ometimes enable you to determine at which office the
abstraction was affected.

4. Ascertain if any of the post-marks have penetrated through the
envelope from one side of the letter to the other. In such a case
you may be able to determine whether, at the time the letter was
stamped at any particular office, it actually contained an
enclosure.

15. Cases of alleged abstraction have been brought to light in which
it has been proved that paper has been enclosed in letters by the
senders instead of the money purported to have been remitted.

The proof consisted of the impressions of the postmarks placed on the
letter at the office at which posted having gone through the envelope
on to the papers enclosed.

It is, of course, important to ascertain whether the stamps were
placed on the letter at the time it was posted.

16. Cases of alleged theft have also been brought to light by the
writing on the envelope being in a different hand to the writing in
the letter enclosed, by the date of the letter not corresponding with
the date of the post-mark of the office at which mailed, and by the
dates of the post-marks on the letter showing that it has been
subjected to some unusual delay. All these points should, therefore,
be closely looked into.

17. In all cases it would be desirable to ascertain at what point the
best opportunity for the alleged theft would have been afforded.

18. The evidence in each case of enquiry should be carefully taken
down in writing, and every circumstance, however trifling, which may
in the slightest degree bear on the case, noted. It is frequently by a
collection of apparently unimportant facts that important results are
arrived at.

19. Care should be taken in every case to avoid the formation of any
opinion until all the facts which it is possible to obtain in regard
to it are collected together. It is only from these facts and from the
character and antecedents of the parties who may have been concerned
in the loss, and not from some suspicion unsupported by facts, that
conclusions can with any safety be drawn.

20. All serious cases of loss or abstraction should be at once
specially reported to the Postmaster General, and the most prompt
action taken thereon.

21. In cases of ascertained loss or abstraction, the Inspector for
each Division through which the letter passed should be furnished with
full particulars thereof.

22. When there is no moral doubt of guilt, it i