Directory_and_Chronicle_1917 — Page 568

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HONGKONG POSTAL GUIDE

Directions as to Packing

154.-Parcels containing any fragile or perishable article must be so packed as to ensure their safe, handling and their causing no injury or damage to the mails.

155. Parcels generally must be so packed and enclosed in a reasonably strong case, wrapper, or cover, fastened in a manner calculated to preserve the contents from loss or damage in the post, and to prevent any tampering therewith. The packing of a parcel must also be such as to protect other postal packets from being damaged in any way by it. Any parcel not so packed will, if tendered for transmission, be refused, and if dis- covered in transit will be liable to be detained.

Parcels for Greece, Persia, Roumania and Russia must be packed in some material stronger than paper or cardboard. No compensation is paid for damage to articles in- sufficiently packed.

156.-For parcels containing liquids and substances which easily liquify the following method should be adopted-Two receptacles should be used, and between the inner one, which contains the liquid, and the outer one, which should be of wood or metal, space should be left all round, and this space should be filled with bran, sawdust, or other absorbent material.

157. Further, a parcel for a Foreign Country must be so sealed by the sender that it cannot be opened without breaking the seals or leaving an obvious trace of violation. The seals must bear the impression of a private mark of the sender.

Forbidden Articles

158.--No article may be sent by Local or Foreign Parcel Post with any enclosure which bears an address different from that placed on the cover of the parcel.

159.-No letter, even if addressed in the same way as the parcel in which it is enclosed, may be sent in the parcel addressed to any Foreign Country or to Australia, British Central Africa, Cape Colony, Natal and other parts of South Africa, Fiji, Jamaica, Mauritius, New Zealand, Seychelles, Straits Settlements, Trinidad, the United States. Parcels for other British possessions may contain a letter for the addressee, but packets of letters must not be sent by Parcel Post to any place abroad. An invoice in an open envelope, giving simply particulars of the goods contained in the parcel, may be enclosed in any parcel.

160. Further, no parcel is admissible which contains base or counterfeit coin, articles infringing trade-mark or copyright laws, any article or substance able to become offensive or injurious through natural decay during the time ordinarily occupied in transmission (for example, butter, &c., addressed to a tropical or sub-tropical country, or having to pass through the tropics in course of transmission, unless enclosed in a hermetically sealed tin), or any article or substance specially prohibited from im- portation into the country or colony to which the parcel is addressed. For a list of such special prohibitions see Appendix III. The Post Office can accept no responsibility for the correctness and completeness of this list, although efforts are made to secure accuracy.

161.-It is pointed out that many perishable articles, even though in good condition at the time of posting, may become offensive and worthless owing to the length of the journey, although delivered in proper course of post.

Compensation

162. The Postmaster-General will (not in consequence of any legal liability, but voluntarily, as an act of grace) give compensation for the loss or damage of uninsured parcels sent by Parcels Post between Hongkong and the United Kingdoin and the undermentioned British Possessions and Foreign Countries, when such loss or damage takes place while the parcels are in his custody, and does not arise from any fault or neglect of the senders or the nature of the contents:-

Ascension

Bahamas

Barbados

British Guiana

British Honduras Ceylon

Cyprus

Falkland Islands

Gambia

Gibraltar

Gold Coast Colony Grenada

British Possessions

India Labuan Lagos

Leeward Islands Mauritius

Newfoundland North Borneo St. Helena

St. Lucia

St. Vincent

Seychelles Sierra Leo' e South Australia

Tobago Trinidad