A
94
No. 29.
THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 24TH FEBRUARY, 1866.
GOVERNMENT NOTIFICATION.
The following Notice to Mariners, communicated by the Acting Consul for the Netherlands, is published for general information.
By Order,
Colonial Secretary's Office, Hongkong, 23rd February, 1866.
W. H. ALEXANDER, Acting Colonial Secretary,
NOTIFICATION.
BATAVIA, 16th January, 1866.
The Director of ways and means makes known, that the two easterly Beacons of the Pan-Reef (northern entrance of the Riouw straits) have been destroyed.
The Beacons will be replaced as soon as the weather permits.
POST OFFICE NOTIFICATION.
(Signed) C. CASTENS.
It is hereby notified for general information that henceforward the fee for Registering a letter posted at this Office addressed to the United Kingdom will be reduced from Sixpence to Fourpence.
F. W. MITCHELL,
General Post Office, Hongkong, 23rd February, 1866.
POST OFFICE NOTIFICATION.
Postmaster General.
It is hereby notified for general information that under the terms of an additional postal convention which has recently been concluded between the United Kingdom and Belgium, and of a Treasury Warrant dated the 22nd July last, the postage of Letters, Newspapers, and Book Packets transmitted to and from Hongkong and Belgium by way of the United Kingdom will remain unchanged, but certain alterations have been made in the terins of the Book Post, and a Pattern Post has been established between Hongkong and Belgium.
In future, under the term "Book Packets" may be forwarded not only stitched or bound books, pamphlets, and sheets of music, but also printed proof sheets, with ordinary corrections in writing and manuscripts attached to such proofs, and having reference to them, as well as legal and other documents in manuscript, photographs and drawings (so long as those articles are not on glass or placed under glass), prints or maps, printed, engraved, or lithographed, and whether on paper, parchment, or vellum; but no letter or communication of the nature of a letter must be forwarded in such packets, or in or upon their covers..
Further, all legitimate binding, mounting, or covering of a book, publication, &c., or of a portion thereof, will be allowed, whether such binding, &c., be loose or attached, as also rollers in the case of prints or maps, markers, (whether of paper or otherwise), in the case of books, and, in short, whatever is necessary for the safe transmission of literary or artistic matter, or usually appertains thereto.
Patterns, or Samples of merchandize, may also, in future, be sent to Belgium, at the same rates of postage as Book Packets, and subject to the following Regulations:
1st.-The Patterns.or Samples must not be of intrinsic value. This rule excludes all articles of a saleable nature, and, indeed, whatever may have a value of its own, apart from its mere use as a pattern or sample; and the quantity of any material sent ostensibly as a pattern or sample must not be so great that it can fairly be considered as having, on this ground, an intrinsic value.
2nd. There must be no writing or printing, in addition to the address of the person for whom the packet is intended, and the address of the sender, other than a trade mark and numbers, and the prices of the articles, and these particulars must in all cases be given, not on loose pieces of paper, but on small labels attached to the samples, or the bags containing them.
3rd. The Patterns or Samples must be sent in covers open at the ends, so as to be easy of examination. Samples, however, of seeds, drugs, and so forth, which cannot be sent in open tovers, may be enclosed in bags of linen or other material, tied at the neck, or the bags may be entirely closed provided that they be transparent, so that the Officers of the Post Office may be able to satisfy themselves as to the nature of the contents.
4th. No article likely to injure the contents of the mail bags, or the person of any Officer of the Post Office, may sent through the Post as a pattern.
The following are the rates of British postage chargeable on correspondence sent from Hongkong to Belgium by way Southampton, viz:
be
of
Not exceeding }
an ounce.
30 cents.
Above an ounce and not exceeding 1 ounce.
60 cents.
FOR A LETTER Above 1 ounce and not excceding 2 ounces. $1.20.
Above 2 ounces and not exceeding 3 ounces. $1.80.
For every additional
ounce.
60 cents.
FOR A NEWSPAPER
4 cents.
FOR A PACKET OF PRINTED PAPERS OR OF PATTERNS OF MERCHANDIZE
Not exceeding 2 ounces
in weight.
4 cents.
Above 2 ounces and not exceeding 4 ounces. 8 cents.
bove 4 ounces and not
exceeding b. 16 cents.
And so on adding 16 cents for every additional half pound or fraction of half a pound.
Above 15 and not exceeding 1lb. 32 cents.
The postage on letters may be paid at the time of posting or it may be left to be collected on delivery of the letters, in the case of Newspapers and Packets of Books or Printed Papers and of Samples of Merchandize, prepayment of the postage is compulsory.
Newspapers and Prices Current may be sent unpaid to Belgium viâ Marseilles, but Packets of Printed Papers and Samples cannot be forwarded from Hongkong to Belgium via Marseilles.
If either of the foregoing rules be infringed, the packet will not be forwarded.
General Post Office, Hongkong, 12th February, 1866.
F. W. MITCHELL, Postmaster General.
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