HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE.
587
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 special 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. Posting on board should never be resorted to where the route is long and complicated, e.g. to Chili, Peru, or a West Indian Colony. Correspondence for such places should always be sent to the Post Office. 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.
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 nothing 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.
*Correspondence brought to Post Office just too late for any mail is returned that this may be done. The sender is of course at liberty to post it again should he wish to do so.