Towns > Edinburgh > 1846-1975 - Post Office Edinburgh and Leith directory > 1899-1900

918
POSTAL DIRECTORY— RATES.
REGULATIONS AS TO PEEPAYMENT, REGISTRATION, ETC.
MODES OF PREPAYMENT.
Inland letters, newspapers, and book packets can
only be prepaid by means of postage stamps, except
at the General Post Office, Edinburgh, where letters
and hook packets may, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., be
prepaid in money, provided the amount be not
less than £1, and that the letters and book packets
be tied in separate bundles of os. each, with the
addresses arranged in the same direction.
REGISTRATION (INLAND AND FOREIGN).
Letters, etc., must be prepaid as regards both
postage and registration fee ; except official letters
for Government Offices in London, Dublin, or
Edinburgh, which may be registered on prepay-
ment, in stamps, of the registration fee only.
To some foreign countries a letter can be re-
gistered only to the port of arrival, and to a
few countries there is no arrangement for regis-
tration.
No letter or postal packet addressed to initials
or to a fictitious name can be registered, unless
addressed to the care of a person or firm. Every
article presented for registration should be enclosed
in a strong cover securely fastened.
Every letter, etc., to be registered must be given
to an agent of the Post Office, and a receipt ob-
tained for it, and should on no account be dropped
into the letter-box. If an article marked ' registered '
be dropped into the letter-box, directed to any place
in the United Kingdom, it will be liable to a regis-
tration fee of 4d. (less any amount prepaid for
registration"), instead of the ordinary fee, and if
posted containing coin, watches, or jewellery with-
out being registered, will be treated in like manner.
Letters containing coin for any of the British
colonies not in the Postal Union can be registered,
and if posted unregistered, they are treated as inland
letters under similar circumstances.
Letters containing coin, jewellery, or precious
articles, cannot be accepted for registration to
many of the countries in the Postal Union ; nor
can a letter with the declared value of its contents
marked outside.
The sender of an inland registered letter or
packet may obtain an acknowledgment of its due
delivery by paying at the time of posting an
additional fee of 2d., and filling up the necessary
form, and should a like acknowledgment be de-
sired for a letter addressed to a foreign country
or British colony in the Postal Union, a fee of
2Jd. is required.
Kegistered letters require to be posted at General
Post Office thirty minutes, and at the sub-offices
fifteen minute?, before the closing of the box for
ordinary letters; out upon payment of a late fee of
4d. they may be registered at General Post Office
until the closing of the letter-box for ordinary
letters for each despatch.
The registration of a packet makes its transmission
much more secure, as it can be traced through its
whole course ; and thus the loss of a registered
packet is a very rare occurrence. Nevertheless,
large sums of money or other articles of great
value should not be sent through the post, as
the machinery of the department is not arranged
with a view to such transmissions. If sent
unregistered, valuable articles are exposed to
risk.
INLAND REGISTRATION AND
COMPENSATION.
The ordinary registration fee for each inland
letter, parcel, or other postal packet is 2d.
The Postmaster - General will (not in conse-
quence of any legal liability, but voluntarily, and
as an act of grace), subject to the rules for the
time being, give compensation up to a maximum
limit of £5 for the loss and damage of Inland
Registered Packets upon which this fee has been
paid, in addition to the postage. Subject to the
same rules he will grant compensation beyond £5,
and up to a limit of £120, upon payment of a fee
in addition to the postage and the ordinary regis-
tration fee. These fees, (which in each case include
the ordinary registration fee of 2d.) and the respec-
tive limits of compensation, are as follow: —
Registration
Fee.
Limit of Com-
pensation.
2d3tl
_l_
&]£.'
5 10
20,30 40
8d9d
£ £
60 70
£ £
80 90
Is 1 1/1
100 110
1/2
£
120
EULES.
Posting and Packing.
The postal packet must be posted in accordance
with the rules for the time being, and a certificate
of posting, bearing thereon an acknowledgment
that the fee for registration and compensation
has been paid, must be obtained.
The contents of the postal packet must be
packed and enclosed in a reasonably sti'ong case,
wi-apper, or cover, and if it be desired to secure
compensation for damage to a postal packet
(other than a parcel), such postal packet must
bear the words ' Fragile, with Care,' on the face
of the cover above the address.
The packet must be marked with the word
' Registered,' and with the amount of the fee
proper to the value up to which the sender desires
to secure compensation, thus: —
Registered, 2d. ; Registered, 3d.; and so on.
The registered Parcel Post will be available for
watches and jewellery. Money may also be sent
in a registered parcel, but no compensation will
be given in respect of the loss or damage of such
parcel or of any of its contents.
General Conditions.
No compensation either for loss or damage will
be given in respect of a postal packet containing
any article which may not under the regulations
in force for the time being be lawfully sent by the
post by which it is in fact sent; or a packet (other
than a letter) containing any money ; or a letter
containing any money, unless it be enclosed in a
registered letter envelope provided by the Post-
master-General, and —
(a) If containing coin, unless the coins are
packed and enclosed in such a way as to move
about as little as possible.
(J) If containing any bank note, unless the
name of the bank of issue, and number and
amount, and (where necessary) the date of the
note be supplied to the Postmaster-General
when required.
(c) If containing any postal order, unless the
amount and number of such order be supplied
to the Postmaster-General when required.