THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1259

(9.) The rule which forbids the transmission through the
post of any article which might injure the contents of
the mail bags or the officers of the Post Office is so far
relaxed as to permit the transmission of scissors, knives,
razors, forks, steel pens, nails, keys, watch machinery,
metal tubing, pieces of metal or ore, and such like, as
samples, provided that they be packed and guarded in so
secure a manner as to afford complete protection to the
contents of the mail bags and officers of the Post Office,
while at the same time the samples may be easily examined.
If any packet containing such articles as these be posted
which is found not to be sufficiently guarded, it will be
detained, and a notice of its detention will be sent to the
person to whom it is addressed or to the sender, who
may then obtain it upon personal application; but the
packet will be charged with a fine equal in amount to
the postage to which the packet was liable as a packet of
patterns.

Packets or parcels containing gold, silver, jewellery, &c.,
cannot be forwarded under the inland pattern and sample
and parcel post regulations.

Parcels containing gunpowder, glass, any perishable substance
such as leeches, game, fish, flesh, fruit, vegetables, &c., any
liquid (except liquid medicine), matches, or other inflammable
or explosive substance, or compound poison, or whatever is
dangerous to the mails, or offensive or injurious to the persons
dealing with the mails, shall not be transmitted by the post
whether as a parcel or otherwise. Postmasters must refuse to
transmit by post any parcel which shall contain, or be reason-
ably suspected to contain, any such articles. Liquid medicines
strongly packed in tin cases, and marked "Liquid Medicine,"
may, however, be posted.

INLAND BOOK POST.

The following are the regulations of the inland book post:---

(1.) The postage is one penny not exceeding two ounces;
twopence not exceeding four ounces; and one penny for
every additional two ounces or fraction of two ounces.
Book packets which may be insufficiently prepaid will be
charged with double the deficiency.

(2.) An inland book packet must be sent either without a
cover (in which case it must not be fastened, whether by
means of gum, wafer, sealing-wax, postage stamp, or
otherwise), or in a cover entirely open at both ends or
sides, so as to admit of the contents being easily withdrawn
for examination. For the greater security of the contents,
the packet may be tied at the ends with string, but in
such case Postmasters are authorized to cut the string,
although if they do so they must again tie up the packet.

(3.) A book packet may contain any number of separate
books or other publications (including printed or litho-
graphed letters intended for transmission in identical
terms to several persons), photographs (when not on
glass or in cases containing glass or such like substance),
drawings, engravings, prints, or maps, and any quantity
of paper, parchment, or vellum; and the books or other
publications, prints, maps, &c., may be either printed,
written, engraved, lithographed, or plain, or any mixture
of these. Further, all legitimate binding, mounting, or
covering of a book, &c., or of a portion thereof, is
allowed, whether such binding, &c., 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;
pens or pencils in the case of pocket-books, &c.; and, in
short, whatever is necessary for the safe transmission of
such articles, or usually appertains thereto.

(4.) A book packet may also comprise bills of lading,
printed catalogues, manuscript of books or pamphlets
(if plainly superscribed as such, together with the name
of the sender), music (written or printed, and, in the
case of proof sheets, manuscript corrections), paintings,
pass-books, printed placards, printers' proofs (indorsed
as such on the covers), scrip, deeds, policies of assurance,
insurance policies, filled-in forms of insurance and
assurance proposals (and other printed documents con-
nected therewith), plans, powers of attorney, specifica-
tions, prospectuses, returns (if filled in in accordance
with the printed headings, and without note or any
comment whatever), invoices, legal documents, recog-
nizances, drafts, and, in fact, any written or printed
communication not of the character of an actual and
personal correspondence, may pass as articles within
the meaning of the Inland Book Post Regulations.

(5.) Press manuscript intended for publication is not
regarded as actual and personal correspondence, provided
the packet bears the words "Press Manuscript," and is
addressed to the office of any newspaper published within
the colony. If posted in accordance with the foregoing
directions, press manuscript will be permitted to pass at
book-packet rates of postage.

(6.) No book packet may contain anything which is
sealed or otherwise closed against inspection; nor must
there be any letter, nor any communication of the
nature of a letter, whether separate or otherwise.
Entries, however, merely stating who sends the book, &c.,
or to whom it is given, are not regarded as a letter.
Indeed, as respects the name and address of the sender,
not only is the writing permitted, but it is even recom-
mended; so that if the cover come off, or for any other
reason the packet cannot be forwarded, it may be returned.
A book may also contain a manuscript dedication, or a
complimentary inscription from the author. Passages
in the text to which it is desired to call attention may
be marked with a simple stroke.

(7.) No book packet must exceed two feet in length, or
one foot in width or depth, nor must it exceed five
pounds in weight; and if any such packet be presented
at a Post Office it will not be received.

(8.) 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 in it, or upon its cover,
will be charged double letter postage.

(9.) If a packet be found to contain any letter, whether
closed or open, or any enclosure sealed or otherwise closed
against inspection, or any other unauthorized enclosure,
the packet will be charged double letter postage, and
forwarded to its address.

(10.) If a book packet be not sufficiently prepaid with
stamps, but nevertheless bear stamps of the value of one
rate, it will be forwarded charged with double the
deficiency. Book packets posted wholly unpaid will not
be forwarded.

(11.) All bond fide printed or lithographed matter enclosed
in envelopes slit or partially open at the ends, and
having the fly turned inside, instead of being gummed
over in the usual manner, is permitted to pass through
the post at book-post rates.

Legal documents include acts or deeds of all kinds drawn
up by public functionaries, copies or extracts of deeds under
private seal, and in general all manuscript papers and documents
which have not the character of an actual and personal cor-
respondence.

It is the duty of Postmasters, whenever they have ground
for suspecting an infringement of any of the above conditions,
and occasionally even where there is no ground for suspicion,
to open and examine book packets posted at or passing through
their offices.

To prevent obstacles to the regular transmission of letters,
a Postmaster may, when necessary, delay forwarding any book
packet until the following despatch.

The main business of the Post Office being the transmission of
letters, the forwarding of books and newspapers (which no one
is compelled to send through the Post Office), though an im-
portant, is only a secondary object, for which no arrangement can
be made which would interfere with the quick and regular con-
veyance and delivery of letters. Books, therefore, which would
be injured by being thrust into a bag and hurriedly pressed down
like a bundle of letters, should not be sent through the post.

NEWSPAPERS.

1. All newspapers published in the colony, and registered at
   the General Post Office for transmission by post, may either be
   forwarded like other printed matter under the regulations of the
   book post, or may be transmitted within the colony on payment
   of a postage rate of one halfpenny each in postage stamps, and
   to places beyond the colony at the rates set forth in the Postal
   Guide.

The conditions of registration are as follows, viz. :---

(1.) The publication must consist wholly or in great part
of political or other news, or of articles relating thereto
or to other current topics, with or without advertise-
ments.

(2.) It must be printed and published in the Colony of
New Zealand, and must be published in numbers at
intervals of not more than one month.

(3.) The full title and date of publication must be printed
at the top of the first page, and the whole or part of the
title and the date of publication at the top of every
subsequent page; and this regulation extends to "Tables
of Contents" and "Indices."

(4.) A supplement must consist wholly or in great part of
matter like that of a newspaper, or of advertisements,
printed on a sheet or sheets or on a piece or pieces of
paper, unstitched; or wholly or in part of engravings,
prints, or lithographs illustrative of articles in the news-
paper. The supplement must in every case be published
with the newspaper, and must have the title and date of
publication of the newspaper printed at the top of every
page, or, if it consists of engravings, prints, or lithographs,
at the top of every sheet or side. The added matter