Directory_and_Chronicle_1906 — Page 509

HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE

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obliterate the postage stamp and impress the date stamp on the certificate and return the certificate to the person posting the article. (4.) The granting of such certificate affords the public an assurance that letters and other articles entrusted to servants and messengers for posting have actually been posted, but implies no responsibility on the part of the Post Office if such articles be lost or damaged in transit.

MISCELLANEOUS.

124.—It is no part of the duties of the Post Office to affix stamps to correspondence, or to see that servants purchase or affix the proper amounts, nor can the officers of the Department, under any circumstances, undertake to do this.

125.-Any article of correspondence duly prepaid and posted becomes the property of the addressee, and cannot be returned to the sender, nor can it be detained, without the written authority of the Governor of Hongkong or of His Majesty's Consul at the Port on an application stating fully the reasons for the request.

126.- Postal officials are not bound to give change, nor are they authorized to demand it; and when money is paid at a Post Office, whether as change or otherwise, no question as to its right amount, goodness or weight can be entertained after it has been removed from the counter.

127.—Postal officials are not bound to weigh for the public, letters,, books, packets or newspapers brought for the post, but they may do so if their duty be not thereby impeded. This rule does not apply to parcels, which are tested both as to weight and size before being accepted.

128.-No information can be given respecting letters or any other postal packets except to the persons to whom they are addressed, and in no other way is official information of a private character allowed to be made public.

129.-Circulars should be tied in bundles, with all the addresses in one direction, and should be posted as early as possible before the hour fixed for closing, so as to secure due despatch.

130.-The Post Office is not legally liable for any loss or inconvenience which may arise from the damage, delay, non-delivery, mis-sending, or mis-delivery of any letter or other postal packet, but liability for actual loss or damage is accepted on certain condi- tions in the case of parcels and registered packets.

131.-All complaints in Hongkong and those which cannot be adjusted locally at Postal Agencies should be addressed to the Postmaster General, Hongkong, and if Marked "On Postal Business," will be forwarded free by any Postmaster or agent.

The

correspondence about which complaint is made should if possible be for- warded with such complaint. When correspondence has been missent or delayed (both of which are liable to happen occasionally), all that the complainant need do is to write on the cover, Sent to ......, or Delivered at ...... or Not received till the ......th. inst nt, or as the case may be, and forward it, without any note or letter whatever, to the Post- master General. Attention to this would save much writing and needless troulbe.

LOCAL MONEY ORDERS AND POSTAL NOTES,

132.-The hours of business at the General Post Office, Hongkong, daily, excepting Saturdays, are from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 1 pm. On the working day next before the English and French contract mails for E. ope leaving at noon the Office is open from 10a.m. to 5 p.m. Money orders for the Straits, India and Europe are not issued before noon on days when the contract mail for Europe leaves at that hour. Postal notes, however, can be obtained.

133. Single Money Orders are issued at the General Post Office, Hongkong, and at the British Post Office, Shanghai, at the current rates of exchange for any sum not ex- ceeding $400.

134. Money Orders are paid at the above-named offices and at the several British Postal Agencies in China.

135.-Applications for Money Orders must be made on the printed forms provided for the purpose at the Money Order Offices. The full name and address of both appli- cant and payee should always be given.

136.-Parties procuring Money Orders should examine them carefully to see that they are properly filled up and stamped.

137.-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 authorized by him to receive payment to the receipt on the face of the order.