2064

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

[No. 60

353. Open postal packets found in the post containing betting-cards—i.e., cards giving the odds offered upon or against any horse or event—are to be brought under the notice of Postmasters, who are to deal with them under section 30 of the Post and Telegraph Act. The cards contain printed matter advertising a scheme of chance, and are to be sent to the Dead Letter Office for disposal. In cases of doubt as to identity of a card as a betting-card the Chief Postmaster is to be referred to. If any person posts a large number of such cards the fact is to be reported to the Secretary, when action will be taken to prohibit the issue of money-orders and the transmission of correspondence in New Zealand for such person under section 28 (1) (a) of the Post and Telegraph Act, 1908. If a Postmaster at a place at which open packets containing betting-cards are posted obtains reliable information that the person posting them is acting merely as agent for another, the person placed on the “prohibited” list will be he on whose behalf the packets are posted; but in the absence of such information the person posting the cards will be regarded as posting them for his own business, and placed on the “prohibited” list.

354. (a.) Any postal packet believed to contain articles liable to Customs duty is to be submitted with a report to the Chief Postmaster, who, in the case of a packet (irrespective of the rate of postage thereon) or newspaper, will arrange for it to be opened in the presence of two responsible officers. In the case of a sealed letter the Chief Postmaster will give notice to the addressee that he or his authorized agent must attend at the post-office to open the article for Customs examination, failing which the article will be opened in his absence. Great care is to be exercised by all officers in carrying out this rule. Letters are to be detained only when there is reasonable ground for supposing that they contain articles liable to Customs duty. Letters addressed to country offices should not be detained at chief post-offices except under special circumstances. If a letter for a country office is thought to contain dutiable enclosures, it should be sent to the Postmaster with an instruction that the letter is to be opened by the addressee in the presence of the Postmaster, and then returned to the Chief Postmaster for Customs examination. The addressee is to be allowed to withdraw from the cover at the time it is opened anything in the nature of personal correspondence. The provision in this rule authorizing letters to be opened by duly appointed officers in the absence of the addressee must not be exercised until ample time has been allowed the addressee to be present. In most cases it will be advisable to send the addressee a second notice before the letter is opened. It is to be distinctly understood that a letter is not to be opened by any one except the addressee except as a very last resort. The form for notifying the addressee of the receipt of a letter believed to contain articles liable to Customs duty is P.O. 66; and the form for forwarding to a country Postmaster such a letter is P.O. 82. A record is to be kept of every form sent out, so that it can be determined that every case has been properly dealt with and a reply received.

(b.) Any package liable to redirection which may require reference to the Customs Department should be readdressed to destination before being opened for examination. Where there is no Customs officer at the place to which the packet is redirected the packet should be sent to the chief post-office of the district to enable the examination to be arranged for there.

(c.) Under section 163 of the Customs Act, 1913, and Customs Regulation 125 of the 2nd July, 1914, Post officers have power to open and examine postal packets closed against inspection, for the purpose of detecting dutiable matter in letters received in numbers, where the value of such matter in each packet is inconsiderable, but