520
Masters of ships to receive two-pence on each letter brought.
Postage in cases not provided for, and of seamens' and soldiers' letters.
Master of vessels to deliver mails without delay.
Penalty.
Persons proposing to despatch vessel to give notice to the Postmaster General.
ORDINANCE No. 8 OF 1862.
Post Office.
And so on in progression an additional two rates being charged for every additional ounce or fraction of an ounce.
And for every newspaper or price current the sum of one penny.
12. The Postmaster General is hereby authorized to receive from masters of vessels not being Government vessels, or Post Office packets, all correspondence and shall allow and pay to masters of such vessels a sum of two pence for each letter or pamphlet or such like packet and one-half penny for each newspaper brought to or delivered at the General Post Office from any place beyond the limits of the Colony; upon and when and as soon as such master shall have made the declaration in schedule B hereto annexed, which every such master shall make before the Postmaster General, and no master of a vessel or other person shall be allowed to deliver any letter brought to the said Colony, except to the Postmaster General or his deputy at the General Post Office, save and except correspondence as under the provisions hereinbefore contained may be otherwise delivered. The sums so paid by the Postmaster General or his deputy shall be charged in his account against this Colony.
13. The postage of all correspondence not provided for by this Ordinance shall be fixed from time to time by an order under the hand of His Excellency the Governor and published in the Hongkong Government Gazette. Provided that all single letters received or sent by seamen or soldiers shall, subject to the same provisions as heretofore, be charged with such reduced rates of postage as they have hitherto been charged in this Colony.
14. In case of the arrival of any vessel in the harbour of Victoria having any mail on board of which the delivery shall not have been demanded, the master shall forthwith without unnecessary delay deliver to the Postmaster General or to his deputy at the Post Office all mail bags, boxes and packages brought by such vessel; and every master of a vessel offending against this provision shall for every such offence forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars, recoverable before a Police Magistrate.
15. Every person or firm proposing to dispatch a vessel to any port or place out of this Colony, excepting the ports or places on the Canton River and Macao, shall, as soon as any day or hour is named for the departure of such vessel, give the first intimation of such proposed departure to the Postmaster General by forwarding to him a copy of any circular or advertisement by which it is intended to apprise the public of such departure, and shall, in like manner, intimate to the Postmaster General any alteration in the hour of departure of the said vessel, and the Postmaster General shall, on receiving such intimations, give notice to the public of the day and hour when mails will be made up by such vessel; and any person or firm failing to give the information above provided for to the Postmaster General shall, for every such offence, forfeit a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars recoverable before a Police Magistrate, unless the Postmaster General on a representation made to him of the circumstances of the case consents, with the sanction of His Excellency the Governor, to waive the enforcement of such penalty.