April 27.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 529

SCHEDULE.

REGULATIONS UNDER WHICH TELEGRAMS ARE AUTHORISED TO BE TRANSMITTED ON THE
TELEGRAPH LINES BELONGING TO THE GOVERNMENT OF NEW ZEALAND.

1. Neither Her Majesty the Queen nor the Government of the colony shall be respon-
   sible for errors, omissions, or delays in the transmission of any telegram, nor for the non-
   delivery or non-transmission of any telegram.

2. Printed forms, upon which telegrams should be written, may be obtained at all
   Stations on application ; but all telegrams, whether written upon the prescribed form, upon
   any other printed form, or upon plain paper, shall be considered as presented for trans-
   mission under the several conditions contained in these regulations.

3. Telegrams which are indecently or obscenely worded, or which appear to contain
   matter of a libellous or grossly offensive character, shall not be transmitted.

4. All telegrams presented for transmission shall be written either in ink, or with
   indelible pencil, or in manifold, in a clear and legible manner ; they shall contain a
   proper address, and bear a genuine signature in the usual handwriting of the sender, or in
   that of his authorised agent, but when written by the agent the latter shall add his name or
   initials, not for transmission, but for the information of the Telegraph Department.

When it is not intended or desired that the sender's signature should be telegraphed,
it must be written on the back of the message. The message may then be transmitted with-
out a signature, or with any signature known to the receiver, such as "Kate," "Harry,"
"Mamma," which the sender may insert for transmission ; but the receiver may have the
full signature telegraphed by paying for the necessary service telegrams.

5. When the sender desires that special instructions, such as "Private," "Con-
   fidential," "To be opened at once," "Per Te Anau," "By first steamer," or the like, shall
   be written on the envelope of the message, he shall write those instructions immediately
   after the address of the receiver, and pay for them as part of the message. The words
   shall also be written in the space for instructions.

6. Postage stamps shall be used for payment, and any person sending a telegram is
   required to affix such stamps to the message forms.

7. In order to prevent errors in the transmission of telegrams, all words must be
   written in full, and no abbreviations will be allowed that are not in general use and in
   accordance with the usage of the language. All numbers should be written in words in
   full, and not in figures.

8. Telegrams will be transmitted in the following order of priority:—
   (1.) Telegrams of the Government marked urgent.
   (2.) Service telegrams.
   (3.) Urgent private telegrams.
   (4.) Non-urgent (ordinary) private telegrams.
   (5.) Delayed telegrams.

The charges for transmission of a telegram within New Zealand are,—
For eighteen words or less, including address and signature—
Urgent ... ... ... ... ... 2s.
Ordinary ... ... ... ... ... 1s.
Delayed ... ... ... ... ... 6d.

Extra words, 2d., 1d., and ½d. each respectively.

On Sundays, for urgent and ordinary telegrams, these rates are doubled. Delayed
telegrams will not be received on Sundays. For any fraction of a penny a penny must be
paid.

9. In order to prevent a monopoly of the line by any one company or individual, when
   several telegrams are presented for transmission about the same time, and any one of these
   telegrams is of considerable length, no officer shall transmit more than two hundred words
   of any such telegram at one time.

10. Telegrams may be written in cipher, which will be counted according to the follow-
    ing scale, whether for figures or letters: Separate ciphers count as one word; groups of
    five ciphers, or fractional part of five ciphers, count as one word; groups exceeding five
    ciphers are counted at the rate of five ciphers to the word, and any fractional portion
    remaining is to be counted as one word.

The use of a cipher address is prohibited on messages for transmission within the
colony.

11. In the event of serious delays occurring through accident to the lines, which may
    prevent the transmission of a telegram within a reasonable time, or may destroy the value
    of any telegram, notice thereof shall be sent to the sender of such telegram, should his
    address be known. The sender may, on an application to the General Post Office
    through the Officer in Charge of the Station at which such telegram was presented and
    paid for, receive back the amount paid thereon, and the telegram will be cancelled.

12. Except as notified in the printed list of telegraph offices published from time to
    time in the Postal and Telegraph Guide, all telegrams shall be delivered free of charge
    within a radius of one mile of the station to which they may be transmitted by wire.

s. d.
For any distance not exceeding half a mile beyond the free delivery 0 6
For any distance over half a mile but not exceeding one mile beyond
the free delivery ... ... ... ... ... 1 0
For any distance over one mile but not exceeding two miles beyond
the free delivery ... ... ... ... ... 1 6

The foregoing charges provide for ordinary delivery only. For messages to be delivered by
special messenger, the cost of such delivery shall be added and paid for. If required to be
delivered beyond the distance of three miles, all moneys disbursed in payment of cab-fares,
omnibus-fares, horse-hire, portersge, or any other expenses incurred in delivery, shall be
charged. All telegrams requiring to be delivered on shipboard on the water, or across the
water, shall bear any expenses incurred to defray boat-hire. To prevent the non-delivery
or detention of telegrams, when the sender of a telegram objects or refuses to pay the above
charges, or any of them, the telegram will be posted immediately on its arrival at the
station to which it is transmitted by wire.

13. Persons not wishing to send to a Telegraph Office may post a telegram in an
    envelope addressed "Telegram Immediate," in a wall- or pillar-box, or at a receiving office
    or sub-post-office. Telegrams so posted are sent on by the next collection to the Telegraph
    Office to which the letters included in the collection are taken, and are thence transmitted
    and delivered free of extra charge, provided the proper amounts for transmission and for
    portersge (if any) have been prepaid. The time of arrival at the Telegraph Office is
    regarded as the time of receipt from the public. Telegrams may also be posted not
    enclosed in envelopes, and when so posted they will be treated in the same manner.