26
HONG KONG POSTAL GUIDE
during the period of retention at a Post Office the contents of a parcel become or are likely to become worthless through natural decay, or are found to be offensive or injurious, they are liable to be disposed of forthwith.
144. Any parcel remaining unclaimed for a period of twenty one days (exclusive of Sundays and Holidays) shall be liable to a demurrage charge of 5 cents per diem for each day beyond such 21 days. The demurrage chargeable on any one parcel shall not exceed $1. The fee shall be payable in postage stamps. No demurrage shall be charged on parcels addressed to persons on board ship.
145.-The Postmaster-General may give compensation for the loss or damage of uninsured parcels sent between Hong Kong and the United Kingdom and British possessions and Foreign countries, except in certain cases (see Appendix IV), when such loss or damage takes place while the parcels are in his custody, and does not arise from any fault or neglect of the senders or the nature of the contents.
146. The compensation paid will correspond with the actual loss or damage but will in no case excced £1. In the case of parcels lost or damaged while under the control of the Post Office of British Possessions and Foreign Countries, the Postmaster General will endeavour to obtain compensation for the senders under similar regulations, but in the Parcel Post with France and some other countries the compensation payable in the case of parcels not weighing more than 7 lb. is limited to 15 francs.
147. A parcel may not contain any enclosure intended for delivery to a person other than the addressee of the parcel itself. It may not contain a letter or communication in the nature of a letter, even if addressed in the same way as the parcel, but it is permissible to enclose open invoices, business cards, printed circulars, or advertisements, price lists, particulars of contents or receipted accounts for such parcel.
148.-The transmission of parcels which bear on the outside any writing or drawing of an indecent or offensive nature, or within which any contents of a like nature may be observed and parcels containing gunpowder, cartridges, lucifer matches, or anything explosive or liable to sudden combustion, bladders containing liquid, grossly offensive or filthy matter, or anything in a condition to injure other parcels or any officer of the Post Office, or any contraband article or substance is prohibited.
149.-No parcel is admissible which contains base or counterfeit coin, arti- cles infringing trade mark or copyright laws, any article or substance liable to become offensive or injurious through natural decay during the time ordinarily occupied in transmission (for example, butter, &c., addressed to a tropical or subtropical country, or having to pass through the tropics in course of trans- mission, unless enclosed in a hermetically sealed tin), or any article or substance specially prohibited from importation into the country or colony to which the parcel is addressed. For such special prohibitions, see Appendix IV. The Post Office can accept no responsibility for the correctness and completeness of these prohibitions, although efforts are made to secure accuracy.