PROBLEM POST: Too good to be true usually is just that.

Byline: WITH PATRICIA WATTERSON

I ENCLOSE a letter offering us a television for pounds 29.99. I cannot help thinking t here is a catch somewhere. Can you advise people on these offers? TRADING Standards offices are very familiar with these kinds of offers and new ones appear almost every day. The best advice is simply to ignore t hem or, as one trading standards officer put it: If you are offered something which seems too good to be true, it probably is just that.

CAN you find out whether the BBC2 programme Magic Islands of Wales is available on video? SORRY, no, but it is in book form, published by Gomar Press.

I HAVE found a 1948 Olympic Games postage stamp, value one shilling, unfranked but creased. How do I go about selling it?

IN MINT condition it would be worth about pounds 1 40, but creased it has no value.

ON SUNDAY, January 19, in TV's Songs of Praise, the last hymn was Go, Silent Friend which I had never heard before. Is it possible to get the words and music?

THIS was a S ongs of Praise about bereavement, part of a series which included also weddings and baptism. The words of the hymn are from The Last Journey - Songs for the Time of Grieving, and are by the Rev John L. Bell, a member of the Iona Community.

Along with other anthems, it is on a CD priced pounds 14.99 and y ou can also get it as sheet music pounds 8.99. Post is pounds 1.50. Write to Wildgoose Resource Group, Iona Community, 4th Floor, Savoy House, 140, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow G2 3DH.

DO YOU know where I can get instructions for a Cresta Hallmark electric cooker I have recently acquired?

SORRY, but my sources do not recognise this name. Could you check whether the name is Creda Hallmark? If so - and if the cooker is less than 10 years old - write to me again with the model number and I will be able to tell you where to get the instructions.

The number will be on the rating label which will in t he back of the cooker or in the drawer. I HAVE a cooker which is like new except for a fault on a radiant ring. Do you where I can get spares? The name on the panel is Email but no electrical trader can trace this.

NEITHER can I. The namemight be just a model name. See above and write to me with any other details on the plate.

I NEED a pair of mitts to keep my hands warm. Gloves are too awkward. I have tried many shops but have not been lucky. Do you know a stockist?

THE John Lewis store, 20, Basnett Street, Liverpool, has them, in angora and lambs wool, red, green and turquoise. These are one size and are currently reduced to pounds 2 95. Tel [phone].

DO YOU know who will replace worn leather on a fireside bellows which have perished with years of use?

TRY A.L. Maugham, 5, Fazakerley Street (off Old Hall Street) Liverpool. Tel [phone]. Price will be about pounds 20.

DO YOU know where a friend can get a replacement sealing gasket for a Tower pressure cooker, model number 2603?

SORRY, spares have been obsolete for more than 20 years.

I HAVE very small, slim feet and great difficulty in getting shoes to fit me. Do you have any useful addresses?

WRITE for the Hard to Find Footwear catalogue from British Footwear Association, 3, Burystead Place, Wellingborough, Northampton NN8 1AH.

Price pounds 3 including post.

SINCE 1946, when my father returned from military service in Singapore, I have had a $100 and $10 note, both stating that the Japanese Government promise to pay the bearer on demand these amounts. Is it possible to get any more background information and are they of any value now?

THESE seem to be notes of Japanese invasion money issued in South East Asia during World War 11. As Japanese forces took control of an area, they issued the notes which were in the name of the Japanese Government. The value of each note was written in t he local denomination, u sually tied at par to the yen, eg. 1 rupee=1 yen.

Write t o: Patricia Watterson, Problem Post, PO Box 48, Old Hall street, Liverpool, L69 3EB. Problem Post regrets that due to the volume of inquiries, letters cannot be acknowledged and not all letters answered. Since we are unable t o enter in to correspondence, please do not send stamped aaddressed envelopes