POST OFFICE REGULATIONS.
17
POSTAGE STAMPS, &c.
Prepayment of Inland Letters, &c, must be by-
Stamps,
KATES OF POSTAGE, &c.
Inland Letters*
1. The rate of postage to be prepaid is Id. for
every £ oz. or fraction of half an oz.
2. As a general rule, the postage, if not paid in
advance, is double the foregoing; and if the pay-
ment in advance be insufficient, double the deficiency
is charged. An inland letter, for example, weighing
more than half an ounce, and not exceeding one
ounce, if bearing a penny stamp only, is on delivery,
charged twopence. On redirected letters, however,
the charge for redirection is the same, whether pre-
paid or collected on delivery.
Colonial and Foreign Letters.
3. The rates of postage on letters to foreign coun-
tries and the colonies are entered in the Table of
Colonial and Foreign Postage.
Addresses to the Queen and Petitions to Parliament.
4. Petitions and addresses to Her Majesty, for-
warded direct, are exempt from postage; and such
petitions and addresses, as also petitions to either
House of Parliament, if sent to a member of either
House, are likewise exempt, provided they do not
weigh more than two pounds, and are without
covers, or in covers open at the sides. No letter
or other inclosure, however, must be inserted, and if
one be found, such inclosure, unless it bear the pro-
per number of postage stamps, will be charged as an
unpaid letter.
Newspapers and other Periodicals hearing the News-
paper Stamp.
5. Although provision is made for forwarding
newspapers, books, and money through the post, it
is not compulsory on any one to employ this mode
of transmission, the exclusive privilege of the Post
Office extending only to letters.
6. All periodical publications, including news-
papers, published in the United Kingdom at intervals
not exceeding thirty-one days, and which bear an
impressed stamp or stamps denoting the stamp duty
(of the kind formerly confined chiefly to newspapers),
may be sent and resent through the post within the
United Kingdom free of postage, under the following
regulations, viz : —
§ 1. Such publications are subject to the same
restrictions as to the number of sheets and superficial
extent as were formerly applicable only to newspapers
* Inland letters are those which pass between places
in the United Kingdom, including the Isle of Man, the
Orkney, Shetland, Scilly, and Channel Islands. If the
weight he exceeded to the smallest extent, even though
the balance be merely turned, the letter becomes liable
to a higher postage. The same rule applies to letters
going abroad. To provide, therefore, for errors in scales,
<&c, it is well to allow a little margin, or to pay the post-
age of the next greater weight
properly so called. These restrictions are shown in
the following table : —
Amount of Stamps
impressed on
the Publication.
Maximum
Number of Sheets.
Maximum Superficial
extent of Lettei-
press on o e side.
One Penny, - -
Three Halfpence,
Twopence, - - -
* Two - - - 1 2295 inches.
t Three - - - 3443 "
% Three - - - i 4590 "
* One of them being a supplement, f Two of them being
supplements. % Two of them being supplements.
§ 2. No publication, or portion thereof, can pass
through the post unless the impressed stamp which
it bears be a stamp of the value at least of one penny.
§ 3. The title and date of the publication must
be printed at the top of every page.
§ 4. The publication must be folded in such a
manner that the whole of the stamp or stamps, de-
noting the full duty, shall be exposed to view, and
be distinctly visible on the outside, except that where
there are more than two publications in the same
cover it is considered sufficient if the stamps be
so arranged that they can readily be examined. If
this rule be infringed, a postage of one penny will
be charged iu addition to any other postage to which
the publication, if properly folded, would be liable.
§ 5. It must not be printed on pasteboard or card-
board, or on two or more thicknesses of paper pasted
together, nor must any pasteboard, cardboard, or
such pasted paper be sent with it as a back or cover
thereto, or otherwise.
§ 6. It must be posted within fifteen days from
the printed date of issue.
§ 7. It must have either a cover open at the ends,
or no cover, otherwise it will be charged as an un-
paid letter.
§ 8. It must contain no inclosure ; if it do, the
inclosure will be taken out and charged as an
unpaid letter, together with an additional rate of one
penny.
§ 9. It must have no writing or other mark
thereon, but the name and address of the person to
whom it is sent, nor anything on the cover but such
name and address, the printed title of the publication,
and the printed name and address of the publisher or
vendor who sends it. Thus, if a newspaper, franked
by a newspaper stamp, after having had the address
of one person written upon the paper itself, be sent
to another person, the first address must be cut off
(obliteration not being sufficient). For any breach
of this rule an additional postage of twopence will
be charged.
§ 10. If the publication be addressed to any per-
son within the free delivery of the place where it is
posted, it becomes liable to a postage of one penny,
which must be prepaid by affixing a postage stamp;
if this be not done an additional postage of twopence
is charged.
§ 11. If the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 5th, or 6th regu-
lations be infringed, the publication will be charged
as an unpaid book-packet with the double book
§ 12. It is suggested that every publication should
have a notice to purchasers conspicuously printed,
pointing out the necessity of exposing the stamp or
stamps to view whenever the publication is sent
through the post.