Postal_Guide_1929 — Page 42

-44

HONG KONG POSTAL GUIDE

If the name of the ship is not known, it may, at the risk of the sender, be replaced by the particulars of its voyage determined by the name of the ports of origin and destination, or by any other equivalent particular.

In the address the name of the ship as it appears in the first column in the nomenclature shall be counted in every case, and independently of its length, as one word. Similarly, the name of the Coast Station, when included in the address, is counted and charged for as one word.

237.-The sender of a radio-telegram to a ship may indicate the maximum period for which he desires the message to be kept at the Coast Station. In that case he should write before the address the instruction "X days" (charged for as one word), specifying the number of days, inclusive of the day of handing in of the telegram. If the ship does not communicate with the Coast Station within that period, the latter notifies the office of origin, and the information is communicated to the sender.

238.-If the sender does not specify any period, the office of origin will be informed by Service Advice on the morning of the 5th day after the despatch of the radio-telegram that it has not been possible to deliver the message to the ship of destination. The sender, to whom this information will be communicated by the office of origin, may then, if he chooses, request, by means of a Paid Service Advice to the Coast Station (payment being at the rate of 5 cents per word) that the radio-telegram may be retained for a further period of nine days, and so on.

If no such request is received, the radio-telegram will be treated as undelivered at the end of the 7th day, (not including the day of handing in).

239.-If the Coast Station knows that the ship has passed beyond its range of transmission before the radio-telegrams could be transmitted to it, the office of origin is notified; and the information will be communicated to the sender. For refund in this case, see paragraph 244. The sender may by Paid Service Advice request the Coast Station to transmit the radio-telegram when the ship next passes.

240. The sender of a radio-telegram upon giving the necessary instructions and paying the requisite fees may make use of the special services as detailed in the following paragraph.

241.-The sender of a radio-telegram may prepay a reply of any length. The instruction. "R.P.- "followed by mention of the amount prepaid. must be written before the address. The amount prepaid should be expressed in sterling currency, e.g. "R.P. 15/6" if the radio-telegram is addressed to a British ship; in other cases in franc currency, thus R.P. fr. 15.50, the whole expression count- ing as one word.

The reply-paid voucher issued on board ship gives the right to send up to the limit of its value and within the period of six weeks, a radio-telegram to any address whatever from the ship-station which issued the voucher.