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492
HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE.
156. Whilst making up the Contract Mails for the British, French, American and Torres Straits Packets, it is necessary to keep the office wholly closed for at least ten minutes.
157.-As to matters in which the public can render the department most valuable co-opera- tion, see paragraph 139.
158. On mail days two windows are set apart for the sale of Stamps. Large quantities of newspapers, &c., should be brought to the boxholders' window, not dropped through the Letter Slits. Registry is effected in the Money Order office.
159. The charge for delivery of a letter, newspaper, book, or pattern within Victoria is 2 cents. No delivery is guaranteed to ships lying in the harbour. Local delivery is governed by the following general rules:-
(a.)-All correspondence posted before 5 P.M. on any week day for addresses in Victoria will be delivered the same day, and generally within two hours, unless the delivery should be retarded by the contract mails. Information can always be obtained as to when a delivery will take place.
(b.)-Invitations, &c., can generally be delivered within Victoria at the private houses of the addresses rather than at places of business, if a wish to that effect be expressed by the sender, otherwise all correspondence is invariably delivered at the nearest place of business.* No local delivery is attempted outside Victoria, nor within Victoria at houses where ferocious dogs are kept loose.
(c.)-Boxholders who desire to send Circulars, Dividend Warrants, Invitations, Cards, &c., all of the same weight, to addresses in Hongkong, Bangkok, or the Ports of China, may deliver them to the Post Office unstamped, the postage being then charged to the sender's account. Each batch must consist of at least ten. Such local letters may exceed oz. in weight, and are charged 2 cents per ounce. (d.)-Boxholders may also send Patterns to the same places in the same way. Envelopes containing Patterns may be wholly closed if the nature of the contents be first ex- hibited or stated to the Postmaster General, as he may consider necessary, and approved by him. Printed Circulars may be inserted in such Pattern Packets. 160.-As to excepting the correspondence of individuals from the general delivery, see para graph 147. Letters for persons whose addresses are known will not be kept Poste Restante except by especial permission of the Postmaster General and for satisfactory reasons.
161.-Registered letters cannot be delivered with the same promptitude as ordinary corres- pondence, though in the case of the British mail the delay is made as short as possible by means of completing the registration at sea. Still, the postman who delivers them has to wait at each house whilst a receipt is signed. When registered correspondence is required in great haste, the best way is to call for it.
162. By the Post Office Ordinance (No. 10 of 1876) all transmission of correspondence from or delivery of correspondence in Hongkong, except through the Post Office, is illegal and subject to heavy penalties. Loose correspondence duly stamped may, however, be put on board vessels after the mails are closed at the Post Office.† The Stamps should be cancelled by the sender. If the Port of destination be one where there is no Hongkong Agency, further Postage will, of course, be charged (see paragraph 64). The Stamps affixed here should nevertheless be cancelled, as, if left clean, they may endanger the safety of the letter. This does not apply to letters posted in recognised moveable boxes. A supplementary mail may be closed on board at the discretion of the Postmaster-General. The penalty for not giving proper facilities to make it up and to quit the vessel is $500.
163. Shipmasters must deliver any mails or correspondence which may be on board to the Post Office without delay, and make a declaration that they have done so, under penalty of $500. There is always some person at the Post Office to receive mails, which need not, however, be landed later than 9 P.M., or earlier than 5.30 A.M., excepting, of course, the Contract mails.
164. Shipmasters are entitled to certain gratuities (see paragraph 138) on correspondence brought, and the same may be paid on correspondence taken.
165.-Any person or firm about to despatch a vessel to any place out of the Colony must send the first notice to the Post Office. It is illegal to advertise, Despatches will close at A.M., or the like. In regard to sailing ships, the rule practically is that, if notice be not specially asked for, it is not required. It is required during the N.E. monsoon in the case of sailing ships starting for short voyages south of Hongkong, especially to Manila.
166.-A shipmaster is bound to take mails and sign a receipt for them, under a penalty of $500, which sum may also be recovered for their non-delivery at destination.
167.-The master of a ship is beyond doubt the person responsible for the due delivery of mails. Every ship should be fitted with a locker or chest for mails, and frothing else should be put in it. As soon as a mail comes on board, whoever receives it should place it in the mail locker, and before arrival at any port this locker should be examined.
*This applies also to letters directed to Kowloon, the Peak, Aberdeen. &c.
+ Correspondence brought to Post Office just too late for any mail i- returned that this may be done. The sender is of course at liberty to post it again should he wish to do so.
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