Postal_Guide_September_1963 — Page 55

Prohibitions 51

EMBARRASSING PACKETS

Packets embarrassing to the Post Office staff are also prohibited. Embarrassment may be caused by the method of addressing and the affixing of the stamp; the colour, type, shape and dimensions of the envelope, packet or card; and by the use of a badly reconditioned envelope which has already passed through the post.

Packets posted with a strip of transparent adhesive tape affixed over the postage stamps in such a way that the stamps cannot be cancelled.

(a) Addresses

(b) Stamps

(c) Colour

(d) Envelopes

Window envelope

Aperture envelope

A packet having anything printed or other impressed upon or attached to the address side which, either by tending to prevent the easy and quick reading of the address, or by inconvenient proximity to the postage stamps, or in any other way, is likely to impede the officers of the Post Office in dealing with it. Cards, envelopes, labels and wrappers are, however, admitted if the writing or printing is confined to the left-hand half of the address side, the right-hand half being reserved exclusively for the postage stamps and the address;

A packet having its address parallel to the breadth instead of to the length of the envelope.

A packet bearing on its address side an adhesive label or printed design either resembling a postage stamp in shape or size or in the form of a frame for a postage stamp;

A packet having a postage stamp affixed elsewhere than at the right-hand top corner of the address side. Red packets or envelopes or any other colour likely to cause strain on the eyes of the officers of the Post Office. Cards, labels or envelopes should be white, but there is no objection to pale shades of buff, yellow, green or blue. It is essential, however, that the ink used on coloured paper should be in sharp contrast with the tint of the paper. The foregoing also applies to the visible portion of enclosures in envelopes with transparent or cut-out panels.

A packet enclosed in a window envelope, that is an envelope with a transparent panel which does not conform to the following conditions:

1. The panel must extend parallel to the length of the envelope so that the address of the addressee appears in the same direction;

2. A space of 14 inches must be left above the panel for the postage stamp and the date-stamp impression;

3. No writing or printing other than the address may be displayed through the panel, and the address must appear through the panel in such a manner as to be read with reasonable facility;

4. The enclosures must be so folded that they cannot move about in the envelope, and thus cause the address to be hidden.

A packet enclosed in an aperture envelope, that is, an envelope with an open (cut-out) panel which does not conform to the following conditions:-

1. The open (cut-out) panel must not exceed 34

inches in length by 14 inches in width;

2. The requirements shown in (1), (2), (3) and (4) in the preceding paragraph headed Window envelope;

Page 55Page 56