HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE
483
uninhabited; nor does it undertake to re-direct correspondence addressed to clubs, hotels, boarding houses, lodgings, business firms, &c. Correspondence may not be re-directed from a private address to the Poste Restante in the Colony.
108.-Request for the re-direction of correspondence must be in writing. The precise address of the correspondence must be given.
109.-No request for re-direction will be acted upon for more than three months, at the end of which time the correspondence resumes its usual course,
Undelivered Correspondence
110.-An undelivered local or foreign letter or post-card bearing the full name and address of the sender printed or written upon the outside is returned direct to the sender. Other undelivered local letters and post-cards are sent to the Returned Letter Branch, where they will be opened and returned, if possible, to the senders; if they contain neither sender's name nor address, nor any enclosure of importance, they will be destroyed. Letters found to contain articles of value are recorded and if returned are registered. Letters from abroad are returned unopened to the country of origin.
111.-Book packets and newspapers which cannot be delivered and which bear the name and address of the sender with a request for their return in case of non-delivery are returned direct to the sender on payment of a second postage. Those bearing no name or request for return are not returned to senders.
112. The name and address of the sender and the request for return should be written or printed in small type at the upper left-hand corner of the packet.
113. All unpaid undelivered letters or post-cards shall be delivered to the senders only on the payment of amount charged thereon.
Certificates of Posting
114.-Contrary to general usage, the Hongkong Post Office will give a Certificate of posting for an ordinary letter, to assure the sender his correspondence has not been stolen on the way to the Post. The conditions under which Certificate will be given are as follows:
(1.) The certificate of posting written in ink must be presented to an officer on duty at the Post Office along with the article to be posted during the hours which the Post Office is open to the public.
(2.) The certificate must contain an exact copy of the address on the article to which it relates and must have a postage stamp value one cent affixed thereto.
(3.) The officer to whom the article and certificate are presented will compare the address on the article with the certificate, and if it be correct will obliterate the postage stamp and impress the date stamp on the certificate and return the certificate to the person posting the article. (4.) The granting of such certificate affords the public an assurance that letters and other articles entrusted to servants and messengers for posting have actually been posted, but implies no responsibility on the part of the Post Office if such articles be lost or damaged in transit.
Miscellaneous
115.—The addresses of letters for Russia should be very plainly written; the name of the town and of the province in which it is situated should also be added in English. 116. It is no part of the duties of the Post Office to affix stamps to correspondence, or to see that servants purchase or affix the proper amounts, nor can the officers of the Department, under any circumstances, undertake to do this.
117.-Correspondence for Afghanistan should hear the sender's name on the cover to avoid detention by the Ameer's agent at Peshawur. H.K. Postage Stamps are valid for the payment of postage as far as the Indian frontier only for the transit thence to destination additional postage is payable to the Afghan authorities.
118. Any article of correspondence duly prepaid and posted becomes the property of the addressee, and cannot be returned to the sender, nor can it be detained, without the written authority of the Governor of Hongkong on an application stating fully the reasons for the request.
119.-Postal officials are not bound to give change, nor are they authorized to demand it; and when money is paid at a Post Office, whether as change or otherwise, no question as to its night amount, goodness, or weight can be entertained after it has been removed from the counter.