The Sun.
London, England, 1857-04-28 00:00:00

POSTAGE BATES.

1. For a packet not exceeding 4 oz., Id.; do., above 4
oz. and not exceeding 8 cz , 2d. ; do., above 8 oz. and
not exceeding 16 cz., 4(1. ; do., above 1 lb. and not ex-
ceeding 11 lb., 6d., and so on, twopence being charged
for every additional half-pound or any less weight.
2. The postage must be prepaid in full by means of
postage stamps affixed outside the packet or its c,)ver.
3. Every book packet must be sent either without a
cover or in a cover open at the ends or sides, so as to
admit of an examination of the contents.

4. A book packet may contain any number of sepa-
rate books or other publications, prints, or maps, and
any quantity of paper, parchment or vellum (to the ex•
elusion, however, of written letters, whether sealed or.
open), and the books er other publications, prints;
maps, &c., may be either printed, written, or plain, or
any rni:zture of the three. Further, all legitimate bind-
ing, mounting, or covering of a book, publication, &c.,
or of a portion thereof, will be allowed, whether such
binding, &c., be loose or attached, as also rcliers in the
case of prints or maps, mari,ers (whether of paper or
otherwise) in the case of books, and, in short, whatever
is necessary for the safe transmission of literary or
artistic matter, or usually appertains thereto : but no
patterns or books of patters can be admitted.
6. No book packet may contain any written letter,
closed or open, or any enclosure, sealed or otherwise
closed against inspection, nor must there be any letter,
or any communication of the nature of a letter, written
in any such packet or on its 'cover.

6. No book packet can be received, if it exceeds two
feet in length, width, or depth.

. -
7. Any book packet which shall not be open at the
ends or sides, or shall have any letter, or any communi-
cation of the nature of a letter, written in it or upon its
cover, will be charged with the " unpaid" or double
letter postage. '

8. If a book packet be found to contain any written
letter, whether closed or open, or any enclosure sealed
or otherwise closed against inspection, or any other un-
autiaori-ed enclosure, the letter or enclosure will be taken
out and forwarded to the address on the packet, charged
with full postage as an unpaid letter, together with an
additional rate of fourpence ; and the remainder of the
packet, if duly prepaid with stamps, will then be for-
warded to its address.
9. If a book packet be not sufficiently prepaid with
stamps, but nevertheless bear a stamp of the value of one
penny, it will be forwarded charged with the deficient
book postage, together with an additional rate of four-
pence ; but any packet which shall bear no postageotamp
will be charged with the "unpaid" or double letter pos-
tage, according to its weight.
10. These regulation will not interfere with the privi-
leges allowed to' votes and proceedings of Parliament, or
with those allowed to newspapers and other periodical
publications bearing a newspaper stamp, and posted
in acordance with the regulations applicable to such
privileged publications.
11. To p'revent obstacles to the regular transmission
of letters, any officer of the Post-office may, when neces-
sary, detain a book packet for a period not exceeding
twenty-four hours beyond the time when it would other-
wise be forwarded.

12. The head' postinaster who first receives a book
packet must, whenever he has ground for suspecting an,
infringement of the above conditions, and occasionally,
even when there is no ground for suspicion, open and
examine tho packet ; and every packet which shall not be
open at the ends or sides, or shall exceed two feet in
length, width, or depth, or shall have any letter or com-
munication of the nature of a letter written in it or upon
its cover, or shall bear no postage stamp, must be tent
up, with as little delay as possible, to the Dead Letter-
office in London, Edinburgh, or Dublin, as the case may
be ; but; in the event of .any other infringement of the
regulations, the packet must be dealt with by the post-
master himself as lad down in paragraph No. 8, and in
the first part of No. 9.
By commmand of the Postmaster-General,
ROW LAND HILL, Secretary.
General Post-office, 24th April, 1857

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