Page 6 Advertisements Column 4

New Zealander, Volume XVIII, Issue 1651, 12 February 1862, Page 6

the letter thus marked must be returned immediately to the place whence it came ; unless the person to whom it was addressed shall have left written instructions as to the disposal of his letters, when it must be dealt with accordingly. 57. Any unclaimed letter which may be returned from any other Post Office, on account of its not having been possible, from whatever reason, to deliver it to the person addressed, will be treated in the following manner :—ln the first place, the Postmaster will examine the letter to see whether the handwriting on the address is known to him or whether there areany other signs or marks upon it whereby he can trace the writer. Should this examination fail to enable him to discover the writer, he will immediately advertise the letter, according to its address, in some local Newspaper. Should either of these methods succeed in bringing forth a claimant for the letter, the Postmaster will deliver it up to such claimant, on receiving the amount due for expenses incurred, and on being satisfied by seeing the claimant’s signature, as the writer of the letter; and the Postmaster is hereby authorised and required to open the letter in the presence of such claimant, in order to satisfy himself upon this point. Should, however, thirty days elapse from the date of the letter being advertised, and the writer be still undiscovered, the Postmaster in whose hands the unclaimed letter is (if not himself the Chief Postmaster of the District,) will transmit such letter by the earliest opportunity to the Chief Postmaster of the District The ( hief Postmaster, oti receiving the letter, will proceed to open it, in order to ascertain the name and address of the writer. Having ascertained this, and addressed it to the writer, he will immediately seal it up again, and either cause it to be delivered to the writer, or. if the writer’s residence be unknown, advertise the letter in some local Newspaper by the writer’s name. If, after three months from the time of such advertisement, the writer should not be found, the unclaimed letter will be sent to the Post-master-General forthe purpose of beingrecorded and destroyed. 58. Should any letter, opened as above provided, be found to contain Coin, Notes, or other valuable property, such property will not be enclosed on the letter being re-sealed; but will be kept separate, and returned to the writer, or transmitted to the Postmaster-General, as the case may be. 59. Postmasters may cause all Pamphlets, Magazines, Reviews, and Periodical publications of all kinds, including newspapers, which may have remained unclaimed or undelivered in their respective Offices for the period of six months, to be sold on public account, or destroyed, as they may think fit. REGISTERED LETTERS.

60. Every kind of letter or packet receivable at any post office may be registered at any post office. 61. On every letter presented for registration the prescribed fee in stamps is, in the first place, to be demanded, and then the full postage in stamps to which the letter may be liable. (52. The first duty of every officer opening a mail is to look into the letter bill, for the purpose of discovering whether it contains any registered letters 63. No registered letter may be delivered, under any circumstances, to any but the person entitled to receive the same; nor until the Postmaster, at the place of delivery, shall have first taken a receipt for the same; and this receipt shall be transmitted by the first mail to the despatching Postmaster. 64. Should any registered letter be missing, the fact must be immediately reported to tbe Postmaster-General ; and the Postmaster shall take immediate steps for tracing it to the person responsible for its safety. 65. No Postmaster shall be required to register any letter tendered to him for that purpose, unless the same shall have been presented to him for registration at least one hour before the time advertised for tbe closing of the mall by which the said letter is desired to be forwarded. BOOK PACKETS 66. Every packet intended to be transmitted as a book packet, must be sent either without a cover, or in a cover open at the ends or sides. 67. The packet may contain any number of separate books or other publications, prints or maps, and any quantity of paper, parchment, or vellum (to the exclusion, however, of letters, whether sealed or open) ; also photographs, but exclusive of glass in any form : and the books or other publications, prints, maps, etc., may be either written, printed, or plain, or any mixture of the three. Further, all legitimate binding, mounting, or covering of a book, publication, etc., or of a portion thereof, will be allowed, whether such binding, etc., 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 j and, in short, whatever is necessary for the safe transmission of literary or artistic matter, or usually appertains thereto.

o*B. The packet must not contain any letter, closed or open, nor any enclosure, sealed or otherwise closed against inspection ; nor must there be any letter, or any communication of the nature of a letter, written or printed, in any such packet, or on its cover. 69. No Postmaster shall he required to receive any book packet if it exceed two feet in length or one foot in width or depth, or three pounds in weight. 70. Any packet which shall not be open at the ends or sides, or shall have any letter, or any communication of the nature of a letter, written or printed in it or upon its cover, is chargeable * with letter postage, and will be subject to the rule laid down in the case of an insufficiently paid letter. (Cl. 39.) 71. No Postmaster shall be required to ac- | cept, for transmission by any overland mail, a book packet which, from its weight, or any other reason, may appear calculated to retard the carrier, or otherwise to cause inconvenience. 72 It will be the duty of every Postmaster, from time to time, to examine packets and papers open at both ends, sent as exempt from letter postage ; and in case he should discover that any such packet is not entitled to exemption from letter postage, he is hereby strictly enjoined to prosecute the offender. PRIVATE BOXES. 73. Any Postmaster may set apart and allow a Private Box in his Post Office to any person who may apply for the same ; and such person shall hold such Box, subject to the following rules : 74. Every Private Box shall be so arranged that access may be had both from the outside and inside of the Post Office. 75. The outside end of each Box shall be provided with a door and lock ; and the person to whom such Box shall be allotted shall be furnished with a key to the same ; but the lock shall be kept in I’epair at his own expense. 76. All Letters received at any Post Office at which Pri'ratp Btaxbe shall havh bWn