Towns > Edinburgh > 1846-1975 - Post Office Edinburgh and Leith directory > 1890-1891

770
POSTAL DIRECTORY— RATES.
any part thereof, provided the whole distance does
not exceed three miles ; but the charge is calculated
from the boundary within which no porterage is
levied.
If the address is more than 3 miles from the
terminal office, porterage is charged for by mounted
messenger at the rate of Is. per mile, except in
Ireland, where the charge is usually 8d. per mile,
the charge being reckoned from the office.
The sender is responsible for all charges incurred
in delivery. When the exact distance is not known,
a deposit must be paid beyond the free delivery.
If the sender requires his telegram to be for-
warded by post or by train from the terminal office,
he must write the words ' by post ' or ' by train ' at
the end of the address, and in the latter case he
must pay the cost, or deposit Is. if the cost is not
known. If the telegram is to be posted to a place
abroad, he must write ' Post ' at the-end of the
address, and prepay the postage.
A deposit of 6s. is required upon all telegrams
addressed to a ship, unless the ship be alongside a
wharf ; any surplus is refunded.
Telegrams may be repeated at the request of the
sender, by being signalled back from office to office.
The charge for repetition is one-half the ordinary
tariff ; a fraction of a halfpenny being reckoned as
a halfpenny.
The sender should furnish his address, to enable
the Department to communicate with him if neces-
sary. When not telegraphed, it should be writtrsn
on the back of the form.
If the receiver of a telegram doubts its accuracy,
he may have it repeated by depositing half the
amount paid for its transmission, and the amount
will be refunded if found to be incorrectly trans-
mitted, or he may have part of it repeated under
the same conditions, but the minimum charge is 3d.
The cost of a reply to a telegram, not exceeding
forty-eight words, may be prepaid; and a Keply
Form will then be delivered to the addressee, who
will be at liberty to send his reply, from any tele-
graph office, at any time within two months. If the
Form be not used, it may within the same period
be sent to the Secretary, G.P.O., and the value
will be refunded. A Eeply Form need not neces-
sarily be used for a reply, but may be used for
another message.
Telegrams re-directed to a second address are
liable, if any additional service is performed, to
an additional charge of 6d. if the two addresses
are within the same town, but if the addresses are
in different towns the full inland rate is charged.
Eemovals are registered free for one month when
this is especially requested ; and instructions for
the re-direction of Telegrams at hours when the
place of business is closed are registered on pay-
ment of £1, Is. per annum ; but in both these
cases the telegrams are subject to the usual
charges for re-direction and porterage.
Persons not wishing to send to a telegraph office
may post a telegram, addressed ' Telegram — Imme-
diate,' in a wall or pillar box, or in the letter-box
of a receiving office or sub-post office. Telegrams
so posted are sent on to the nearest telegraph office
by the next collection. The period of arrival at the
postal telegraph office is regarded as the time of
receipt from the public.
Telegrams posted insufficiently prepaid are
forwarded to their destination, the difference of
charge being obtained from the addressee ; but un-
paid telegrams are not forwarded.
No combination of words is counted as one word,
with the exception of those which are ordinarily
coupled by hyphens, such as 'mother-in-law,'
' non-delivery,' 'fifty-one,' etc.
The following exceptional compound words are
charged for as one word: — MacDonald, midday,
midnight, noon-day, se'nnight, cannot, to-day, to-
night, to-morrow, j^esternight, yesterday, half-
penny, twopence, St Andrews, etc.
Figures are counted at the rate of five to a
word; and infractions according to the number of
iigures employed, one figure being counted for the
mark of division, — thus J is one word, and 24;6|^
two words. Groups of figures denoting time are
counted one word, — thus, 12.45, the stop being
counted as a figure. In groups of figures which,
do not denote time, a stop is counted as a word, —
thus 45.45 is counted three words.
The symbols ojo, a/c, b/l, and c/o are each
counted as a word.
Ordinal numbers are charged in the same way
as cardinal, with the addition of one word for the
affix St, nd, rd, th.
When a group of figures is followed or preceded
by a letter, thus 123a, the letter is counted as a
word.
When the sender of a telegram desires words to
be underlined, or placed in a parenthesis, or
within inverted commas, two extra words are
charged for ; and when the sender desires that
special instructions be written on the envelope
enclosing the telegram, such is charged for as
part of the message.
Telegrams addressed to a Telegraph Office, to be
called for, are kept for two days, and if not then
claimed are sent to the Chief Office, London.
Any person may register an abbreviated addresB
on payment of the fee of 21s. a-year.
Telegraph offices are, as a rule, open from 8 a.m.
to 8 p.m., and from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m. on Sundays.
There are, however, offices in several of the larger
towns which are open longer; and at various
offices in London and in the country the attend-
ance is continuous. G.P.O., Edinburgh, always,
open.
FOREIGN TELEGEAMS.
Foreign telegrams are divided into three classes
— ordinary, code, and cypher. Ordinary telegrams
are those composed of words, figures, and letters
conveying an intelligible meaning.
Code telegrams are those composed of words,
the context of which has no intelligible meaniijg.
Pi'oper names are not allowed in the text of code
telegrams, except in their natural sense; words
of more than ten letters are not allowed.
In code telegrams, only English, French, Ger-
man, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, and
Latin may be employed ; but words of any or all of
these languages are allowed in one telegram.
Cypher telegrams are those containing series or
groups of figures or letters having a secret mean-
ing ; or words not to be found in a standard
dictionary of the language. The cypher must be
composed exclusively of figures or letters. Cypher
telegrams written in letters are only accepted for
places in Europe or North America.
The address of the receiver must be paid for,
and must not consist of less than two words, a
name and town. Example : Hercules, Bombay.
The address of the sender is charged for, if
j transmitted ; in any case, it must be written at
the foot of the form.
In ordinary European telegrams, the length al-
lowed for a word is 16 letters, in extra-Europeaa
telegrams 10 letters; any additional letters being
charged for at the rate of 15 or 10 letters respect-
ively to the word.
Every separate letter or figure is charged for as
a word. In European telegrams, every group of