3500

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 100

Regulations for Dead Letter Office.

LIVERPOOL, Governor.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Government House at Wellington, this seventh day of September, 1914.

Present:

His Excellency the Governor in Council.

WHEREAS by section eleven of the Post and Telegraph Act, 1908, the Governor is empowered to make regulations by Order in Council, inter alia, for the detaining, opening, and return or other disposal of irregularly posted, unpaid, insufficiently paid, unclaimed, refused, or rejected postal packets, or such as from any cause whatever cannot be delivered or forwarded, and of the contents thereof: And whereas it is desirable that such regulations should be made as aforesaid:

Now, therefore, His Excellency the Governor of the Dominion of New Zealand, in pursuance and exercise of the power and authority conferred upon him by section eleven of the Post and Telegraph Act, 1908, and of all other powers and authorities in that behalf enabling him, and acting by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion, doth hereby make the following regulations; and doth order that such regulations shall take effect from the date of the publication thereof in the New Zealand Gazette.

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REGULATIONS.

GENERAL.

1. DEAD-LETTER mails are due from Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin twice a week, and from other chief post-offices once a week. These mails must be enclosed in black mail-bags provided for the purpose, and sent registered. Each mail must be accompanied by a returned letter-bill, on which the numbers of letters, post-cards, book-packets, and newspapers comprising the mail are to be entered. These mails are to be opened and examined as soon after receipt as possible, and any mails which remain unopened overnight must be locked in a secure place.

2. On receipt of dead-letter bags they must be examined to see that they are sealed with the seal of the office of despatch and otherwise intact and in good order.

3. On opening a dead-letter bag the returned letter-bill must be looked for, and the bag must invariably be turned inside out. The bag must then be folded and addressed to the office of despatch. The letter-bill, if found correct, must be signed and filed.

4. The contents of the bag are to be carefully compared with the returned letter-bill to see that all registered articles are properly advised, and that the numbers of returned letters, post-cards, book-packets, and newspapers are correctly entered. The registered articles must be at once transferred to the Property Clerk for immediate entry in the registered-letter book, and the ordinary letters and other postal packets are to be placed in the respective alphabetical pigeon-holes, where they are to remain until they can be examined and properly disposed of.

5. Returned letters and other postal packets which originated in New Zealand are to be opened and returned to the writers, with the exception of certain articles referred to in Regulations 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, and 30; and those which originated beyond New Zealand are to be sorted into alphabetical pigeon-holes on the foreign-letter case and subsequently returned to the country of origin in accordance with the list set forth in the Schedule hereto.

6. A dead-letter book must be kept, in which all particulars of dead-letter mails received and despatched are to be entered. In addition to this, each officer must keep, in the special book provided for the purpose, a daily record of the number and class of letters, &c., dealt with, and also of all other work performed by him during the day.

7. Printed matter prepaid ½d., if of no intrinsic value, should be destroyed, unless a special request appears thereon for its return to the sender. Printed matter prepaid ½d., which is of intrinsic value or which bears a special request for return to the sender, must be returned to the sender and charged ½d. postage.

8. In examining returned letters and other postal packets it must be noticed whether they have been returned at the proper time, and whether they have been dealt with in all respects according to the rules laid down for the guidance of Postmasters. If it appears that the address of a letter or other postal packet has been misread, or if it has been retained at a wrong office, or has been tampered with, or otherwise irregularly treated, the letter or other postal packet must be reissued with a memorandum to the Chief Postmaster concerned. Only letters or other postal packets originating outside of New Zealand, which have obviously been misaddressed, may be reissued to the correct address. Inland letters and other postal packets misaddressed are to be returned to the senders.

9. The officers appointed to open and return letters and other postal packets to the senders are required to use the utmost vigilance to detect and bring under notice every apparent irregularity. In all cases of doubt they must appeal to the Senior Clerk. The contents of letters and other postal packets are not to be read except so far as is absolutely necessary to enable the name and address of the sender to be ascertained, or to see that any property found therein is intact as advised. If a letter or other postal packet is thought to be unreturnable owing to absence of name and address of sender or other cause, it must be placed aside for examination by an officer specially deputed for that purpose.

10. Any letter, post-card, book-packet, or newspaper having anything blasphemous or obscene written or drawn on the outside thereof, or any obscene enclosure found in any newspaper, is, on receipt in the Dead Letter Office, to be submitted to the Chief Inspector or his deputy.

11. When a letter or other postal packet contains an imperfect signature or address, and the contents are of a compromising or objectionable character, it is to be submitted to the Senior Clerk for decision as to whether it is to be returned or not. For example—a letter containing objectionable matter and merely signed “Ada” should not be returned addressed “Ada, Writer of letter to,” &c., until it has been submitted to the Senior Clerk.

12. Any letter or other postal packet detained for postage or for any other reason, and sent to the Dead Letter Office under the regulations published in the Post and Telegraph Guide, or in the Rules and Regulations (General and Postal), is to be dealt with as if it had been returned as unclaimed or refused.