MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.

New Zealand Police Gazette, Volume XXXI, Issue 49, 12 December 1906, Page 433

MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION.

Appointment as Constable. 10th December, 1906. No. 1298. —Richardson, William.

Resignations.

No. 973.—Constable Tanner, S. 8., 7th December, 1906. No 1065.—Constable Dell, H. T., 10th December, 1906.

Rewards.

Detective W. B. Mcllveney, No. 667, and Sergeant W. Mathieson, No. 477, Invercargill police, have been awarded by the Customs Department 15s. each, for services in connection with the conviction of Whittingham Bros, for a breach of the Beer Duty Act. (06/22.)

Constable R. M. Leckie, No. 1232, has been awarded £8 for arresting John Lindsay, a deserter from H.M.S. “ Pyramus.” (06/22.)

Circular No. 18/06. Abolition of Franking. With reference to the regulations published hereunder relative to above, the following instructions will be carefully observed :

1. Requisitions on special form (which will be supplied as soon as printed) will be immediately sent in by the member of the Force in charge of each station to the Inspector in charge of the district for the stamps required for the month of January, and subsequent requisitions will be sent in at least a week before the end of each month for the stamps required during the next ensuing month. 2. A copy of each requisition will be carefully filed at each station, and the date when the stamps are received marked thereon.

3. On receipt of requisitions the Inspector will, if he considers them reasonable, approve same and forward them to the Chief Postmaster of the postal district in which the station for which they are required is situated.

4. The Chief Postmaster will forward the stamps with the requisition to the local post-office where the police-station is, for delivery to the officer who will call for and sign for them. 5. Particular care will be taken when making out requisitions that the information required therein is accurately given.

6. Members of the Force who hold offices under other Departments, such as Gaolers, Clerks of Court, Inspector.: of Factories, Deputy Registrars of Old-age Pensions, &c., will see that no stamps issued on behalf of the Police Department are used in connection with their duties in respect to the offices referred to ; they must apply to the Departments interested for a supply of stamps, which must be kept in a separate place to those issued for this Department.

7. Inspectors on visiting stations will inquire carefully into the expenditure of stamps, and see that the instructions contained in the preceding paragraph are carried out; as all stamps issued to this Department will be charged to the Police vote, and will thereby increase the cost of the Police, it is important that the greatest economy be exercised. 8. As telegrams will no doubt prove costly, it is expected that much more care will bo exercised than has been the case iu some districts in the past; they are not to be used where the post will serve as well, and they must at all times be as concise as possible. Telegrams have come under my notice where a little trouble in wording would have reduced the cost by one-half without impairing the sense of the message. In future if any member of the Force is found transgressing in this direction he will be called upon to refund the cost of the unnecessary words. 9. At District Headquarters Stations where no scales are provided requisitions can be forwarded to this office for a suitable weighing-machine, stating local price; probably a good spring balance as used at most Chief Post-offices will be the handiest.

At country stations the constables must where necessary weigh their letters at the local post-office.

W. Dinnie, Commissioner of Police. Wellington, 12th December, 1906. (06/1969.)

Abolition of Franking. On and after the Ist January, 1907, Government and publicservice letters, packets, and telegrams shall be prepaid in stamps, with the following exceptions : {a.) Letters, packets, and telegrams from His Excellency the Governor; (b.) Letters, packets, and telegrams irom any of His Majesty’s Ministers; (c.) Addresses and petitions to Parliament, marked as such, provided the said addresses and petitions dt> not exceed 21b. in weight, and are forwarded without covers, or in covers open at the ends.

2. Letters and packets forwarded by or on behalf of His Excellency the Governor or any of His Majesty’s Ministers shall be enclosed in covers imprinted or marked “ Official, Paid, Government House,” or “ Official, Paid, [Name of the Minister’s office”}; or franked by the signature, or a facsimile thereof, of His Excellency, or the Minister, or of any officer to be designated by him. Telegrams shall be similarly marked in the space provided for “ Instructions.” The envelope superscribed “ Telegram for Transmission,” or any other envelope used for enclosing telegrams, shall be marked as in the case of letters and packets. 3. All other Government letters, packets, and telegrams, and public-service letters, packets, and telegrams from local bodies heretofore authorised to frank, and from the Bank of New Zealand, shall be paid for by means of postage-stamps to be affixed to the letters and packets before posting or to telegrams before presentation. But Government Departments posting more than one hundred pieces of mail matter at one time may, by arrangement with the Post Office, hand such letters, &c., unstamped, over to a responsible postal officer, together with a certificate of posting. All mail matter shall be paid for at the following rates: Letters, each, Id. for each 4 oz. or less ; printed matter, Id. for each 2 oz. or less; and shall be stamped by the Post Office with a stamp bearing the words “ Official, Paid,” and such stamping shall entitle the mail matter to delivery without surcharge. An account for the postage due on such matter to be rendered by the Postmaster, and the amount due paid by means of “ Official ” stamps or cash.

4. Postage-stamps to be used by Government Departments shall bear the overprint “ Official,” and shall be distributed, under existing Stamp Office regulations, to Chief Postmasters, who in turn will supply on a voucher signed by the permanent head or local head of the Department requiring the stamps. Stamps so supplied by the Post and Telegraph Department

shall be paid for at Wellington by the Departments con corned.

5. The “ Official ” overprinted stamps shall on no account be used for prepaying other than official correspondence or telegrams, and no officer or other person shall exchange “ Official ” stamps for cash, or for stamps of the ordinary issue. Any officer disposing of unused “ Official ” stamps for stamp-collecting purposes or otherwise shall be liable to a fine of £5 for the first offence, and to dismissal for any subsequent offence. This regulation shall not, however, apply to officers of the Post and Telegraph Department, who may, in the execution of their duty, supply “ Official ” stamps to the International Bureau of the Postal Union at Berne for distribution to Postal Administrations, or to such officia s and persons as may be specially authorised by the PostmasterGeneral.

* 6. Unpaid or short-paid official letters, &c., addressed to Government Departments shall be surcharged the actual deficiency without fine. Such matter, and also “ Collect ” telegrams, shall be delivered on an acknowledgment of the sum due on a form to be provided for the purpose, and the amount subsequently claimed by the Post Office. 7. “ Collect ” telegrams on public business addressed to His Excellency the Governor or His Majesty’s Ministers shall be delivered in ordinary course; the envelopes to be marked “ Official,” and initialled by His Excellency, or the Minister, or by an officer designated by him, and then handed to the message-boy delivering the telegram. 8. Government Departments receiving from the public large numbers of letters which should not be prepaid by the senders may, by arrangement with the Post Office, issue printed envelopes bearing, in place of a postage-stamp, the words “ Official, Paid,” and the value of such mail matter shall be paid by the Department concerned as under clause 6. Any such envelope issued shall bear besides the words “ Official, Paid,” a printed or written address, or a suitable superscription, and shall be used only for such address, or in respect to the business indicated by the superscription. 9. Letters, ordinary or registered, posted by or to the public, which are permitted to pass free under any Act of Parliament shall be marked “ Official, Paid ” at the office of posting.

10. Government and public-service telegrams not complying with these regulations may be refused transmission. 11. The special stamps now in use by the Government Insurance Department shall cease to be issued, and replaced by the stamps overprinted “ Official.”