APRIL 3.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1143

the registered letters entered on the letter-bill are received, and in all other respects properly dealt with, except when sealed registered-letter packets or bags are received, when he will hand them intact to the registered-letter clerk. He must place loose registered letters in the proper channel for disposal, taking care that they do not leave his possession without his obtaining the receipt of the officer to whom he hands them. Any irregularity must be duly noted and reported. Receiving officers must attend carefully to the requirements of Rules 475-496, so far as they apply here.

526. The contents of the bag must not be disturbed until the registered-letter bag or packet is found, or the loose registered letters have been compared with the entries on the bill.

527. After the registered letters have been checked, the correctness of the entries on the letter-bill must be verified by an examination of the letters. If they cannot be made to agree they must be checked by another officer. As soon as the receiving officer has satisfied himself as to the correctness of the entries, he must sign the letter-bill. Every letter-bill should be stamped at the same time as the letters which arrive with it, so as to bear the same index-letter.

528. If a mail arrives without a letter-bill, or with one wrongly headed, its contents are to be checked by a second officer, a substitute bill made out, and the error reported.

529. If anything is found loose in a mail, or any article found without address, a report of the circumstance must be made at once.

530. Postmasters at ports where steamers call must see that the receiving-boxes (if any) on board the steamers are cleared at the time the mails are delivered, and that demand is made for all loose letters, &c., which may be in the custody of the officers of the steamers. Care must also be taken to see that receiving-boxes attached to railway guards’ vans are regularly cleared. Whenever it is noticed that a railway-train posting-box which will not be cleared on its then present journey is open to public posting, the fact is to be at once reported to the Railway District Traffic Manager for the district, with the request that the box be closed, care being taken at the same time by this Department’s officer to see that nothing is left in the box before it is closed.

531. A Postmaster, on receiving notice of a mail being lost or stolen, must immediately report the circumstances to the Chief Postmaster, by telegraph if possible, and to the police authorities of the district. The despatching Postmaster must, when practicable, furnish the corresponding office and the Chief Postmaster with copies of the letter-bill, and a list of the registered letters and money-order advices (if any), and other information as to the contents and description of the missing mail. The Chief Postmaster must report all the circumstances of the case to the Inspector of Post-offices by wire.

ARRIVAL OF FOREIGN MAILS.

532. Delivery of foreign mails may be taken before the Health Officer has granted pratique; but no mails requiring disinfection may be brought ashore until they have been fumigated. Any illness on board a vessel arriving from abroad will necessitate that the Port Health Officer be consulted before mails are removed.

533. On arrival of a foreign mail, officers must proceed as directed in Rule 525, except that, immediately on the detection