Towns > Edinburgh > 1846-1975 - Post Office Edinburgh and Leith directory > 1872-1873

POSTAL DIRECTORY— RATES.
5il
seamen belonging to Her Majestj^'s ships, whether
serving on sea or land, and whether in a British
possession or foreign country, as also enrolled pen-
sioners in Canada, can send and receive letters by
packet or man-of-war, for a postage of Id. ; butif any
such letters have to pass through a foreign country,
they are subject, in addition, to the foreign postage,
whatever that may be. Thus, the postage to the
under-mentioned countries (including the British
charge of one penny) is as follows :
To or from — s. d.
China, Ceylon, Mauritius, India, Japan, or
Australia, via Brindisi . . . .04
Malta, via JJai-seilleg (if not above ^ oz.) . 3
Chili, Peru, or any other place in the South
Pacific 2
Vancouver's Island, British Columbia, or
any other place in the North Pacific, via.
yew York 2
Canada, via United States . . . .02
1. The person claiming the privilege must at the
time be actually employed in the service of Her
Majesty, and must not be either a commis-
sioned officer or warrant officer, viz. assistant
engineer, gunner, boatswain, or carpenter, the
privilege not extending to these ofiicers.
2. If the letter be posted within the United King-
dom, the penny must be prepaid, as must any
foreign postage that may be chargeable ; and
if sent l3y a private ship, the gratuity of one
penny to the captain must also be prepaid. If
posted abroad, prepayment is not compulsory ;
but if the letter be sent unpaid, it is on delivery
charged twopence, together with any foreign
postage or gratuity to a sea captain that may
be due.
3. The letter must not weigh more than half an
ounce.
4. It must relate entirely to the private concerns of
the soldier or seaman.
5. The name of the soldier or seaman, with his
class or description, must appear in the direc-
tion, and the ofiicer having the command must
sign his name, and specify the ship or regi-
ment, corps or detachment, to which the soldier
or seaman belongs ; the name of the ship or
regiment being entered in full. The foregoing
particulars must be given in one of the follow-
ing forms :
SEASrEN.
From A. B., Seaman, H.M.S.
(Jlere the direction of the letter to he inserted.')
C. -D., Captain (or other Commanding Officer'),
H.M.S.
To A. B.,
Seaman, H.M.S.
{Here the direction of the letter to he finished.)
Soldiers.
From A. B., Sergeant, etc., Eegt.
(Here the direction of the letter to he inserted.)
C. D; Colonel (or other Commanding Officer),
Eegt.
To A. B.,
Private (or Sergeant, Corporal, etc.) Eegt.
(Here the direction to he finished.)
If the letter be posted in the United Kingdom for
a place abroad, unpaid or insufiBciently paid, or if
the class or description of the soldier or seaman be
not written in the address, it will be detained, and
returned to the writer for payment of the postage.
Letters for seamen on board Her Majesty's ships
stationed at a foreign port should not bo addressed
to the care of the British Consul at that port, or
to any agent on shore, as the privilege enjoyed by
seamen, of receiving their letters through the post
at reduced rates of postage, is confined to such
letters as are addressed directly to them. All letters
directed to the care of any other person are liable
to the ordinary rate of postage ; and in those cases
whiTe prepayment is necessary, they will be de-
tained if such ordinary rate be not prepaid. The
same rule is applicable to letters for non-commis-
sioned ofiicers in the army, schoolmasters, if not of
the first class, schoolmistresses, and private soldiers.
OFFICERS' LETTERS.
Letters addressed to or sent by a commissioned
ofiicer (in the Navy or the Eoyal Marines), or a
waiTant ofiicer, when employed on board any of Her
Majesty's ships, on a colonial or foreign station, as
well as letters addressed to or sent by a commis-
sioned officer, or a superintending or first class
schoolmaster in the army serving abroad, are sub-
ject to the same rates of postage as the letters of
the general public. Letters addressed to ships-of-
war on the Pacific station are subject to a postage
of Is. 6d. per half-ounce each.
ROUTES.
Except in the under-mentioned cases, letters not
specially directed by a particular route are for-
warded by the route immediately following the
name of the place in the Table of Colonial and
Foreign Postage :
Exceptions. — I. Letters for Aden, Alexandria,
Cairo, India, and Suez, are sent by the first
mail despatched by British packet ; letters
for Borneo, Ceylon, China, Japan, Java, La-
buan, Penang, Philippine Islands, and Singa-
pore, are sent by first packet, whether British
or French, according to the route indicated
by the postage ; letters for Malta are sent by
the first mail despatched, if the prepayment
does not indicate that they are to bo sent by
another route.
II. Letters for Canada posted after the despatch
of the mail via the United States on Saturdaj'
are forwarded by Canadian mail packet on
Thursday, unless prepaid at the higher rate.
III. Letters for the Argentine Confederation,
Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and Monte Video, are,
provided the prepayment be sufiicient, sent
in the first mail despatched after the lime of
posting.
IV. Letters for Baden, Bavaria, and "Wurtem-
burg, if insufficiently paid for transmission
via France, but sufficiently paid to be sent
via Belgium, are forwarded by the latter
route.
PRUSSIA AND THE GER]\LA.N POSTAL
UNION GENERALLY.
According to the regulations of the German
Postal Union, no letter exceeding 50 grammes (a
little more than IJ oz.) in weight, and containing
any other enclosure than paper, can be allowed to
circulate by the post. Any letters, therefore, for-
warded in the mail to Prussia above that weight,
and containing any other enclosure than paper, will
be liable, on their arrival at the Prussian frontier,
to be stopped, and sent to the Custom House for
delivery as freight.