THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 81

be written across the face of the letter, and
the letter returned by first post to the place
whence it was received.

56. Any letter addressed to a person who
    has left the Colony must have the words "Left
    the Colony" written across the face of it; and
    the letter thus marked must be returned
    immediately to the place whence it came; un-
    less 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 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 handwriting 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 im-
    mediately 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 undis-
    covered, 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 Chief Post-
    master, 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 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 for the purpose of being recorded
    and destroyed.

58. Should any letter, opened as above pro-
    vided, 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 registra-
    tion 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.

62. The first duty of every off cer 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 per-
    son 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 the
    Postmaster-General; and the Postmaster shall
    take immediate steps for tracing it to the per-
    son 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 pre-
    sented to him for registration at least one hour
    before the time advertised for the closing of
    the mail by which the said letter is desired to
    be forwarded.

BOOK FACKETS.

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 legiti-
    mate 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; and, in
    short, whatever is necessary for the safe trans-
    mission of literary or artistic matter, or usually
    appertains thereto.

68. 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 be 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