FOREIGN PARCEL POST.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 4991, 26 April 1889, Page 4

FOREIGN PARCEL POST.

PARCEL POST BETWEEN NEW ZEALAND & TEE UNITED KINGDOM, The following are the regulations under which parcels will be accepted and transmitted to the United Kingdom':— Parcels will only be forwarded by the steamers of the New Zealand Shipping Company, Limited, and the Shaw-Saville-Albion Company, Limited. A parcel for transmission must not exceed lllb in weight, 3ft 6in. in length, or 6ft. in length and girth combined. Parcels of the maximum size and weight will only be received at, or delivered from, New Zealand post offices at places accessible by railway, steamer or mail coach. From places in New Zealand not served by railway steamer or mail-coach (list at page 67 of Postal Guidej only parcels not exceeding 51b in weight and not measuring more than 2ft. in length or Ift. in breadth or depth may be accepted. Parcels should be securely and substantially packed and closed by the sender. If wax is used, it should be of the special quality which resists the heat of a hot climate. Parcels must not be posted in a postingbox, but should be presented at the postoffice counter. Where not repugnant to the foregoing rules the general regulations of the Inland Parcel Post will apply. Parcels are received and forwarded at owner’s risk, and the Postmaster-General is not liable for any loss of or damage to any parcel. On payment of a fee of 4cl, the sender can at time of posting receive a certificate of posting. The certificate imposes no liability on the department, and is merely intended as evidence of posting. For a parcel not exceeding 21b. in weight, Is 6d ; for every additional pound or fraction thereof, 9d extra. Postage must be fnlly prepaid by means of postage stamps affixed to the parcels. Insufficiently-prepaid parcels will not bo accepted.

Parcels for transmission to the United Kingdom must be posted or delivered at the parcel post office at the port where the steamer takes her final departure at least eight hours before the close of the ordinary letter-mail. The hour for closing parcel-post mail elsewhere will be duly notified by Postmasters.

Bach parcel should be plainly directed; the direction should give name and full address of the person for whom the parcel is intended. The words “ Parcel Post ” should be written on the upper left-hand corner, and also the name and address of the sender. Parcels will be liable to'the Customs laws, duties, and regulations of the colony and the United Kingdom respectively. The sender of each parcel will be required to make a Customs declaration (on a form to be obtained at parcel post offices), describing the contents and stating the value thereof, and also giving the name of the place to which the parcel is addressed and the sender's signature and residence. False declaration involves forfeiture of parcels and-renders sender liable to prosecution.

No parcelf containing dangerous articles, perishable articles, articles likely to injure other parcels, liquids, unless securely packed in proper cases, or any contraband articles or substances will be accepted. Parcels found to contain forbidden articles, and parcels) the contents of which have been falsely declared, will be dealt with in accordance witli the Customs and other laws and regulations. Tobacco cannot be sent to the United Kingdom by parcel post. A parcel must not contain a letter, neither must it contain another parcel addressed to a person other than the addressee of the first-named parcel. If such an enclosure be discovered, it will be charged with a separate rate of postage.

■ The latest society fad in New York, according to a Home paper, is the Salvation Army. One of the enthusiastic women who has faithfully followed General Booth for several years went to New York recently from England with the avowed purpose of making a social revolution in favour of religion. She is pretty and intelligent, and at once “caught on” with some , of the ladies who claim to lead the fashions. Prayer meetings were organised, and invitations sent out, and now these meetings are of daily occurrence, and the millionairesses are vieing with each other to get up the largest attendance and the greatest enthusiasm. Whether the conversions made at these meetings are anything more than skin deep is a question j that the movement will last for any length of time nobody believes. It is a social craze and nothing more ; society in New York is ready to take up anything that will furnish excitement, and the range may be anywhere from horseback riding to stockings to be drawn on over the head. A valuable ring was discovered the other day embedded in the clay in a brickfield at Sittingbourne by a workman. The man was engaged in digging clay, when he turned up in the mould a large gold ring of antique pattern. A large cameo is let into the metal, upon which is finely engraved a representation of a pair of horses harnessed to a chariot which is being driven by a man apparently in the dress of a Roman soldier. The ring is in perfect preservation, and is no doubt a Roman relic, as it was discovered on the site of an old Roman settlement. A few days previously a man was occupied in screening ashes in another brickfield at Sittingbourne, when he came across a new gold Jubilee £5 piece. This valuable coin doubtless found its way into the housemaid’s box, from thence transferred to the scavenger’s errt, and finally was conveyed by barge from London to Sittingbourne, where immense quantities of London dirt or ashes are used in the manufacture of bricks.