Jan. 18.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 129

address requires that the message be re-telegraphed from the receiving office, a charge will be made equal to the original amount paid, plus or minus the charge at ½d. a word for any words by which the number of words in the original address is increased or diminished.

24. The sender may direct that a telegram be readdressed, paying an extra fee for the new address. Telegrams readdressed for transmission by post are charged a single rate of postage only.

24A. Excepting money-order telegrams and telegrams addressed to a post-office or to a telegraph-office, inland telegrams which cannot be delivered are retained for seven days, exclusive of the accounting period in which they were received, and are then sent to the Clearing-room, where they are kept for six months from the date of the telegrams, and are then destroyed.

24B. Excepting money-order telegrams, inland telegrams addressed to a post-office or to a telegraph-office remaining unclaimed at the end of one calendar month, exclusive of that in which they were received, are treated as letters, and are sent to the Dead Letter Office for disposal.

24C. Money-order telegrams undelivered for forty-eight hours are registered and posted. Unclaimed money-order telegrams are treated in the same manner as unclaimed registered letters.

Fee for Search.

25. The originals of inland telegrams and cable messages are kept for six and twelve months respectively.

26. The sender or the addressee of an inland telegram or cable message, or his duly authorised agent, may inspect such telegram or cable message at the office of transmission or of destination without charge, or be supplied with a certified copy of it on payment (in advance) of a fee of 6d. for each inland telegram, or, in the case of Press telegrams, a certified copy thereof will be supplied on payment (in advance) of a fee of 6d. for each one hundred words, or fraction thereof, and a fee of 5d. will be charged for every hundred words, or fraction thereof, of a cable message, provided the telegram or cable message has not already been sent to the General Post Office. If it has been so sent, the sender, or the addressee, or the duly authorised agent of either, may only inspect such telegram or cable message on payment (in advance) of a fee of 1s. if the necessary particulars enabling the telegram or cable message to be found without any delay are supplied, or 2s. 6d. if such particulars are not furnished. If the search extends beyond one hour an additional charge of 2s. 6d. for each and every subsequent hour will be made. A certified copy of the message will be supplied upon payment of an additional charge of 6d. for each ordinary telegram, or 6d. for each one hundred words in the case of a Press telegram. Satisfactory proof of identity of the applicant as the sender, addressee, or agent must in all cases be given. If desired, the copy of the telegram or cable message, or an extract, will be telegraphed, upon payment by the applicant of the telegraph fee in addition to the before-mentioned charge.

Accidents to Lines.

27. When communication is partially or completely interrupted, telegrams will be accepted from the public, but the department will not accept any responsibility for delay in transmission. The telegrams will be transmitted to the furthest practicable point, and, after communication is restored, sent thence to destination, according to code, in the order of time of presentation. Such delayed telegrams are marked “Delayed by Interruption of Lines.”

Cancelling Telegrams.

28. Any telegram may be cancelled by the sender before transmission, and the cost of such cancelled telegram will be refunded on application being made, in writing, to the Officer in Charge of the office at which such telegram was presented. If the telegram has been signalled, or partly signalled, it can still be cancelled, but no refund of its value can be made. If the signalling has been completed, the telegram can only be cancelled by means of a further prepaid telegram. Provided that no telegram shall be cancelled if the office of presentation is a racecourse telegraph-office.

Monopoly of Line forbidden.

29. The transmission of telegrams presented in quantity, or of telegrams of great length, may be delayed when their transmission would give an undue monopoly of the line to the sender or addressee.

Prohibitions.

30. Telegrams which are indecently or obscenely worded, or which appear to contain matter of a treasonable, seditious, libellous, or grossly offensive character, will not be transmitted. Telegrams in plain language relating to betting or to investments on the totalisator or in coded language reasonably supposed to relate to betting or to investments on the totalisator are forbidden to be delivered on any racecourse. Money-order telegrams addressed to a racecourse must be refused.

Urgent Telegrams.

31. Telegrams marked Urgent are received at any telegraph-office and transmitted in the order of their priority with other messages of the like code. Urgent telegrams take precedence of all ordinary messages.

32. The fee for an urgent telegram is double that for an ordinary telegram. Urgent telegrams lodged on Sunday at offices open from 5 p.m. to 5.30 p.m. only are charged four rates.

33. When the sender of an urgent telegram desires to pay for an urgent reply the words “Urgent, reply paid urgent” must be inserted in the instructions. When the reply required is not to be urgent the instruction should be “Urgent, reply paid.”

Charges, after Ordinary Hours, for Messages relating to Sickness, Death, or other Urgent Matters.

34. Messages relating to sickness or death or other urgent matters (but expressly excluding wagers or bets) may be accepted and transmitted from any to any telegraph-office or bureau at any time outside the ordinary hours of business on week-days or Sundays (provided the attention of the terminal office can be obtained), on prepayment of the following rates and fees:—

Outside ordinary hours. — Reopening fee, 1s.; special delivery fee, 1s.; tariff, ordinary.