103231-1926-Supplementary-Draft-Bill--Post-Office — Page 21

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might be difficult in a place like London. There is an objection to clanse 11, i.c.. that it may conflict with part of the decision in Henthorn V. Fraser (1892) 2 Ch. 27, and it might enable the sender to withdraw an acceptance of a contract when he would not otherwise be able to do 80. It must also he pointed out that Article 1 of the Final Pro- tocol of the Convention lays down that "The prov sions of Article 45 of the Convention do not apply to Great Britain and to the British Dominions. Colonies and Protectorates, of which the internal ie isla- tion does not permit the withdrawal of correspondence at the request of the sender." In spite of these objections the clause is inserted bec use of its general convenience and because of the provision in Article 45 of the Stockholm Convention referred to above.

18. Clause 12 gives power to open and delay any postal packet which is reasonably suspeted of having been posted in contraventiou of the law, or of containing any thing with respect to whiah, or by means of which, any offence is being committed or attempted.

19. Under the present law the Postmaster Geuer: l'has no power even to delay the transmission of correspondence, much less to open correspon lence, without an express warrant under the hand of the Governor, except in the particular cases dealt with in sections 12A, 17 and 18 of the Post Office Ordinance, 1900, and sub-section (2) of section 19 of that Ormance seems to indicate that the warrant of the Governor must be for some specified article or correspondence and cannot be general. Clause 13 of the bill gives a general power, and it enables the Postmaster General to delay a postal packet for the purposes of obtaining a warrant to open it. In these two respects it is wider than the existing law. It is narrower because it restricts these powers to postal packets posted in the Colony or received for delivery in the Colony. The inviolability of letter mails passing through the Colony therefore strengthened in the bill while full powers are given for dealing with letters which either originate here or are to be delivered here.

20. Cluse 14 provides for the disposal of postal packets opened under the authority of sections 10, 12 or 13. Sabject to any regulations which may be made under the Ordinance, the Governor is given full discretion in this matter. Subject to his direction, any postal parkets required for any criminal or forfeiture proceedings may be kept for that purpose. Subject to the above, the postal packet is to be forwarded to the addressee if it can lawfully be so forwarded, and if it cannot be forwarded it is to be returned to the sender.

21. Clause 15 applies sections 12, 13 and 14 to all postal articles tendered to the post office whether such articles are transmissible by post or not.

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SHIPS.

22. Section 30 of the Post Office Ordinance, 1900, is defective in that it only requires “the first intimation" of the proposed despatch of a vessel to be given to the Postmaster General. When an owner has failed to give any intimation to the Postmaster Ge eral it is not possible to exact any penalty unless the Postmaster General is in a position to prove that some "intimation" had been given to someone else. This makes the section rather useless in case of default. Another difficulty in the section is that it is not very clear about the person on whom the obligation lies. Clause 17 of the hill requires reasonable notice in writing in every case, and it particularises the persous by whom the notice is to be given. It also attempts to give an indication of what is meant by a reasonable notice.

23. Under clanse 18 of the bill, which follows section 32 of the Post Office Ordinance, 1900, and section 26 of the Post Office Act, 1908, the master of a ship is bound to accept postal packets intended for transmission to places outside the Colony. Clause 20 of the bill imposes on every master of a ship to whom any such postal packets are delivered a statutory contract that he will duly deliver them at their destination outside the Colony, and fixes $500 as liquidated damages for any breach of this statutory contract. The legislation takes this form because of the territorial limitations to the powers of the local legislature. The bill here merely follows section 29 of the Post Office Ordinance, 1900.

24. Section 26 of the Post Office Ordinance, 1900, is out of date as regards the rates of gratuities payable to ships for carrying mails. It is also out of date in prohibiting the payment of gratuities for mails in transit. Clause 19 of the bill leaves the rates of gratuities to be prescribed by regulation.