HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE
495
200.-Parties procuring Money Orders should examine them carefully to see that they are properly filled up and date-stamped.
201.-When a Money Order is presented for payment at the office upon which it is drawn, the Postmaster will use all proper means to assure himself that the applicant is the person named and intended in the advice, and upon payment of the Order care must be taken to obtain the signature of the payee or of the person authorised by him to receive payment to the receipt on the face of the Order.
202. When a Money Order has been lost by either remitter or payee a duplicate thereof will be issued by the paying office on payment of a second commission; and when a remitter desires to correct any error in an order obtained by him such correc- tion may be made on payment of a second commission. Application for either of the above purposes should be made in writing to the Postmaster-General.
203.—The remitter of a local order may request at the time of issue or subsequently that the order be crossed like a cheque, thus "= & Co.," in order that it may be paid only through a bank.
204.-If the payee is unable to write he must sign the receipt by making his mark, to be witnessed in writing by someone known to the Postmaster but unconnected with the Post Office. The witness should sign his name with his address in the presence of the Postmaster, and the latter will then certify the payment by adding his own initials. In no case should the Postmaster act as witness himself. It is not necessary that the witness should be personally acquainted with the payee.
205.-After once paying a Money Order, by whomsoever presented, provided the required information has been given by the party who presented it, the Department will not hold itself liable to any further claim.
206.-The commission to be charged on the issue of the Money Orders payable in Hongkong and the Agencies in China will be one cent per dollar, or fraction of a dollar, with a minimum charge of five cents.
207.- An order remaining unpaid after one year from date of issue-(e.g., issued in January, but unpaid at the end of the following January)-becomes legally void and lapsed to Government and will not be paid unless satisfactory explanation as to the cause of delay in presenting it for payment can be furnished to the Postmaster-General, who alone can authorise such payment. Repayment of such orders as have already been paid into the Treasury as void may be authorised by the Governor under such conditions as he may see fit.
Foreign Money Orders
208. When applying for Money Orders payable abroad the public should use the special Requisition Forms, which are supplied gratuitously at the General Post Office Hongkong.
209.-The applicant must furnish, in full, the surname and, at least, the initial of one Christian name both of the remitter and the payee and the remitter's address. In the case of orders through the United Kingdom the full address of the payee must be given, and if the order be payable to a native in British India the tribe, caste and the father's name should also be furnished.
210. In any case in which the name of the payee is not known the remitter must make a note to the effect on the front of the Requisition Form, and give such descrip tion of the payee as will be sufficient to identify him or her to the Paying Officer. The order will then be issued at the remitter's risk.
211. In the case of orders drawn on the countries and places through the London Office, a receipt of the issue of such order only will be given to the remitter, an order in the currency of the country of payment being issued by the London Office, subject to a deduction on such order at the following rates :--
3d. for sums not exceeding £5, and 3d. for each £5 or fraction of £5 additional.
All such orders must be expressed in British Currency and, if so desired, the remitter must allow for the above deduction.
212. The commission to be charged will be one and a half cent per dollar or fraction of a dollar, on the amount (or equivalent of the amount) in dollars, with a minimum charge of 10 cents.
213.-In the Money Order Service between Hongkong and the United Kingdom, Germany, Ceylon, India, Straits Settlements, Federated Malay States and the Union of South Africa a system for furnishing the remitters of money orders, on application at time of issue, with "Advices of Payment" has been introduced. The paying Postmaster, as soon as the orders have been paid, will send the advices direct to the remitters.