THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
5

Order, by and with the consent of the Executive
Council, revoke all regulations heretofore in force,
and make the rules and regulations specified in the
Schedule hereinafter written, and doth impose the
penalties for the infraction thereof respectively as
therein set forth, and doth further declare that this
Order shall take effect from the first day of January,
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.

FORSTER GORING,
Clerk of Executive Council.

SCHEDULE.
Regulations.

1. From and after the first day of January, 1866,
   all regulations which may be now in force for the
   guidance of Postmasters or for the management of
   Post Offices in New Zealand, are hereby cancelled
   and annulled.

2. All persons employed in the Post Office Depart-
   ment are required to make themselves thoroughly
   acquainted with "The New Zealand Post Office Act,
   1858," and, as far as in them lies, to see that it is
   duly carried into effect. In matters not specially
   provided for in the said Act, they will be guided by
   these or any subsequent regulations or instructions
   issued under the said Act.

Post Offices.

3. Each Province of New Zealand shall be a Post
   Office District for the purpose of these regulations.

4. Such offices in each district shall be deemed
   Post Offices for the purpose of these regulations as
   shall from time to time be notified as such by the
   Postmaster-General in the New Zealand Gazette; and
   the Chief Post Office in each district shall be the
   office of the Chief Postmaster.

5. The words "Post Office," in large and conspicu-
   ous characters, must be exhibited outside every Post
   Office.

6. Every Post Office shall be open to the public
   from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. (and on the day of delivery of
   the European Mails until 6 p.m.) on all week-days,
   and on Sundays for a period not exceeding two hours,
   if necessary for the delivery or despatch of European
   Mails, or in the event of mails arriving on Sundays
   from any disturbed district of the Colony, such mails
   shall be opened for the delivery of letters on the
   public service only. No Provincial Mails shall be
   made up on Sundays except specially required by the
   Postmaster-General. The Postmaster-General, how-
   ever, may, by special instructions addressed to any
   Postmaster, alter these hours as regards any particular
   Post Office or Post Offices, should circumstances
   seem to require it.

7. A Letter Box must be fixed in a convenient and
   accessible situation, and the words "Letter Box"
   placed on or over it in plain characters. Its con-
   struction must be such as to provide for the security
   of the letters.

8. Tables of postage rates, notices of the closing of
   the letter box for the despatch of mails, the times of
   arrival and departure of country mails, lists of un-
   claimed letters, and other postal notices requiring
   publication, shall be exhibited in some convenient
   place outside every Post Office.

9. No person not duly authorized on the business
   of the Department shall be admitted into the interior
   of any Post Office Building, and any Postmaster or
   other Post Officer allowing or conniving at the in-
   fringement of this rule shall be liable to a penalty of
   five pounds on account of every person so admitted.

10. The following days shall be Post Office holi-
    days—namely, Christmas Day, New Year's Day,
    Good Friday, the Queen's Birthday, and within each
    Province the anniversary of such Province.

Postmasters and Post Officers.

11. There shall be in each Post Office District a
    Chief Postmaster, whose duty it shall be generally to
    superintend the postal arrangements in his district,
    and through whom the other Postmasters will corre-
    spond with the Postmaster-General.

12. The following shall be the Chief Postmasters
    in their respective districts:—The Postmaster at
    Auckland, the Postmaster at New Plymouth, the
    Postmaster at Napier, the Postmaster at Wellington,
    the Postmaster at Nelson, the Postmaster at Picton,
    the Postmaster at Christchurch, the Postmaster at
    Dunedin, the Postmaster at Invercargill, and the
    Postmaster at such office, in any Province hereafter
    to be constituted, as shall be notified in the New Zea-
    land Gazette to be the Chief Post Office of that
    district.

13. Every person, on entering the service of the
    Post Office, is required to make a declaration in the
    prescribed form before a Magistrate; and no person,
    whether on temporary or permanent service, can be
    permitted to have access to the letters, or to perform
    any postal duty until this declaration is made. Chief
    Postmasters are required to forward to the Post-
    master-General the declarations made by their sub-
    ordinates, including those of all persons who take
    any part in the duties of their sub-offices; also the
    declarations of drivers of mail conveyances, and of
    any other persons who may have access to mails in
    their transit.

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

15. In all cases of complaint against a subordinate,
    the Postmaster must communicate to such subordi-
    nate 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.

16. Every vacancy, by whatever cause occurring,
    in situations in any Post Office, must be reported by
    first post to the Postmaster-General, with a state-
    ment of the cause of the vacancy, the salary, and
    duties, with such other observations as the case may
    require.

17. Should a protracted continuance of such
    vacancy be calculated to cause serious inconvenience,
    the Postmaster in whose office such vacancy shall
    occur may employ some fit person temporarily to
    perform the duties of the vacant office.

18. It shall be competent for any Postmaster at
    any time to require the attendance of all or any of
    the persons employed in his office for the sorting,
    delivery, or despatch of mails.

19. No Postmaster shall absent himself from duty
    without having obtained leave from the Postmaster-
    General, nor without having made provision to the
    satisfaction of that officer for the performance of his
    duties during his absence.

20. Any Postmaster may grant leave of absence
    for any time not exceeding a fortnight in any one
    year to any of his subordinates; but no longer leave
    of absence shall be granted without the sanction of
    the Postmaster-General.

21. All Postmasters will be required to procure
    and keep on hand a sufficient supply of postage
    stamps of the different kinds in use in the Depart-
    ment, and to sell them to the public at the rates set
    forth thereon.

22. No person other than a Postmaster shall, un-
    less specially licensed thereto by the Postmaster-
    General, sell postage labels, under a penalty of ten
    pounds.

23. Country Postmasters and licensed Stamp-
    sellers will receive their supplies of postage labels
    from the Chief Office of the district, and must pay for
    the same on delivery, or by remittance accompanying