TO INSURE LETTERS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 995, 9 December 1910, Page 6

TO INSURE LETTERS.

- • ■ : *; . NEW SCHEME WILL BE STARTED* NEXT MONTH. The latest postal innovation is.the insurance of letters. This was a subject of legislation during the recent session and the new scheme will come into operation on January 1. Regulations were gazetted last night. Letters addressed to any place in the United Kingdom or in New Zealand may be insured up to an insured value of .£4OO on certain conditions mentioned below, and compensation will be paid for the loss in the post of any letter or its contents so insured. , Tho letter must contain bank-notes, bonds,' coupons, securities, or other documents of the kind. Post-cards, packets of "printed papers," or "commercial papers," sample packets, or letters which contain articles other than documents as aforesaid cannot be insured. Insured letters addressed to the United Kingdom will for the present be sent via Suez only. AH insured letters must be sealed and the regulations go into "detail on this point, e.g., all tho seals must be of the same kind of- wax, and must bear distinct impressions of the.same private device. Coins must not be used for sealing ; and the device must not consist merely of straight, crossed, or curved lines which could readily bo imitated. A letter cannot bo insured for more thau its actual value. A letter, of which the contents have no saleable value may, however, be insured for a nominal sum in order to obtain the safeguards of the insurance system; the fee payable will be the minimum one of 4di for'inland letters and Cd. for those addressed to the United Kingdom. Insurance in excess of tho value of the contents will . bar the payment of compensation in respect of any insured letter. The sums payable for insurance, including registration, run from 4d. inland and Od. to the United Kingdom (with compensation limited to ,£l2), up to ss. lOd. inland and 15s. 7di to the United Kingdam (with a limit of ,£'loo compensation). Insured letters cannot bo redirected to any place beyond New Zealand-except the United Kingdom. Compensation for the loss.in:.the'post of an insured letter or its contents will not exceed the amount of the actual loss or damage. • Inland letters containing. coin may be insured, but the coin must!be packed so that it cannot move about. The . compensation, however, for the loss of coin will in no case exceed £5: - The final decision upon all questions of compensation, is to res't with the Post-master-General or the Minister discharging the office of the Postmaster-General of the country in which the loss has taken place. ■