Postal Manual Vol. VIII - India Post

(2) With a view to developing correspondence and meeting the convenience of the public,
the Superintendent should ascertain in what localities (villages, factories, tea-gardens, etc.) it is
desirable to place letter-boxes. The days on which each letter-box is cleared should be marked on
it and notified to the residents in the neighbourhood and the boxes should be provided with
movable plates showing the day when the next clearance will be made.
136. Monthly copies of sub-office accounts. – (1) The monthly copies of sub-office
accounts [Pa.-17(a)] received by the Superintendent must be carefully scrutinized by him. They
will show (a) whether in any case cash has been unnecessarily obtained or remitted, (b) whether
the cash including the amounts with village postman and stamp balances held were outside the
prescribed limits, and whether those limits need revision, and (c) whether the daily average amount
of postage due on article of the letter mail in deposit during the month was abnormally large. They
will also give a general idea of the amount of work performed by each sub-office in the different
branches of postal work, of its earnings and disbursements and of the efficiency of its delivery
work in respect of unpaid unregistered articles. The Superintendent, must not, therefore, pass over
the monthly copies of sub-office accounts as unimportant or treat them as mere routine documents,
but must give them careful attention and make notes in his memorandum book of all matters that
are likely to prove useful to him.
(2) The following instructions will be followed by the Superintendent in examining the
monthly copies of sub-office accounts :-
(a) It should be seen whether there is any increase or falling off in the money order and
savings bank business and in case of a serious decline, the Superintendent may be able
to ascertain the cause and possibly find a remedy. Any marked difference under the
head of money order and savings bank transactions between the figures in the suboffice
accounts under examination and those for previous months should be enquired
into if the cause is not known. A comparison of the transactions of a sub-office with
those of a previous period or of other sub-offices may suggest the expediency of a
change in the status of the office or a revision of its establishment.
(b) The figures entered in the statements printed on the reverse of the monthly copy of the
sub-office account should be carefully examined. These statements are :-
(i) Unpaid articles of the letter mail returned undelivered to the head office. –
The figures of the postage due on articles of the letter mail returned
undelivered to the head office will indicate whether the delivery work of
Sub-office is performed satisfactory or not. When the percentage of the
figures of the amounts of unpaid articles returned to the head office appears
to be excessive the Superintendent should ascertain to what cause the excess
is due.
(ii)
Statistics of money orders issued and paid, and of insured and value-payable
articles and ordinary parcels posted. – These statistics furnish information
from which the Superintendent can ascertain whether the money order,
insurance, value-payable, and parcel business of his sub-offices is increasing
or not.
(c) As sub-offices are required by rule to submit explanations in form (Pa. 20) only when
their cash balances are in excess of the authorized limits, the Superintendent should
view with suspicioun any case, wher the amount shown under the head of “stamps” or
“Postage due on articles in deposit” is largely in excess of the maximum limit fixed for
the purpose of the daily or of the daily average for the preceding month, as the case