holder thereof, showing the time, place, and all the circumstances attending the loss or destruction of the draft or warrant, with its number, date, and amount; in whose favor it was issued, and if assigned, to whom made payable; together with any other particulars relating to it within the knowledge of the applicant. The applicant must also produce a letter or certificate from the officer or person on whom the draft or warrant may have been drawn, showing that it has not been paid, also that payment of the same will not thereafter be made to the owner or any other person whatever.

COMMERCIAL STATISTICS.

IMPORT OF CLOTHS INTO THE UNITED STATES.

The following tabular statement, compiled from the Treasury Reports, shows the comparative import of cloths and cassimeres into the United States from Holland, Belgium, France, England, &c., for each of the years from 1839 to 1854. It will be seen that the cloths of Germany and France have been rapidly gaining on England in the American market:

IMPORT OF CLOTHS AND CASSIMERES INTO THE UNITED STATES.

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We give in this number of the Merchants' Magazine a tabular statement of the number of vessels, with their tonnage, included in the commercial marine of the world, except those of China, Japan, and the East, concerning which little is known.

Most of the figures, as will be seen, are given from official reports of the various governments, at different dates from 1848 to 1854, with the estimates of increase from the date of reports to 1854, founded on past rates of increase and their present commercial activities, so that the table presents a tolerably correct view of the shipping of the world in 1854. For the figures we are indebted in part to a long and able article in the London News of April 12th, 1855. The number of Bremen vessels in the table may be that of arrivals of their own ships rather than the actual number owned in that city. The number of American vessels is not given in the report, but it will be seen that our tonnage is about one-ninth more than the British, including our steamboats and small fishing craft. Adding one-ninth to the number of their vessels we have about 40,500 as the number of our own:

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105,509

15,500,000

And we have as the tonnage of the world....... At $50 the ton, the shipping of the world is worth the enormous amount of $775,000,000. Of this fifteen and a half millions of tonnage, more than ten and a half millions belong to the English race; more than twelve and a half millions belong to Protestant nations, including that of France; more than thirteen millions of this "abundance of the sea" is in part already "converted to the Church." It presents at the present hour the great barrier to the conquest of the world by military absolutism, and a great bulwark of civil and religious liberty.

800

......

1,530

193,735

100

3,000

139,148

14,457,977

852

145,500

COMPARATIVE NAVIGATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND THE UNITED STATES. The following table shows at a glance the comparative tonnage entering the ports of Great Britain and the United States at different periods, from the commencement of the present century to 1854, inclusive. It will be seen by this table that Great Britain was in 1854 nearly 2,000,000 tons ahead of the United States; but in a few years, with the same ratio of increase, the United States will become the first commercial power in the world :—

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1830.

2,180,042

870,299

134,419

1,004,718

1840.

1,576,946

712,363 2,209,309

1850.

1,775,623 4,348,839

1852. 1853 1854.

758,828 2,938,070 2,807,367 1,298,840 4,106,207 4,078,544 2,035,152 6,113,696 2,573,016 4,267,815 2,462,354 6,730,169 3,235,522 2,057,358 5,292,880 4,513,207 3,284,343 7,797,550 4,004,013 2,277,930 6,281,943 4,789,986 3,109,756 7,899,742 3,752,115 2,132,224 5,884,339

EXPORTS OF TEA FROM CHINA TO THE UNITED STATES.

We have received from a correspondent at Hong Kong, the China Mail, containing full statistics of the tea trade for each year from June 30, 1845, to June 30, 1854, and from June 30, 1854, to June 10, 1855, from which we condense the exports to the United States (years ending in June) as follows:—

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The total export of tea from the undermentioned ports from 1st of July, 1854, to 10th June, 1855, has been as follows:

Canton.......

2,400,000 | Shanghae....... 19,610 | Fuhohan...... 4,850,000

IRON IMPORTED INTO THE UNITED STATES IN 1850-54.

The following statement, exhibiting the quantity and value of railroad iron imported into the United States from June 30, 1850, to June 30, 1854, inclusive; and also the quantity in bond on the 30th of June, 1854, is derived from a report made by F Bigler, Register of the Treasury :—

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