2030
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
No. 59

Collect Telegrams—Sender responsible for Transmission Charges.

16. Telegrams may be accepted from the sender with the word “Collect” written thereon in the space for instructions, and in such case the value of the telegram will be collected from the receiver; but, in the event of the department being unable to collect the amount, the sender will be held responsible for the due payment thereof, and in such case, if the sender fails to pay the charges upon being requested to do so, the Officer in Charge of the telegraph-office at which the telegram was delivered for despatch may in his own name, in any Court of competent jurisdiction, sue for and recover from the sender of such telegram all charges due for the transmission thereof.

17. The sender of a “collect” telegram shall, if requested to do so, lodge the cost of it. Any difference between the sum required and that lodged will be settled, or any refund will be made, upon delivery of the telegram. The sender of a “collect” telegram is at liberty to direct that delivery shall be conditional on the addressee first paying the charges. In such cases the words “Delivery conditional” must be inserted in the instructions and paid for.

Repetition at Request of Sender to Insure Accuracy.

18. Telegrams may be repeated, if the sender so desires, by being signalled back from office to office. No copy is, in such case, given to the sender. The charge for repetition is one-half the ordinary tariff; the lowest fraction of a penny being reckoned as a halfpenny. Telegrams containing mercantile quotations or figures, and telegrams written in cipher, or according to a preconcerted code, should always be repeated.

Repetition at Request of Addressee to Detect Errors.

19. If the receiver of a telegram doubts its accuracy, he may have it repeated by paying half the amount paid for its transmission to him, the lowest fraction of a penny being reckoned as a halfpenny. Should he require only a portion of the message to be repeated, a payment must be made at the rate of ¼d. for each word embraced in the repetition. For example, if 17 words in a message of 30 words are to be repeated the payment would be fourpence halfpenny. The minimum charge, however, for repetition (even of a single word) is threepence. The money will be refunded if it appears that the telegram was incorrectly transmitted. The request for repetition must be in writing, and may be abbreviated to underlining the necessary words and adding the request—as, for example, “Please repeat”—on the delivered copy.

Inland Multiple Telegrams.

20. A prepaid telegram may be addressed on one form to several persons in the same town, or to the same person in different parts of the same town (multiple telegram). If multiple telegrams are addressed to different places, or are written on separate forms, both or all will be treated as distinct messages, and charged full rates. In multiple telegrams for the same place, each address must be complete in itself; consequently, the office of destination will appear as many times as there are names of addressees. The text, and all the addresses, and the signature will be counted and charged for as a single message, with an additional fee of 3d. per address for each copy excepting the first, provided always that the charge shall not exceed that for the same number of single messages. “Urgent” telegrams may be accepted at double the above tariff. The number of addresses will be indicated to the office of address by the insertion of “Multiple [No. of addresses]” in the “Instructions”; but this information will be omitted from the messages actually delivered, which will show one address only unless the sender has inserted and paid for the instruction “Communicate all addresses.” Multiple telegrams cannot be sent “collect.”

Free Delivery.

21. Except as notified in the printed list of telegraph-offices published from time to time in the Post and Telegraph Guide, all telegrams will be delivered free of charge within a distance of one mile by the nearest practicable road of the office to which they may be transmitted by wire. All telegrams bear on the envelope a note of the time at which they are sent out for delivery.

    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 only provide for ordinary delivery from offices where the service can be performed by a departmental messenger. For telegrams 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, porterage, or any other expenses incurred in delivery, shall be charged and paid. All telegrams shall bear any expenses incurred to defray ferriage and tolls. To prevent the non-delivery or detention of telegrams when a telegram is presented for a place known to be beyond the free delivery, the cost of carriage from the office of delivery should be prepaid. If the carriage is insufficiently prepaid, the balance will be collected from the addressee. When the sender gives a guarantee that carriage will be paid by the addressee, the words “Carriage guaranteed” should be written on the back of the forwarded telegram and signed by the sender, whose address also should be given. In the event of the addressee refusing to pay, the amount due will be recovered from the sender. If the sender declines to pay the carriage, or to give the guarantee, the telegram will be delivered by post. When a telegram is received requiring delivery by special messenger, and upon which no carriage has been prepaid, the sender will be asked for his instructions, and, if no reply is received before the despatch of the next mail or the next letter-carrier’s delivery the telegram will be posted. Free telegrams on behalf of sender or addressee about the amount of payment required for carriage, and so forth, will not be sent.