POSTAL GUIDE.

Auckland Star, Issue 17, 21 January 1932, Page 8

POSTAL GUIDE.

information for public. variety of regulations. LIVE BEES PERMITTED. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Wednesday. The majority of the public know of the existence of the "New Zealand Post and Telegraph Guide"; some have consulted it when in doubt about some obscure point of the postal regulations but probably very few have ever read lt Quite S a number of people are_ under the impression that if they register a postal packet, and it gets lost receive the full value back again. This, however, is far from the case, lne public are exhorted to register letters containing valuables; indeed, it is obligatory to do so if the letter or packet contains watches, jewellery, coin or banknotes. "The registration of an article renders its transmission much more secure. The loss of a registered article is a very rare occurrence," says the "Guide." But the fly ill the ointment is the fact that the PostmasterGeneral flatly refuses to be liable to pay the sender of a registered packet, should it get lost, more than £2, whatever the value of the contents. In some cases that might be no compensation at all. What a lot of people do not know, however, is that a letter can be insured as well as registered.- In this case it is possible to get compensation for loss up to £400. To insure an inland letter for this amount costs the sender 5/10; an overseas letter insured for this amount costs 14/5. A smaller sum can be paid for a correspondingly smaller limit of insurance. There is at the beginning of the guide a long list of prohibitions as regards the articles that my not be posted to the various countries of the world. Drugs, gold, silver, coin, jewellery, are common prohibitions in the lists. Soviet Russia apparently does not encourage stamp collectors, for amongst its prohibitions are "postage stamps and other objects of philatelic interest addressed to private individuals." Russia also will not admit "printed matter, printers' blocks, photographs, films, drawings, or manuscripts," except with Soviet Government authority. Tinselled postcards, if posted as postcards and not in covers, Avill merely find their way into the Dead Letter Office and not to the person to whom they are addressed. The same fate awaits a postcard which has loose treeleaves attached to the back of it. "No living creature, except live bees and harmless entomological specimens," can be sent by post. That bees can travel by post will probably come as news to many. Quite how postal officials determine whether an entomological specimen is harmless or not is not revealed in the "Guide." ' What also may be news to many is the fact that English and Australian one-penny and one-penny-halfpenny postago stamps may be obtained by persons desirous of sending a stamp or stamped envelope to their correspondents in Great Britain and Ireland or in Australia in order to relieve them of the cost of postage when sending replies. ''But," says the "Guide," "these stamps cannot be purchased in quantities of more than six at one time, nor arc they permitted to be used for the purpose of making remittances." At the chief post offices the stamps used by the Islands can be purchased, this loping a favour that collectors may appreciate. If patterns or samples are sent by post at the special rate charged for them, "writing in characters such as Chinese, etc., will render the packet liable to letter rates of postage."