stamps. PART I. The Post Office Act.-1876. 11. Except in cases expressly herein mentioned in that behalf, All letters, &c., must or where any arrangements shall be or have been made with be prepaid by postage the Postmaster-General of the United Kingdom, or with the proper authorities of any British possession or foreign country, the postage upon every letter, post card, parcel, or newspaper, and all fees (if any) upon such letter, post card, parcel, or newspaper shall be prepaid; and such prepayments respectively shall be made by affixing thereon postage stamps, not obliterated or defaced, to the value of the necessary postage (except in the case of post cards, upon which stamps will be impressed before they are issued from the General Post Office), and in default thereof such letter, post card, parcel, or newspaper shall not be transmitted or delivered, but shall be returned to the sender at once: Provided that all letters, parcels, and newspapers which shall be posted in and addressed to places within the said Province without the postage being prepaid, or with deficient postage, shall be charged double the amount of deficient or unpaid postage: Provided also, that postage at the ordinary rates on loose letters, parcels, and newspapers, received from masters of vessels, may be collected on delivery. Double postage on letters, &c., not prepaid. Postage may be paid by cash in certain cases. No prepayment necessary in respect of 12. Notwithstanding the enactment lastly hereinbefore contained, whenever it may happen that any postmaster shall not have any postage stamps of the requisite value for sale, then and in such case the postage and fees (if any) upon any letter, post card, parcel, or newspaper, may be prepaid in coin, and shall be acknowledged by such postmaster on the face or cover of such letter, parcel, or newspaper. 13. It shall not be necessary to prepay, by stamp or otherwise, returns of births, &c. the postage upon letters or parcels containing only returns of births, marriages, and deaths, transmitted in compliance with the provisions of the law in that behalf, by ministers of religion or other persons, whose duty it may be to transmit such returns to any officer appointed to receive the same; but the postage thereen shall be paid by the said officer on delivery of such letters or parcels respectively: Provided that the same shall contain such returns only, and shall, on the outside thereof, be stated to contain such returns only, and be signed by the minister or other person transmitting the same. Parliamentary docu under cover. 14. Members of the Executive Council and Members of the Legisments, &c., exempt if lature may receive or send by post Parliamentary documents, petitions, and addresses to Her Majesty, His Excellency the Governor, the Executive Council, or either branch of the Legislature, exempt from postage: Provided such documents, petitions, and addresses be sent without covers, or in covers open at both ends, and do not exceed thirty-two ounces in weight. Letters of sailors and soldiers. 15. The following classes of persons may both send and receive letters, not exceeding half an ounce in weight, by post, on their own private concerns, on prepayment of a postage of One Penny for each letter, either in the said Province, or elsewhere (as the case may be), namely, every seaman employed in Her Majesty's Navy, whilst such seaman The Post Office Act.-1876. seaman shall be actually employed in Her Majesty's service; every sergeant. corporal, drummer, trumpeter, fifer, and private soldier in Her Majesty's Regular Forces, Militia, Fencible Regiments, Artillery, or Royal Marines, whilst actually employed in Her Majesty's service; but the letters of commissioned officers, or warrant officers, whether in the Army or Navy, or midshipmen or mates of the Navy, are not included in this provision; and with respect to letters sent by any such privileged persons, the following conditions shall be observed, that is to say-the postage of each letter, unless sent from parts beyond the seas as hereinafter mentioned, shall be paid on such letter being put into a Post Office; and upon such letter shall be subscribed the name of the writer, and his class or description in the vessel, regiment, corps, or detachment to which he shall belong; and upon every such letter there shall be written, in the handwriting of, and signed by the officer having at the time the command of the vessel, or of the regiment, corps, or detachment to which the privileged person belongs, the name of such officer, and the name of such vessel, or of such regiment, corps, or detachment; and with respect to letters received by post by any of the said privileged persons, the following conditions shall be observed, that is to say-the postage of each letter, unless sent from parts beyond the seas as hereinafter mentioned, shall be paid upon its being put into a Post Office, and it shall be directed to the privileged person, specifying on the superscription thereof the vessel, or the regiment, corps, or detachment to which he shall belong; and whenever the letters sent or received by any such privileged person shall be sent from parts beyond the seas, and shall appear to have had any postage whatsoever prepaid thereon, no Colonial postage shall be charged on delivery thereof within the said Province. PART I. prepayment or other to or from other 16. The Governor may, froin time to time, make, or cause Arrangements as to to be made, arrangements with the Postmaster - General of the wise of letters, &c., United Kingdom, or with the constituted authorities of any countries. British possession or foreign country, for the transmission to any place beyond the limits of South Australia of letters, parcels, or newspapers, posted in South Australia, and for the delivery in South Australia of letters, parcels, or newspapers received from such countries, either in closed mails or loose from masters of vessels, on which no postage or insufficient postage has been paid, free of postage, or upon such terms as to the amount of postage or fine to be paid on delivery, and as to the application thereof as may be agreed upon, and every such arrangement heretofore made for the purpose aforesaid is hereby confirmed and made valid. Colonial newspapers, received from abroad, under open covers, excepting address, and newspapers if and not written upon 17. All newspapers printed in the said Province, posted at some office within the limits of the city or town in which such news papers shall have been printed, and within six days of the date of publication, and all newspapers published and posted within the said Province for delivery beyond the limits of the same, and all exempt. newspapers received through the Post Office from places beyond the PART I. Postage of 1d. on all newspapers not en The Post Office Act.-1876. the limits of the said Province for delivery within the same shall, if unenclosed, or enclosed in any envelope open at both ends, be received, conveyed, and delivered free of all postage whatever, except where under arrangement made with the constituted authorities of other countries postage (payable in such countries) has to be prepaid or collected on delivery: Provided that no newspaper shall contain any note, letter, memorandum, or other thing, or writing therein or thereon, excepting only the direction on the outside thereof, and that the exemption from postage shall not extend to newspapers posted at any office for delivery at such office, or at any place within the limits of the city or town in which such office is situate. 18. The sum of One Penny shall be prepaid for every newspaper titled to free delivery. posted in South Australia for delivery in the said Province that is not entitled to be delivered free of postage. Newspapers defined, Parcels defined, with able thereon. 19. Every publication consisting wholly or in part of political or other news, or of articles relating thereto, or to other current topics with or without advertisements, provided that it be published in numbers at intervals of not more than one month, that it be printed for sale on a sheet or sheets unstitched, that it have the full title and date of publication printed at the top of the first page, and the whole or part of the title and the date of publication printed at the top of every subsequent page, with or without a supplement, consisting wholly or in part of such matter as aforesaid, or consisting wholly or in part of engravings, prints, or lithographs illustrative of articles in such newspaper or supplement: Provided that no such supplement shall consist of only one advertisement, placard, or circular, and that every such supplement be enclosed in every copy or issue of the paper of which it forms the supplement, and in every case be printed on a sheet or sheets of paper unstitched, and published with such newspaper, and having the title and date of publication of the newspaper printed at the top of every page, or at the top of the first sheet or side on which any such matter appears, may be sent by post as a newspaper within the meaning of this Act. 20. The Governor may, from time to time, by order published rates of postage pay in the Government Gazette, direct what parcels may be sent by post as parcels within the meaning of this Act, and upon what terms and conditions the same may be sent; and until any such order shall be made, the following may be sent by post as parcels within the meaning of this Act, that is to say 1. Bankers' parcels containing notes (if registered), orders, cheques, or pass books, sent by or to any bank or banker: II. Parcels containing process of, or proceedings or pleadings in, any Court, briefs, cases, and instructions for counsel, and their opinions thereon respectively, deeds, instruments under the Real Property Act, affidavits, policies of assurance, letters of attorney, depositions, or recognizances: III. Parcels The Post Office Act.-1876. III. Parcels containing patterns or samples of merchar.dise, either IV. Parceis open at both ends containing prices current (prices in VI. Parcels containing scrip, pamphlets, maps, plans, specifications, VII. Parcels containing printed or plain books: VIII. And (as inland and intercolonial parcels) parcels containing seeds in bags or paper, tied and unsealed, so as to be easily loosened and refastened: PART I. Provided that all parcels posted for delivery beyond the limits of the Proviso. said Province shall be open at the ends or sides thereof, excepting such as contain seeds, as provided for in subsection VIII. 21. The weight and dimensions of parcels shall be fixed by weight and size of regulations approved by the Governor and published in the Govern- parcel limited. ment Gazette : Provided that no parcel shall exceed one pound in weight, nor be of greater dimensions in any one way than two feet in length by one foot in width and one foot in depth, nor shall there be in or upon any parcel or the cover thereof, any letter or epistolary communication or intelligence whatever, and on the outside of every parcel, in addition to the name and address of the person to whom such parcel is to be delivered, the sender thereof shall subscribe, or cause to be printed, his name and address, with a statement of the contents, thus-"Parcel without letter." 22. No parcel containing any perishable substances, or any bladder or vessel containing any liquid, except any liquid medicines strongly packed in a tin case, and marked "Liquid medicines," or any matches or other inflammable or explosive substance or compound, or any article, matter, or thing whatever which might by pressure or otherwise be or What things not to PART I. Parcels not coming within definition of newspapers or parcels to be deemed letters. Postage stamps to be made and sold. Postmaster-General may license persons to sell stamps. How stamps shall be affixed. Postmasters to keep sufficient supply of stamps. Postmasters to see that stamps of proper amount are affixed. How postmasters may act in regard to letters put in as being ex The Post Office Act.-1876. or be rendered in any way injurious to the contents of the mail-bags or to the officers of the Post Office, shall be deemed to be a parcel within the meaning of this Act, nor shall any such parcel be sent or transmitted by post, whether as a parcel or otherwise; and any postmaster may refuse to transmit by post any parcel purporting to be a parcel which shall contain or be reasonably suspected to contain any such thing as last aforesaid. 23. Every parcel or thing whatsoever, by whatever name called, or howsoever made up, which may be sent by post, or put or received into any Post Office for transmission or delivery by post, not being a newspaper or parcel as herein before defined, or not being entitled to be transmitted free of postage under any of the provisions of this Act, or any parcel closed against inspection, except where allowed by this Act, shall be deemed to be a letter, and shall be liable to, and chargeable with, postage accordingly. 24. The Governor may authorize the Postmaster-General to cause postage stamps indicating such amounts of postage as may be from time to time deemed necessary for the purposes of this Act to be made or procured and sold to any person applying for the same. 25. The Postmaster-General may grant a licence to any person to deal in or to retail stamps; and any such person or any postmaster who may obtain from the Postmaster-General, at any one time, stamps to the value of Five Pounds or upwards, shall be allowed thereon a rebate at the rate of Two Pounds and Ten Shillings in the Hundred Pounds. 26. The stamps upon all letters and parcels shall be affixed or impressed upon the outside thereof, and on the same side as the address, and no postmaster shall be bound to take any notice of stamps which shall be affixed elsewhere upon any such letters or parcels. 27. Every postmaster shall procure and keep on hand for sale such quantities of postage stamps as the Postmaster-General shall from time to time authorize and direct, and shall sell the same, without premium, to any person desirous of purchasing them. 28. Except in the cases expressly herein mentioned, it shall be the duty of every postmaster to see that every letter, post card, parcel, or newspaper bears a stamp or stamps of the proper amount, according to the rate for the time being established by law. 29. In case any postmaster shall suspect or believe that any empt, or as chargeable letter, newspaper, or parcel put into his office or received by him as such postmaster, and purporting to be a letter, newspaper, or parcel coming within any of the exemptions hereby created, or belonging, in respect of its contents, to one of the classes in which at a lower rate of postage. the |