Directory_and_Chronicle_1913 — Page 547

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HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE

DISPOSAL OF UNDELIVERED CORRESPONDENCE

116. Every letter or other postal article should bear the full name and address of the sender in order to ensure its return in case of non-delivery.

117.-An undelivered local or foreign letter or post card bearing the full name and address of the sender printed or written upon the outside is returned direct to the gender. Other undelivered local letters and post cards are sent to the Returned Letter Branch where they will be opened and returned, if possible, to the senders; if they contain neither sender's name or address, nor any enclosure of importance they will be destroyed. Letters found to contain articles of value are recorded and if returned are registered. Letters from abroad are returned unopened to the country of origin.

118.—Book packets and newspapers which cannot be delivered and which bear the name and address of the sender with a request for their return in case of non-delivery are returned direct to the gender on payment of a second postage. Those bearing no name nor request for retur. are sent to the Returned Letter Branch, where they will be disposed of.

119. The name and address of the sender and the request for return should be written or printed in small type at the upper left-hand corner of the packet.

120.—All unpaid undelivered letters or post cards shall be delivered to the senders only on the payment of the amount charged thereon.

ARTICLES OF VALUE

121. Neither money nor any other article of value ought to be sent by post except in a registered postal packet, and in the case of money by means of a Post Office Money Order or of a Postal Order duly filled up with the name of the payee. Any person who sends money or any other articles of value otherwise runs the risk of losing his property, and the Post Office declines all responsibility for such, and will make no enquiries into alleged losses of such letters.

CERTIFICATES OF POSTING

122.-Contrary to general usage, the Hongkong Post Office will give a Certificate of posting for an ordinary letter, to assure the sender his correspondence has not been stolen on the way to the Post. The conditions under which such Certificate will be given are as follows:

(1.) The certificate of posting written in ink must be presented to an officer on duty at the Post Office along with the article to be posted during the hours which the Post Office is open to the public,

(2.) The certificate must contain an exact copy of the address on the article to which it relates and must have a postage stamp value one cent affixed thereto.

(3) The officer to whom the article and certificate are presented will compare the address on the article with the certificate, and if it be correct will 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 letter 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

123.—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.

124.-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 on an application stating fully the reasons for the request.

125. 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.

126.-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 Bize before being accepted.

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