Sta,—Your correspondent, S. K. Ratcliffe, has been more fortunate than
we have in receiving untamperid parcels from America, but at the eleventh hour we have learned to address all complaints to the Customs and Excise Dept. of our county town. A parcel from U.S.A. delivered in Christmas week had all the rationed goods (coffee, tea, soap) removed, and I reported this, enclosing the label and the address portion of the brown paper. A week later I had the more pleasant task of writing, in fairness to others concerned, that a parcel from the same country had been delivered intact on January rst. A few days later, however, the Customs sent two exceedingly efficient and courteous representatives to obtain full details of the pilfering and of the amount we wished to claim as compensation. As the value of the stolen articles lay in "points" and not money, we did not proceed further with the matter ; but we just regret we accepted so many tampered parcels, during the war years, in too meekly thankful a spirit— especially as we had to pay duty on several
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