16
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
nience, the Postmaster in whose office such
vacancy shall occur, may employ some fit per-
son temporarily to perform the duties of the
vacant office; and the person so employed shall
before entering upon his duties, take and sub-
scribe the declaration prescribed for persons
regularly appointed to situations in the Post
Office.

18. No Postmaster shall absent himself from
    his duty, without having obtained leave from
    the Postmaster-General, and without having
    made provision to the satisfaction of that Offi-
    cer, for the performance of his duties during
    his absence.

19. Any Postmaster may grant leave of ab-
    sence for any time not exceeding a fortnight,
    to any of his subordinates, but no longer leave
    of absence shall be granted without the appro-
    val of the Postmaster-General.

20. Any Postmaster having any serious
    ground of complaint against or having lost all
    confidence in any person employed in his office
    may suspend such person from duty, but, a re-
    port of the matter must be sent by first post to
    the Postmaster-General.

21. In all cases of complaint against a sub-
    ordinate the Postmaster must communicate to
    such subordinate a copy of such complaint and
    require a written defence, and a copy of the
    complaint together with the defence (if any)
    must be transmitted, as soon as possible, to the
    Postmaster-General.

22. Any Post Officer who shall receive in
    any form a reward or gratuity for affording
    preferential advantages in the delivery
    or posting of letters, and any Post Officer cog-
    nisant of such practice who shall connive at or
    fail at once to report the same shall be liable
    to a fine not exceeding Five pounds (£5), and
    may in addition, should it appear necessary, be
    summarily dismissed.

23. A letter once posted must be forwarded
    according to the address; no application how-
    ever urgent will justify a Postmaster in giving
    it up to the writer, or to any other person for
    him, except on a written order of the Post-
    master-General.

24. No information must be given respect-
    ing letters which pass through the Post Office,
    excepting to the persons to whom they are ad-
    dressed.

25. Postmasters must be careful not to deli-
    ver a letter to any other than the person
    addressed, without a written order from that
    person, and, should any unauthorised person ob-
    tain possession of a letter not addressed to him,
    the Postmaster, who allowed of the delivery
    will be held responsible for the neglect.

26. Should (notwithstanding every precau-
    tion) a letter intended for one person be deli-
    vered to another, and opened by the wrong
    person, the name of the person by whom it has
    been opened, and the reason why it was opened,
    must be written upon it; the letter re-sealed,
    and a report made on the subject to the Post-
    master General.

27. Letters posted without any address, or
    imperfectly directed, so that they cannot be
    forwarded to their destination, must be duly
    stamped, and sent to the General Post Office.

28. When letters or other parcels are mis-
    sent to any office, the words "mis-sent to
    [name of place]" must be written on the face
    of each, and the dated stamp of the office affixed
    immediately after. Such letters or parcels
    must then be carefully forwarded to their pro-
    per destination by the first post.

29. When letters or newspapers cannot be
    delivered, from any cause, a list of the
    addresses is to be fixed in the windows of the
    Post Office during the period the letters are
    allowed to remain; but the letters them-
    selves are not to be exposed, nor are those let-
    ters to be inserted in the list which are addressed
    "until called for."

30. Any unclaimed letter which may be re-
    turned 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:-In
    the first place, the Postmaster will examine the
    letter to see whether the hand-writing on the
    address is known to him, or whether there are
    any 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 claimants signa-
    ture, as the writer of the letter; and the Post-
    master 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 (30) days elapse from
    the date of the letter being advertized, 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 op-
    portunity to the Chief Postmaster of the Dis-
    trict. The Chief Postmaster on 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 notify the fact to the
    writer, or advertize the letter in some local
    newspaper: if, after three months from the
    time of such advertisement, the writer
    should not be found, the unclaimed let-
    ter will be sent to the Postmaster-General
    for the purpose of being recorded and destroyed.

31. Should any letter opened as above pro-
    vided, be found to contain Coin, Notes or any
    other valuable property, such property will not
    be enclosed on the letter being resealed, but
    will be kept separate and returned to the writer,
    or transmitted to the Postmaster-General as
    the case may be.

32. Letters or Packets which may have
    arrived from another Post Office, and which
    shall have remained unclaimed or undelivered