8. Post and Telegraph Offices. Telephones.

Post Office. The Poste Centrale, or General Post Office, is in
the Rue du Louvre (PL R, 21 ; III) ; comp. p. 187. The public
offices are in the gallery next the street; the Poste Restante Office
in another gallery, to the right. There are also in the different quarters
of the town over a hundred branch-offices, distinguished at night
by blue lamps, besides auxiliary offices in shops, with blue placards.

The ordinary offices are open daily from 7 a.m. from March 1st
to Nov. 1st (8 a.m. in winter) till 9 p.m. (12 noon on Sun. and
holidays). Late letters with an extra 5 c. stamp will be despatched
by the evening-mails if they are posted in the special late boxes
before the hours (different for different offices) indicated besides
these boxes. Certain cafes and brasseries also undertake to dispatch
late letters for a fee of 5 c. up to 7 p.m., and the Agence Fournier per-
forms the same service up to 7.10 from the office of the 'Petit
Parisien', Boul. Montmartre 20, and up to 7.45 from their own office,
Rue de la Bourse 1. — Mail-days for foreign parts are advertised at
the post-office. Letters to be registered must be handed in before
4.30 or 5.30, according to the office.

The Poste Restante Office (see above) is open daily till 9 p.m.
Travellers may also direct poste restante letters to be addressed to
any of the district-offices. In applying for letters , the written or
printed name, and, in the case of registered letters, the passport
of the addressee should always be presented. It is, however,
preferable to desire letters to be addressed to the hotel or boarding-
house where the visitor intends residing.

Letter-boxes (Boîtes aux Lettres) are also to be found, in most
tobacconists' shops (conspicuous in the evening by their red lamps),
where stamps (timbres-poste) may also be purchased, at the columns
on the boulevards, at public buildings, at the railway-stations, etc.

Postage of Letters, etc. Ordinary Letters within France, including
Corsica, Algeria, and Tunis, 15c. per 15 grammes prepaid; for countries
of the Postal Union 25 c (The silver franc and the bronze sou each weigh
5 grammes.) — Post Cards 10 c. each, with card for reply attached, 20 c. —
Letter-Cards, 15 c. ; for abroad 25 c.

Printed Papers (imprimis sous bande; the width of the wrapper not to
exceed 1/3 of that of the packet): 1 c. per 5 grammes up to the weight of
20 gr. ; 5 c. between 20 and 51) gr. ; above 50 gr. 5 c for each 50 gr. or
fraction of 50 gr.; to foreign countries 5c. per 50 gr. — Commercial Papers
(papiers d'affaires), 5 c. per 50 gr. up to 3 kg. ; for abroad, 25 c. per 250 gr.
or less, and 5 c. per 50 gr. afterwards. Packets must not exceed 17 1/2 in.
in length.

Registered Post. The registration fee for lettres (lettres recommandées)
is 25 c. ; for printed papers, etc. 10 c. — Enclosures of special value
should be sent by lettre chargée: the value must be written in full (not in
figures) on the envelope, which must be sealed in at least two place.
In addition to the postage and the registration fee, these are charged 10
for every 500 fr. declared (maximum 10,000 fr.), within France: for Great
Britain (maximum 3000 fr.), 20 c. per 300 fr. declared value. The stamps
on foreign 'lettres chargées' must be at a distance from each other.

Post Office Orders (mandats de poste) to France or Switzerland cost
5 c. per 5 fr. up to 20 fr. ; 20-50 fr. 25 c: 50-100 fr. 50 c.; 100-300 fr. 75 c.: