Towns > Greenock > 1847-1912 - Post-office Greenock directory > 1894-1895

APPENDIX. 29
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL PARCEL POST.
General Regulations.
For maximum weight, see Table of Rates of Postage.
The maximum dimensions for most Colonial Parcels are the same
as for the Inland Parcel Post ; for Canada, length 2 feet, breadth or
depth, 1 foot ; for Foreign Parcels generally, length 2 feet, length and
girth combined, 4 feet ; for France, Germany, Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Holland, Norway, Portugal by sea, Switzerland, and
Sweden, 2 feet in any direction.
The rules as to the prepayment of postage ; as to the method of
address ; as to the method of posting ; and as to certificates of posting,
are identical with the rules for Inland parcels, with the exceptions that
the postage upon Foreign or Colonial parcels cannot be prepaid in
money, and that Rural Postmen are not allowed to accept Foreign or
Colonial parcels.
Parcels are liable to Customs regulations, and the sender of each
parcel is required to make for Customs purposes— upon a special form
or forms provided for the purpose, which can be obtained at any Post
Office — an accurate statement of the nature and value of the contents,
the date of posting, and other particulars. The net weight of the
various articles contained in a parcel should, if possible, be stated, and
any other particulars which would facilitate the assessment of Customs
duty.
All parcels are liable to be opened for Customs examination, and
their contents are subject to Customs duty, according to the laws of the
Country or Colony of destination. Such duty cannot be prepaid, but is
in each case collected from the addresses on delivery. In most Foreign
Countries and British Colonies, the articles which are not subject to
Customs duty on importation are comparatively few. The Post Office
can give no information as to the Customs tariff" or procedure of
particular countries, nor does it accept any responsibility for loss, delay,
or charges arising from the Customs or sanitary regulations to which the
contents of parcels are liable.
The Postmaster-General will — not in consequence of any legal
liability, but voluntarily, and as an act of grace — give compensation for
the loss or damage of uninsured parcels sent by Parcel Post when such
loss or damage takes place while the parcels are under his custody.
In pursuance of arrangements made between the Postmaster-General
and the Colonial Post Offices, parcels addressed to the undermentioned
British Colonies and Possessions are accepted for Insurance at any
Post Office in the United Kingdom, and parcels addressed to the
United Kingdom are similarly accepted for Insurance in those places: — -
Aden, Antigua, Ascension, Bahamas, Barbados, British Guiana, British
North Borneo (as far as Sandakan), Ceylon, Cyprus, Dominica, Falkland
Islands, Gambia, Gibraltar, Grenada, Hong Kong, India, Labuan,
Montserrat, Nevis, Newfoundland, St. Helena, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, Straits Settlements (Malacca, Penang, Province of Wellesley),
and Singapore only), Tobago, Tortola, Trinidad, Zanzibar.