Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

3 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

i £ DIN BURGH.

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

i £ DIN BURGH. CONVEYANCE OF PARCELS BY THE MAIL COACH. A case of very material importance to the public has just occurred. A gentleman'having wisHed a parcel containing 2001. sent from a remote quarter of the country, wrote to his factor to knotv the occasion of it, and having been informctl that it had been forwarded by the mltil irotii iu-;< iEdinburgh, he im il,Cdiately itistittited an enquiry at the coach office here-, and being unable to obtain any satisfactory information from the clerks of the office, he found himself underthe necessity of summoning the loriticil)als before the Police Office, when the following examination took I)Iace Mr. Phillips wits called upon first to pro- i duce the way-biJ! of Ihe day on which the parcel should have arrived. He produced an extract; but, on feeing told that the bill itself j was absolutely necessary, he produced a par- eel, which was laid on the table. Q Have yon any connexion with the mail coach which plies between Inverness and Aber- deenA. No. Q. It a parcel be booked at Inverness accord ing to its value, or insured at Inverness, to he scut to Edinburgh, and it be lost, how is it to he ascertained whether it was lost betwixt Inver- ness and Aberdeen,, or betwixt Aberdeen and Edinburgh?- A. The Inverness office may prove its arrival at Aberdeen, before the Edinburgh office has any thing to do with it. Q. hat security has a person sending a par- ed from Inverness to Edinburgh, that it will be forwarded from Aberdeen?—A. Our own inte- rest. Q. How are parcels booked at yonr office ?— A. Just as you see them in these way-bills. It appeared from the way-bills, tiiat neither the Christian names of the persons lo whom the parcels are addressed, nor their places of abode, are hooked so that if a parcct be uiis- sing, and inquired for, Ihe answer is (as in the present case) "there are several parcels mark ed here, addressed to the same name, but we cannot tell vvlietliei- ativ were addressed to you, as we never mind the Christian, but only the surnames" Q. How do you know by the way-hill whether a parcel has been insured or not ?—A. It is marked. It did not appear, however, that there were columns Ift for this purpose. There were only iwo for marking Ihe carriage from In vernesslo Aberdeen, and from Aberdeen to Edinburgh, No instance of insurance was seen in many of the way-bills. Q. Suppose that the person at Aberdeen, who has the charge of booking and making out the way-hills, should frulldulently omit to insert the insurance, or abstract the parcel altogether, what means have you or the public of deleting such a fraud ? — A. No means at all. Q. When parcels arrive in Edinburgh, how are they delivercd r-A. They are given to our porter Q. What check have you for ascertaining that your porter delivers the parcels ?—A. None, ex- cept that he pays us the carriage. Q. Do not you think that, in delivering parcels to your porter, with no other check over him than the price of the carriage, you expose him to very great temptation t,) steal the parcels?—A. Do Yok, think I have not learn t my business ? Q, Do you consider that you are not respon- sible for any parcel above the vdlueof A5 if not insured, if it should he proved that the parcel was not lost upon the road, but did actually ar- rive safe in your office ?-A. Not at all be- yond 5l The complaioer then made the following obsmaliousIt is evident from this, that I it is in the power of the people in the mail coai h-oflice. lo open any parcel not insured. and, for a risk of 51. to abstract its contents.' j Here Mr. Phillips stated, that he had set about an inquiry respecting the missing parcel, and asked for a little time and the examina- tion was ordered to proceed next day. The coaiplainer desired that the way-bills should be detained in the office. To this Mr. P. objected, as he could not do without them. The complainer consented to his removing them, on the clerk's writing his name upon them, and Mr. P. promising to bring them again the next day. The complainer stated, that he felt himself bound to mention to Mr. P. that, as it appear- ed evident from the way-bills, that a parcel j had actually come with the complainer's name, on the very day it was expected, and if that parcel should not be accounted for, he would hold the mail proprietors responsible for the amount. The next day Mr. Phillips appeared, and "tated, that he could not trace the parcel to any other person of the complainer's name. but that he had brought the list made out for the porter, by which it appeared that the por- ter had received the parcel, and had paid the charges on it at (lie otlice. as if it had been delivered. He added, that he had sent out the porter, Archibald Drumrtiond, again this morning, but that he had not returned. A warrant for apprehending Drummond was forthwith issued, and he was met coming tip to the office, and Mr. P. returned with him, when he denied all knowledge of the parcel Drummond persisted in file dcijiul, and a war rant was prepared for searching the house in which he lived. While this was doing he was put into a cell, and before Serjeant-Major In- glis proceeded with a search warrant, he went to Drummond, and drew from him a confes- sion that he had secreted the parcel, which was a sealed one, and had taken money out of it that lie had used some of it, and lost some of it, but that he believed the whole, except about 301. would be found in a place which he described in his mother's house, where it was found accordingly, together with a quautity of new apparel and other things.

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