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Telegraph Act

LAWS OF TONGA

[1988 Ed.]

CHAPTER 99

TELEGRAPH

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

SECTION

1. Short title.
2. Interpretation.
3. Power to make regulations.
4. Additional powers.
5. Telegrams having priority.
6. Other telegrams to be sent in order received.
7. Delaying telegram.
8. Telegrams to be pre-paid.
9. Fees recoverable by civil action.
10. Fraudulently marking time on telegram.
11. Officer may not give evidence of contents of telegram.
12. Exceptions.
13. Prime Minister may by warrant require production of telegram.
14. Telegram to be stamped before delivery.
15. Stamped telegram prima facie evidence of certain matters.
16. Certain matters need not be proved.
17. Protection of officer.
18. No malicious publication.
19. Investigation if contents improperly divulged.
20. No privilege in investigation.
21. Declaration by officers.
22. Offence to divulge contents.
23. Saving.
24. Offences.
25. Copyright in press telegram.
26. Period of copyright.
27. Multiple press telegrams.
28. Time of receipt to be published.
29. Wrongful publication.
30. Proceedings to be commenced within one month.
31. Evidence.
32. Offences by officers.
33. Wrongful use of forms.
34. Prosecution before magistrate.

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Acts Nos. 10 of 1958, 3 of 1960, 17 of 1983, 46 of 1988

AN ACT FOR THE REGULATION OF THE ACCEPTANCE, TRANSMISSION AND DELIVERY OF TELEGRAMS

[30th September, 1958]

Short title.

1. This Act may be cited as the Telegraph Act.

Interpretation.

2. In this Act-

"Commission" means the Tonga Telecommunications Commission;

(Inserted by Act 17 of 1983.)

"radio-telegram" means any despatch, message or other communication originating in or destined for a ship or aircraft station, and which is transmitted over all or part of its route by means of the radio-communication service or the mobile service;

"telegram" means any despatch, message or other communication conveyed or transmitted, or presented at a telegraph office for transmission, by an electric line, or by any other means in which electricity is used, including radiocommunication, and includes a radio-telegram unless otherwise specifically stated;

(Amended by Act 46 of 1988.)

"telegraph" means an electric line or any other apparatus used for the purpose of telegraphic communication;

"telegraph office" means any office or place at which telegrams are received from, or transmitted to, any place;

"telegraph officer" means any person employed, whether permanently or temporarily, in the Telegraph Branch of The Tonga Telecommunications Commission.

(Amended by Act 17 of 1983.)

Power to make regulations.

3. The Prime Minister may, from time to time, with the consent of Cabinet, make regulations for the following purposes-

(a) the management, working, and maintenance of any telegraph, and the conduct and employment of any officers or persons engaged in connection therewith;

(b) the transmission of all telegrams by means of any electric line or by radio, and for the delivery thereof, and for the disposal of all unclaimed or undelivered telegrams;

(c) prohibiting the transmission of telegrams of a nature or character to be defined by such regulations, and authorising officers of the Commission to determine in the case of any telegram whether such telegram is within the definition of any such prohibited class;

(d) fixing and determining the fees and rates to be demanded and received for the transmission of telegrams, and for the forwarding thereof for delivery respectively, and the modes and times of payment, and by and from whom such fees and rates may be legally recovered;

(e) for the destruction of all original and office copies of telegrams received or kept in any office under the charge or control of the Prime Minister after the expiration of such period of time as may be deemed expedient.

Additional powers.

4. The powers to make regulations conferred by section 3 shall include, and be deemed at all times heretofore to have included, power to make regulations for any or all of the following matters-

(a) the inspection of the original of any telegram or of an office copy of any telegram by the person to whom such telegram is addressed, or by the person by whom or in whose name it is sent, or by the authorised agent of any such person;

(b) the furnishing of certified copies of any telegram to any person entitled to inspect the original or an office copy thereof;

(c) fixing fees to be paid for the inspection of any telegram or for a certified copy of any telegram.

Telegram having priority.

5. All telegrams relating to matters affecting the Government or Public Service of Tonga presented for transmission by any officer in the Civil Service duly authorised to present such telegrams, and all telegrams relative to the arrest of criminals or accused persons, the discovery or prevention of crime, or matters connected with the administration of justice, may be transmitted in priority to any other telegrams except those relating to safety of human life.

Other telegrams to be sent in order received.

6. Subject to section 5 it shall be the duty of all officers or other persons employed in the working of any telegraph to transmit all telegrams to be sent in telegrams which may be lawfully transmitted under this Act or any regulations for the time being in force thereunder in the order in which they may be received, and every officer or person who offends against this provision is liable to a fine of not less than $2 and not exceeding $40.

Delaying telegrams.

7. Any telegraph officer or other person employed in or about the working of any telegraph who, through neglect of his duty, unnecessarily delays the transmission or delivery of any telegram is liable to a fine of not less than $10 or not more than $40.

Telegrams to be prepaid.

8. Unless otherwise directed by any regulation, no person shall be bound to transmit any telegram unless the fee or rate for transmission and delivery of such telegram, if demanded, has been previously paid.

Fees recoverable by civil action.

9. In case of refusal or neglect of payment of any fee or rate authorized to be charged or received by or under this Act, or any part of any such fee or rate, on demand, to the person appointed or authorized to receive the same, the same may, be sued for and recovered by civil action in the name of the General Manager of the Tonga Telecommunications Commission, or such other officer as shall be authorized by the Prime Minister to take such action.
(Amended by Act 17 of 1983.)

Fraudulently marking time on telegram.

10. Every person commits an offence and is liable to a fine not exceeding $100 who fraudulently marks any telegram so as to lead any person to believe that such telegram was received for transmission or delivery, or was transmitted or delivered, at a time other than the time when it was in fact so received, transmitted, or delivered, or who counsels, procures, aids, abets, or incites any other person so to mark any such telegram.

Officer may not give evidence of contents of telegram.

11. Except as hereinafter provided, no officer or other person employed in or about the working of any telegraph shall on the trial of any issue, whether criminal or civil or of any matter or question, or on any inquiry in any Court of Justice, or before any person by law or by consent of parties authorized to hear, receive, and examine evidence, be competent or compellable to give evidence of the contents of any telegram transmitted or conveyed or presented to be transmitted or conveyed by any such telegram, nor to produce under any writ of subpoena, summons, or order the original of any such telegram signed by or on behalf of the sender.

Exceptions.

12. The provisions of section 11 shall not apply-

(a) if the person by or to whom any such telegram as aforesaid has been sent or addressed notifies the Prime Minister in writing that he desires that any such officer or other person aforesaid may given such evidence or make such production as aforesaid; or

(b) to the case of any proceedings in respect of any offence, whether punishable on indictment or otherwise, if the Prime Minister is satisfied that such evidence or production is necessary or expedient in the interest of justice, and in writing directs accordingly.

Prime Minister may by warrant require production of telegram.

13. Where it appears to the Prime Minister that it is expedient in the public interest that any telegram or any copy of any telegram which is in the possession of or under the control of the Commission should be communicated to him he may by warrant under his hand require the person for the time being in charge of the Commission to produce to him the said telegram or a copy thereof and all papers in connection therewith. On receipt of the said warrant signed by the Prime Minister as aforesaid the officer in charge of the Commission shall forthwith produce to the Prime Minister the documents specified therein.
(Added by Act 3 of 1960.)

Telegram to be stamped before delivery.

14. Every telegram when received at its destination or a duplicate of such telegram shall before the delivery thereof to the person to whom the same is addressed be stamped or initialled by the officer receiving the same.

Stamped telegram prima facie evidence of certain matters.

15. Such telegram or duplicate purporting to have been so stamped or initialled shall be admissible in every Court of Justice and in every judicial or Ministerial examination or proceeding as prima facie evidence of the matter therein contained being the same as that stated in the original telegram left for transmission, and of such original telegram having been duly signed and delivered for transmission by the person by whom the same purports to be signed.

Certain matters need not be proved.

16. It shall not be necessary to prove the signature of the person purporting to have signed such original telegram, or that the same was left at any telegraph office for transmission, nor to prove the stamp or initials of the officer receiving such transcript for delivery.

Protection of officer.

17. No officer or person employed in or about the working of any telegraph shall be liable to any indictment, information, or other criminal proceedings, or to any action for damages, by reason of his having as such officer or other person transmitted or conveyed or taken part in transmitting or conveying by any such telegraph any defamatory matter.

No malicious publication.

18. Any communication transmitted by any telegraph which would be deemed a privileged communication if published only to the person to whom it is addressed, shall not be deemed to have been maliciously published by reason merely of its having been published to any officer or other person employed as aforesaid for the purpose of being transmitted by such telegraph to the person to whom it is addressed.

Investigation if contents improperly divulged.

19. His Majesty in Council may order any person or any committee of persons to investigate any allegation that the contents of any telegram have been improperly divulged or that any telegram has been unlawfully published.

No privilege in investigation.

20. Provided the necessary permission is given by the Prime Minister pursuant to section 12 hereof no person shall be excused from answering a question put to him in any proceedings under section 22 on the ground of privilege or on the ground that the answer to such question may criminate or tend to criminate him.

Declaration by officers.

21. Every telegraph officer shall, before entering on the duties of his office make and subscribe before a person authorized to take statutory declarations, a declaration in the form in the Schedule hereto.

Offence to divulge contents.

22. Any officer or person employed in the working of any telegraph who improperly divulges in whole or in part the contents of any telegram transmitted or presented for transmission by any such telegraph, or the purport of such telegram, is liable to a fine not exceeding $100 or to imprisonment with hard labour for a period not exceeding 6 months.

Saving.

23. Nothing herein shall prevent the person duly authorized in that behalf from giving copies of any telegram to the person entitled thereto.

Offences.

24. Every person is liable to a fine not exceeding $100 or to imprisonment for any term not exceeding one year, or to both such fine and imprisonment who-

(a) wilfully sends or delivers or causes to be sent or delivered to any public officer, operator, clerk, or servant, for the purpose of being transmitted as a telegraphic message, any telegram or writing which purports to be signed or sent without such person's authority; or

(b) wrongfully signs any telegram with the name of any other person without such person's authority, or with the name of some fictitious person; or

(c) wilfully and without the authority of the sender alters any telegram or writing.

Copyright in press telegram.

25. Where any person, in the manner hereinafter mentioned, publishes in any newspaper, or other printed paper published in Tonga, any telegram lawfully received by such person from any place outside Tonga for publication, no other person shall, without the consent in writing of such first-mentioned person or his agent thereto lawfully authorized, print or publish, or cause to be printed or published, such telegram or the substance thereof or any extract therefrom until after the period of 18 hours from such first-mentioned publication.

Period of copyright.

26. Such period shall not extend beyond 24 hours, or, if Sunday intervenes, beyond 48 hours, from the time of receipt of such telegram; and the publication of the whole or any part of such telegram, or of the substance thereof, or (excepting the publication of any similar telegram in like manner sent from the same place) of the intelligence therein contained shall be deemed to be a publication of the same.

Multiple press telegrams.

27. The simultaneous publication of the same telegram in two or more newspapers or other printed papers shall not be deemed to authorize the publication of the same in any other newspaper or printed paper without the consent in writing of one of the original receivers as hereinbefore provided, or in case such telegram has been furnished to such papers by any company or association, and has printed above it words showing that it has been so supplied, without the written consent of such company or association.

Time of receipt to be published.

28. Every telegram published under the protection of this Act shall be printed with the heading "By Telegraph-Copyright", and shall bear the date and hour of its receipt, and such statement shall be prima facie evidence of the time of receipt of such telegram.

Wrongful publication.

29. Every person who wilfully prints and publishes any matter contrary to this Act is liable to a fine not less than $2 and not exceeding $10 for the first offence, and to a fine of not less than $10 and not exceeding $40 for any subsequent offence.

Proceedings to be commenced within one month.

30. Any proceedings under section 29 of this Act shall be commenced within one month after the date of the commission of the alleged offence.

Evidence.

31. In any prosecution under this Act the production of any document which purports to be a telegram, and which contains the intelligence published in the newspapers or other printed papers as aforesaid, and which has been delivered to some person entitled to receive the same by the proper officer of the Commission, shall be prima facie evidence that the telegram as hereinbefore described in any newspaper or other printed paper is a telegram within the meaning of this Act; and proof that any person is, or is acting or appears to be acting as, editor, sub-editor, or manager of any newspaper in which there has been any publication contrary to this Act shall be prima facie evidence that such person has wilfully caused such wrong publication.

Offences by officers.

32. Every officer or other person employed in or about the working of any telegraph who offends against or wilfully neglects or omits to comply with any of the provisions of this Act in respect of which no penalty is provided elsewhere than in this section is liable to a fine of not more than $100, or to imprisonment for any period not exceeding 2 years.

Wrongful use of forms.

33. Every person is liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $100 who uses any telegraph form or other forms provided for the use of the public in connection with the business of the Department for any purpose other than the purpose for which such forms have been so provided.

Prosecution before Magistrate.
Cap. 11

34. All offences against this Act may be prosecuted and all fines and other moneys payable under this Act may be recovered before a Magistrate as provided by the Magistrates' Courts Act.

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SCHEDULE

(Section 21)

DECLARATION BY TELEGRAPH OFFICER

I, A.B. do solemnly and sincerely declare that I will be true and faithful in the execution of the trust committed to my charge, and that I will not, otherwise than in the due performance of my official duties, willingly or knowingly divulge the contents of any telegraphic or telephonic message or communication, or the purport thereof, coming to my knowledge in my official capacity, or suffer any other officer in the service wrongfully to divulge the contents of any telegraphic or telephonic message or communication, or the purport thereof, coming to his knowledge in his official capacity; and I do further declare that I will not detain or delay, or willingly or knowingly suffer any other officer in the service to detain or delay, any telegraphic or telephonic message or communication entrusted to the charge of the Commission for delivery, except in such cases and to such extent as may be lawfully provided in that behalf; and I do further declare that I will not willingly intercept any telegraphic or telephonic communications other than those which I am authorized to receive.

And I make the solemn declaration under the provisions of the Telegraph Act.

Declared at ....................., this day of ................. 19....

(Signature of Declarant);........................................................................

before me:...................................................................................

Magistrate.......................................................................

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CHAPTER 99

TELEGRAPH

SECTIONS 3 and 4-Telegraph Regulations

Made by the Prime Minister on 21st November, 1960

G.S. 61/60, 17/61, 6/62, 19/62, 13/66, G.S. 5/67, G.S. 76/73, G.S. 74/77, G. 8/79, G. 345/78, G.S. 146/79

1. These regulations may be cited as the Telegraph Regulations.

2. These regulations shall be deemed to have come into force on the first day of January, 1960.

ACCEPTANCE OF TELEGRAMS FOR TRANSMISSION

3. Telegrams for onward transmission are accepted at any Telegraph Office within the Kingdom. They may be posted to any Telegraph Office within the Kingdom in an envelope marked "Telegram for Transmission"; or they may be telephoned to the Nuku'alofa Telegraph Office.

4. Telegrams must not be accepted by Departmental Officers outside of official premises.

5. On receipt of a telegram, the receiving officer shall mark upon it in the space provided, the exact time and the date of receipt by him, and the same time shall be marked upon the receipt for the charges.

6. The sender of a telegram must prove his identity when requested to do so by the office of origin.

PREPARATION OF TELEGRAMS

7. Telegrams should be written on the official telegram forms provided. If written on other paper, they must be glued to an official telegram form.

8. Telegrams may be type-written, or hand-written in ink or indelible pencil. Telegrams written in ordinary lead pencil are not acceptable.

9. Alterations made in telegrams must be initialled by the sender. Corrections to telegrams must be made by striking out the word incorrectly written, and re-writing it correctly. Telegrams which have been corrected by the use of an eraser, whether handwritten or type-written, will not be accepted.

LANGUAGE

10. A telegram, other than a letter telegram or a Commonwealth Social Telegram, may be written in either plain language, in secret language, or in a mixture of both, with the exception that secret language may not be contained in private telegrams to those countries shown in the List of Oversea Telegram Rates as not admitting secret language.

11. The sender of a telegram (except a Government telegram) in secret language must produce the code from which the text or part of the text or the signature of the telegram is compiled if the office of origin requests it.

12. A telegram written wholly in a language other than Tongan or English, or in mixed secret language and a language other than Tongan or English, must be certified by the sender to the effect that the plain language words of the text are in the (name of the language) language and do not convey a secret meaning. A telegram containing words of a foreign language which are not certified by the sender as having no secret meaning cannot be accepted.

PLAIN LANGUAGE

13. Plain language is that which presents an intelligible meaning in one or more of the languages admitted for international telegraph correspondence, including Latin and Esperanto, each word and each expression having the meaning normally assigned to it in the language to which it belongs.

14. The letters used in foreign languages must be English ones, and accents are not permitted.

15. Groups of four figures taken from the Chinese Official Telegram Dictionary are accepted as plain language in telegrams to and from China and other countries as shown in the List of Oversea Telegram Rates. Such telegrams must be certified by the sender as having been compiled from the Chinese Official Telegram Dictionary.

16. Telegrams in plain language are those of which the text and signature are wholly in plain language.

17. The character of a telegram in plain language is not changed by the presence of-

(a) numbers written in letters or figures, groups composed either of letters or of figures, or of figures and signs, provided that these numbers, groups and signs have no secret meaning;

(b) proper names, arbitrary or abbreviated addresses;

(c) abbreviated denominations of international or national organizations, including business undertakings, in the form of initial letters combined as one group, the admissibility of which shall be decided by the country of origin of the telegram;

(d) commercial marks, trade marks, designations of goods, arbitrary technical terms used to denote machines or parts of machines, reference numbers or indications and other expressions of the same kind, provided that these marks, designations, technical terms, reference numbers or indications, and expressions are shown in a catalogue available to the public, or in a price list, invoice, bill of lading or similar document;

(e) groups denoting house numbers, registration numbers or letters of motor vehicles, designations of ships, aircraft or railway trains as well as flight and train numbers; groups clearly representing money, ordinal numbers, indications of time and day; and groups representing exchange or market quotations, scientific formulae or meteorological observations or forecasts;

(f) abbreviated expressions in current use in ordinary or commercial correspondence, such as fob, cif, caf, svp, or any similar expression, the admissibility of which shall be decided by the country of origin of the telegram;

(g) a single check word or check number placed at the beginning of the text and not exceeding 5 letters or 5 figures in length.

18. All these expressions may, exceptionally, be composed of letters, figures, signs, or a mixture thereof.

19. Combinations or alterations of plain language words contrary to the usage of the language to which they belong shall not be allowed in plain language telegrams, except in the cases specified in these regulations.

Secret Language

20. Except for the cases provided for as being admitted as plain language, the following shall constitute secret language-

(a) artificial words composed exclusively of letters, and which must not exceed 5 letters in length;

(b) Arabic figures or groups of Arabic figures having a secret meaning;

(c) real words belonging to one or more of the languages admitted for telegraph correspondence in plain language which are not used with the meaning normally assigned to them in the language to which they belong and consequently do not form intelligible phrases;

(d) other words or expressions not fulfilling the conditions laid down for plain language;

(e) a mixture of such words and expressions.

21. Words in secret language may not contain accented letters.

22. The mixture within a single group of any combination of letters, figures or signs which has a secret meaning are not permitted.

23. Secret language telegrams are those containing in their text or signature one or more words in secret language.

CHARACTERS WHICH MAY BE USED

24. The original telegram must be written in the characters given below-

Letters: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ

Figures: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0

Punctuation and miscellaneous signs-

full stop (period) (.)

comma (,)

colon or division sign (:)

question mark (not of interrogation) (?)

apostrophe or sign for minutes (')

sign for seconds (")

hyphen, dash or subtraction sign (-)

parentheses (brackets) ()

fraction bar or division sign (/)

25. Roman figures shall be transmitted as Arabic figures.

26. If the sender of a telegram desires the addressee to be informed that Roman figures are intended, he shall write the Arabic figure or figures and shall insert the word "Roman", or a corresponding word in the language in which the telegram is drafted in front of each such figure or group of figures.

ORDER OF ARRANGEMENT OF THE PARTS OF A TELEGRAM

27. The parts of which a telegram may consist must be arranged in the following order-

(a) preamble;

(b) paid service indications;

(c) address;

(d) text;

(e) signature.

Preamble

28. The preamble shall include the information needed for identification, and, if necessary for the routing of the telegram.

29. It shall consist of, in the order shown-

(a) the serial number of the telegram;

(b) one of the abbreviations given below, when appropriate-

(c) the name of the office of origin of the telegram;

(d) the number of words contained in the telegram;

(e) the date of handing in of the telegram;

(f) the time of handing in of the telegram;

(g) any other unpaid service indication given below, when appropriate-

Paid Service Indications

30. A paid service indication is an indication on a telegram either identifying it as within a particular class of telegram or denoting a special service requested by the sender, or, in some cases, by the addressee.

31. Any paid service indication allowed by these regulations must be written immediately before the address.

32. If there are several paid service indications in a telegram, the indications identifying the category of the telegram shall come first. In an urgent RCT telegram, or in an urgent press telegram, the indication -URGENT- shall precede the indication -RCT- or the indication -PRESS-.

33. Paid service indications may be written by the sender in any form. Each shall be charged for as one word, and transmitted in the abbreviated form. The counter officer shall strike out the indication written by the sender in any other than the regulation abbreviated form and shall substitute for it the corresponding abbreviation.

34. The following paid service indications identify the class of telegram-

35. The following paid service indications serve to indicate a special service requested by the sender or addressee-

Address

36. The sender is, in all cases, responsible for the sufficiency of the address of a telegram.

37. The address must be sufficiently full to allow the delivery of the telegram without reference to other information. Except where addressed to a well-known business or hotel, etc., the street and number in the street should be given.

38. The sender should write the address in block capitals.

39. Every address must contain at least 2 words; the first designating the addressee and the second the name of the telegraph office of the locality of destination.

40. When a telegram is addressed to a person at the address of another the address must contain, immediately after the name of the actual addressee, the expression "care of" or other equivalent expression. This provision shall also apply when the address of the person or firm to which the telegram is sent is a registered address.

41. Telegrams addressed to a post office or telegraph office to be called for must contain the addressee's name; they cannot be addressed to a fictitious name, initials without a name, or by use of a general term.

42. The name of a telegraph office of destination must be placed after the words in the address which designate the addressee and his residence, when mentioned; it must be written as it appears in the first column of the Official List of Telegraph Offices. It may, however, be amplified by particulars intended to distinguish it from other offices of the locality.

43. The name may be followed only by the name of the territorial sub-division or by the name of the country, or by both. If both are used, the name of the territorial sub-division must come first after the name of the office of destination.

44. When the name of the locality given as the destination, or that of the land station chosen for the transmission of a radiotelegram, does not appear in the relevant Official List, this name must be followed either by the name of the territorial sub-division, or by the name of the country of destination, or by both these names, or by other particulars which are considered adequate for the forwarding of the telegram. The same course shall be followed when there are several offices of the name given and the sender is not in a position to furnish definite information from which the official designation of the locality can be identified.

45. In either case the telegram shall be accepted only at the risk of the sender. The combination in a single expression of the name of the office of destination with the name of the territorial sub-division or the name of the country of destination shall be regarded as an indication that the telegram has been so accepted.

46. If the address is not in conformity with the provisions of these regulations the telegram shall be refused.

47. In all cases of insufficient address, the telegram shall be accepted only at the risk of the sender, if he insists on sending it; and the sender shall bear the consequences of an insufficient address.

48. The following categories of address are permitted-

(a) full address;

(b) registered address;

(c) telephonic address;

(d) Telex address;

(e) post office or telegraph office address;

(f) post office box address.

Full Address

49. The full address must, as a general rule, include-

(a) the destination of the addressee;

(b) the name of the street, boulevard, avenue, etc., of his abode, together, if necessary, with the number;

(c) the locality of destination.

50. In the absence of these particulars, the address must state, so far as possible, the occupation of the addressee, or give any other useful information.

51. Even for small localities, the designation of the addressee must be supplemented, so far as practicable, by further particulars for the guidance of the office of delivery.

52. Surname, Christian names, names of firms and particulars of abode shall be accepted as the sender writes them. Any other particulars in the address must be written in the language or languages of the country of destination.

53. The names of territorial sub-divisions or of countries may be written either in accordance with the particulars in the Official List of Telegraph Offices or in accordance with their alternative names as given in the preface of that List.

54. In telegrams for China, groups of 4 figures may be used to designate the name and abode of the addressee.

55. Telegrams may be addressed or delivered to travellers in trains or in aircraft.

56. For this purpose the sender must indicate, in the address, in addition to the name of the addressee and the name of the telegraph office of destination-

(a) the word "passenger" or "crew" as appropriate;

(b) the name of the railway station or airport at which the train or aircraft stops;

(c) for trains, the address should also include the number or name of the train, or, in the absence of these particulars, the scheduled time of departure or arrival and the place of departure and destination;

(d) for aircraft, the address must give the name or abbreviation of the airline company and the number or name of the aircraft, or, in the absence of these particulars, the flight number or the scheduled time of departure or arrival and the place of departure and destination.

57. In telegrams bearing such an address, the only paid service indication admitted shall be -URGENT-.

58. Telegrams to be delivered in trains or aircraft are accepted only at the sender's risk.

Registered Address

59. A registered address is an address in which the name of the addressee can be replaced by a conventional or abridged indication.

60. The right to delivery of telegrams so addressed shall be subject to special arrangement between the addressee and the telegraph office of destination.

Telephone Address

61. When the sender desires his telegram to be delivered by telephone, he shall write before the address (name of the addressee and destination) the paid service indication -TFx- (x being the telephone number of the addressee with, if necessary, the name of the access number of the network).

Telex Address

62. If the sender desires his telegram to be delivered by Telex, he shall write before the address the paid service indication -TLXx- (x being the number of the addressee's Telex station).

Post Office or Telegraph Office Address

63. The address of telegrams addressed "Post Office", "registered Post Office" or "Telegraph Office" must be composed of-

(a) the paid service indication -GP-, the paid service indication -GPR-, or the paid service indication -TR-;

(b) the name of the addressee, including, where possible, his Christian name or initials; and

(c) the name of the telegraph office of destination.

64. Initials alone, figures, Christian name only, fictitious names, or arbitrary signs of any kind shall not be allowed in the address.

Post Office Box Address

65. A "Post Office Box" address must be composed of-

(a) the name of the addressee;

(b) the designation "Post Office Box" with the box number; and

(c) the name of the telegraph office of destination.

66. The name of the office to which the addressee's Post Office Box belongs should, if necessary, be supplemented by particulars to distinguish it from other local offices.

Text

67. The texts of telegrams must be written in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.

68. Telegrams which contain only an address, whether or not preceded by one or more paid service indications, shall not be admitted.

Signature

69. The signature of a telegram may be written as a Christian name, surname, or code word, or in any other way (except an inadmissible combination of two or more names) or the telegram may be unsigned.

70. The sender may have his signature verified, and the verification included in this telegram. This is transmitted either as it is written or in the form "Signature verified by (name or verifier)".

71. The verification is placed after the signature of the telegram, and it is included in the number of words charged for.

72. The office of origin shall satisfy itself that the verification is genuine.

73. If the signature of the telegram is insufficient to identify the sender, or if the telegram is unsigned, the name and address of the sender must be written on the back of the form or in any other special space provided on the form for that purpose.

Counting of Words in Inland Telegrams

74. Everything that the sender asks to have transmitted shall be included in the number of chargeable words.
(Amended G. 345/78.)

75. The following, however, shall neither be charged for nor transmitted-

(a) dashes used only to separate on the sender's copy the different words or groups;

(b) other isolated signs, unless the sender has specifically requested their transmission.

76. The verification of the signature, if the sender asks for it to be transmitted, shall be included in the number of chargeable words.

Words, Groups and Expressions counted as one word
regardless of the number of characters

77. The following shall be counted as one word-

(a) each of the paid service indications transmitted in the form prescribed;

(b) in paid service advices the original telegram number, the number or numbers of the preceding paid service advice or advices;

(c) each isolated letter or figure;

(d) each isolated sign-including fraction bar, hyphen, dash or apostrophe used to separate or join a word or text-transmitted at the express request of the sender;

(e) the two signs forming brackets (parentheses) when they enclose one or more words or groups. However, when they appear in one of the groups acceptable as plain language, without enclosing it, or if one of the bracket signs appears in one of those groups, each sign shall be counted as one character;

(f) the signs forming quotation marks (inverted commas) when they enclose one or more words or groups. However, when they appear in one of the groups acceptable as plain language, without enclosing it, or if one such sign appears in one of those groups, each sign of the inverted commas (double or single apostrophe) shall be counted as one character.

78. The following shall be counted as one word in the address-

(a) the name of the telegraph office or land station of destination;

(b) the name of the mobile station of destination written as it appears in the appropriate List;

(c) the name of the mobile station of destination, completed if necessary by the call sign of the station, or by any other particulars when this name does not appear in the appropriate List;

(d) the name of the telegraph office of destination completed by particulars intended to distinguish it from other offices of the locality;

(e) the geographical or administrative name of the place where the telegram is to be delivered, in case this locality has no telegraph office. (Amended G. 345/78.)

79. If it has not been already done, the accepting officer shall join up the different parts of each of the expressions which are permissible as one word, provided that this does not distort the name of the office of destination. In the latter case, the accepting officer shall separate the different parts by a fraction bar and the whole shall count as one word.

Words, Groups and Expressions counted at the Rate of One Word for each 15 letters

80. The following shall be counted at the rate of 15 letters to the word, plus one word for each 15 letters or fraction of 15 letters in excess;

(a) each word appearing in a standard dictionary of one of the admitted languages, each other word in common use in one of those languages, provided it is not a combination or a contraction of such words or any expression contrary to the usage of the language;

(b) each arbitrary or abbreviated address;

(c) words separated or joined by an apostrophe, a hyphen or a fraction bar, when they so appear in a standard dictionary of one of the admitted languages.

81. Unless the sender desire otherwise, the accepting officer shall join the parts into a single word, deleting the apostrophe, hyphen or fraction bar.

82. If they do not appear in a standard dictionary in this form or as a single word, or if the sender expressly requests the transmission of the sign in question, each of the words and the sign will be counted as separate words.

83. Each such sign, the transmission of which is requested by the sender, must be underlined by the accepting officer so as to attract the attention of the transmitting operator.

84. The following names and expressions, which may be grouped into a single word, shall be counted at the rate of 15 letters to the word-

(a) family names belonging to one person;

(b) the full or abbreviated names of places, squares, boulevards, streets, canals, rivers and other public ways;

(c) names of ships, aircraft and railway trains or similar names;

(d) whole numbers, fractions, decimal or fractional numbers, written in words, including those in which the figures are represented separately or in groups, and expressions written in words, indicating a percentage or per thousand value or indicating multiplication or a dimension;

(e) compound words which can be justified by their common use throughout Tonga;

(Amended G. 345/78.)

(f) in the text and signature, the names of telegraph offices and of land and mobile stations, the names of towns, countries and smaller divisions of territory.

85. If the accepting officer observes that the elements of such names and expressions referred to above have not been joined together by the sender he should draw the attention of the sender to the possibility of such grouping.

86. Other names in the address, text or signature are counted as separate words.

Words, Groups and Expressions counted at the Rate of
One Word for each 5 Characters

87. The following shall be counted at the rate of 5 characters to the word, plus one word for each 5 characters or fraction of 5 characters in excess-

(a) groups composed of letters, figures, signs or, in cases of such groups admissible as plain language, of a mixture of these various elements. However, when a hyphen or dash is used to join up a whole number to a fraction or a number to a percentage sign or per thousand sign it shall not be counted as a character even when the sender has written it on the form. The same applies to a fraction bar appearing in a group of figures or of figures and letters forming a house number in the address;

(b) words and expressions not fulfilling the conditions laid down for words which may be counted as one word regardless of the number of characters, or for words counted at the rate of 15 letters to the word.

Examples of Counting Words

88. The following examples shall determine the interpretation of the rules to be observed for counting words. (See notes at the end of the list)-

Notes:

¹ The accepting officer shall underline the sign or signs the transmission of which is expressly requested so as to attract the attention of the transmitting operator.

² In the text and signature of a telegram these expressions are counted at the rate of 5 characters to the word, plus one word for each 5 characters or fraction of 5 characters in excess.

³ Groups containing more than 5 letters or figures and groups containing a mixture of letters and figures, letters and signs, or figures and signs, are not admissible if they have a secret meaning.

⁴ In these cases the accepting officer shall delete the hyphen or apostrophe and join into a single word. If, however, the sender expressly requests the transmission of the sign in question, each word and sign will be counted as a separate word.

⁵ These expressions should not be admitted in telegrams for which plain language only is authorized. If necessary, the accepting officer shall invite the sender to rewrite the telegram correctly or to send it at full rate.

⁶ To be counted as if properly spelled.

COUNTING OF WORDS IN INTERNATIONAL TELEGRAMS AND RADIOTELEGRAMS

89. (1) Everything that the sender asks to have transmitted in an international telegram or radiotelegram shall be included in the number of chargeable words.

(2) All words, groups of characters and expressions shall be counted as follows:

(3) Words, groups of characters and expressions may be joined together so as to form groups of characters not exceeding 10 characters save that the office or destination may not be joined to any other word, group of characters or expressions.

(4) If the sender wishes to join together words, groups of characters or expressions as described in the preceding sub-regulation, either in the text and signature section or in the address section of the international telegram or radio-telegram, he shall be informed by the accepting officer that the Department accepts no responsibility for any misunderstanding by the addressee, or failure in delivery.

(5) When the name of the office of destination in an international telegram consists of more than one word, the words shall be joined and counted at the rate of one chargeable word for each 10 characters or part, save that the country name shall be enclosed in brackets for transmission but shall not be included in the word count nor charged for-

Example of counting words in name of office of destination.

(6) When the sender requests transmission of punctuation marks the following rules and examples shall determine the word count.

(a) Each of the two signs forming parentheses (brackets) and quotation marks (inverted commas) shall be counted as one character in the word or group to which they are joined and that word or group shall then be counted at the rate of 10 characters to the word, e.g.

(b) Apostrophes, dashes, full stops and all other single marks shall be counted as one character in the group or word they appear in or are attached to, e.g.

(c) When the sender requests separate transmission of punctuation marks they shall be counted separately, e.g.

(7) When radiotelegrams are exchanged with ships at sea the following groups in the address section shall be treated as one chargeable word each-

(a) in telegrams to ships at sea: the ship's name/call sign and the name of the coast radio station;

(b) in telegrams from ships at sea; the office of destination. (Inserted by G. 345/78.)

INDICATION OF THE NUMBER OF WORDS IN THE PREAMBLE

90. The number of chargeable words in a telegram is shown in the preamble immediately after the name of the office of origin of the telegram.

91. In the case of a difference between the number of words reckoned according to the rules for charging and the number of actual words, a fraction shall be used, the numerator indicating the number of words reckoned according to the rules for charging and the denominator the number of actual words.

92. This rule shall apply specially-

(a) to a telegram containing words of more than 15 letters;

(b) to a telegram containing groups of letters, figures and signs of more than 5 characters.

IRREGULARITIES IN THE COUNTING OF WORDS

93. When a telegram contains inadmissible combinations of the addressee's name, the delivery office shall collect from the addressee the amount of the undercharge.

94. When a telegram contains combinations or alterations of words of a language, other than the language or languages of the country of origin, contrary to the usage of that language, the delivery office shall collect from the addressee the amount of the undercharge.

95. When the office of destination observes that a letter telegram, worded in a language other than one of those of the country of origin, contains one or more words in secret language, it may collect from the addressee a supplementary charge corresponding to the difference between the cost of an ordinary telegram and that of a letter telegram.

96. When the office of destination observes that a press telegram does not comply with the conditions laid down for press telegrams, it may collect from the addressee a supplementary charge equal to the difference between the cost of an urgent or ordinary telegram at the full rate and that of a press telegram of the same category.

97. In any of the cases mentioned above, the delivery office shall decline to deliver the telegram if the addressee refuses to pay. The sender shall be advised of the reason for non-delivery, and the amount of the undercharge.

98. If the sender, on being duly informed of the reason for non-delivery, agrees to pay the deficiency, the delivery office shall deliver the telegram.

TELEGRAM RATES

99. The fees, rates, and charges set out in the Schedule shall have effect and be payable until lawfully amended.

COLLECTION OF CHARGES

100. The sender is responsible for all charges incurred in the transmission and delivery of his telegram, except when otherwise provided in these regulations.

101. The address, text, signature, and paid service indications written with the address are charged for.

102. Except where special arrangements are made with the Department, payment for telegrams must be made at the time of lodgement of the telegram at the Telegraph Office.

103. An official receipt must be given to the sender at the time of lodgement of the telegram, showing the time and date of lodgement, the office of destination of the telegram, the number of words charged for, the class of the telegram, the amount charged, and the signature of the receiving officer, and any other particulars which may be necessary to account for the full amount charged.

104. When the charges for transmission of a telegram have not been tendered with the telegram, or the amount tendered is insufficient, the receiving officer shall, except where special arrangements are in force for the payment of charges, return to the person tendering them, the telegram and the money, if any, for representation later with the full amount.

105. When a charge is due on delivery the telegram shall be delivered to the addressee only on payment of the amount due.

106. A deposit shall be obtained from the sender to ensure that when charges payable on delivery are not collected, either through the addressee's refusal to pay or through inability to find him, they may be recovered from the sender, except where these regulations provide otherwise.

Telegrams payable by the Addressee or a Third Party

107. By special arrangement with the Department, at the express request of the addressee or other party undertaking payment, telegrams of all classes may be accepted without payment of charges at the office of origin, and the charges collected from the addressee or other party undertaking payment.

108. If the amount due in respect of charges is not collected, it shall be collected from the sender.

Errors in Collection

109. If, owing to an error, a telegram is undercharged, the balance necessary to make up the full charge must be collected from the sender.

110. Amounts overcharged in error shall be refunded to the sender.

CLASSES OF TELEGRAMS

111. Telegrams of the following classes may be sent to oversea destinations, except to those countries as shown in the List of Oversea Telegram Rates which do not admit particular classes; and to inland destinations, except those classes specified as not being admitted in the inland service.

Telegrams relating to the Safety of Life

112. Telegrams relating to the safety of life on land, at sea or in the air, and exceptionally urgent epidemiological telegrams of the World Health Organization shall have absolute priority over all other telegrams.

113. The abbreviation for such telegrams is SVH.

114. SVH telegrams, whether sent by an authority or private person, must refer to the safety of life in cases of exceptional urgency.

115. SVH telegrams sent by the Headquarters of the World Health Organization or by the regional epidemiological centres of that Organization shall be certified as really being telegrams of exceptional urgency relating to the safety of life.

116. The abbreviation "SVH" must be indicated at the beginning of the preamble, and in, addition, it must be repeated as a service instruction at the end of the preamble.

117. These instructions shall be included in the telegram by the office of origin in the case of an SVH telegram handed in at a telegraph office, or by the receiving radio station in the case of an SVH telegram following a distress signal from a ship or an aircraft.

118. No paid service indications are admitted in SVH telegrams.

119. The text and signature of SVH telegrams handed in at a telegraph office must be in plain language.

120. SVH telegrams are charged at the same rate as ordinary telegrams and are subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words.

United Nations Telegrams

121. United Nations Telegrams may be exchanged in emergency between-

-the President of the Security Council,

-the President of the General Assembly,

-the Secretary-General of the United Nations,

-the Chairman of the Military Staff Committee,

-the Chairman of a regional sub-committee of the Military Staff Committee,

-a representative to the Security Council or to the General Assembly,

-a Member of the Military Staff Committee,

-the Chairman or Principal Secretary of a committee set up by the Security Council or the General Assembly,

-a person performing a mission on behalf of the United Nations,

-a minister member of a Government,

-the Administrative Head of a trust territory designated as a strategic area.

122. Such telegrams shall be accepted only if they bear the personal authorization of one of the officials mentioned above.

123. The sender of these telegrams must write the paid service indication -ETAT PRIORITY NATIONS- before the address.

124. United Nations telegrams are charged for at the same rate as ordinary telegrams, and are subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words.

125. United Nations telegrams have priority over all other telegrams except SVH telegrams.

Government Telegrams

126. Government telegrams must bear the stamp of the authority sending them, and the official's signature, on the back of the form or other special space provided for the purpose.

127. A Government telegram may be sent by a private person in reply to a Government telegram, provided that he produces this as evidence.

128. Government telegrams for which the sender desires priority in transmission must bear the paid service indication -ETAT PRIORITY-.

129. Government telegrams for which the sender does not request priority in transmission must bear the paid service indication -ETAT-.

130. Government telegrams may be sent as letter telegrams by writing before the address the indication -LTF-.

131. Oversea Government telegrams sent by those officers authorized by the Prime Minister to do so must bear at the end of the preamble the abbreviation "BG".

132. Inland Government telegrams sent by those officers authorized by the Prime Minister to do so must at the end of the preamble the abbreviation "TG".

133. Inland Government telegrams sent by or on behalf of the British High Commissioner shall be free of charge, and shall bear the indication -BG- at the end of the preamble.

134. Inland telegrams sent on behalf of His Majesty the King shall, in addition to the indication -Etat Priority- or -ETAT-, bear the indication -QM- at the end of the preamble, and shall be free of charge.

135. Telegrams bearing the paid service indication -ETAT PRIORITY-shall be dealt with, in order of transmission, after SVH telegrams and -ETAT PRIORITY NATIONS- telegrams.

136. Telegrams bearing the paid service indication -ETAT- shall be dealt with in the order of transmission, as ordinary telegrams.

137. Telegrams bearing the paid service indication -ETAT PRIORITY NATIONS- or -ETAT PRIORITY- shall bear the abbreviation "S" at the beginning of the preamble; telegrams bearing the paid service indication -ETAT- shall bear the abbreviation "F" at the beginning of the preamble.

138. The provisions regarding the production at the office of origin of the code from which the text or part of the text has been compiled are not applicable to Government telegrams.

139. Charges for Government telegrams (-ETAT PRIORITY- and -ETAT-) to British Commonwealth countries (except New Zealand, and to U.S.A. and possessions, are one half the ordinary telegram rate; and to the Netherlands and possessions 17s. per word. Government telegrams to other countries are charged at the ordinary telegram rate. Oversea Government letter telegrams (-LTF-) are charged at the same rate as for private letter telegrams. (Substituted, G.S. 17/61 and Amended by G.S. 5/67.)

140. Inland Government telegrams (-ETAT PRIORITY- and -ETAT-) other than those specified as being free of charge, are charged at the ordinary inland telegram rate.

141. Government telegrams (-ETAT PRIORITY- and -ETAT-) are subject to a minimum charge as for seven words. Government letters telegrams (-LTF-) are subject to a minimum charge as for 22 words.

Meteorological Telegrams

142. The term "meteorological telegram" denotes a telegram sent by an official meteorological service or by a station in official relation with such a service, and addressed to such a station, which consists solely of meteorological observations or forecasts. A telegram of this kind must always be regarded as drawn up in plain language.

143. Such telegrams must bear the paid service indication -OBS-.

144. No paid service indication other than -OBS- is admitted in meteorological telegrams.

145. Meteorological telegrams received from ships at sea, the texts of which contain reports of meteorological observations, are received and re-transmitted, when necessary, free of charge.

146. Meteorological telegrams requesting meteorological information, and replies to such telegrams, are charged at one half of the ordinary telegram rate per word, and are subject to a minimum charge as for seven words in respect of the national or international telecommunication portion of the charges, at the reduced rate, only.

147. Masters of vessels may send inland telegrams addressed "WEATHER NUKU'ALOFA" requesting information as to weather conditions at Nuku'alofa, or requesting weather forecasts for other places within the Kingdom; or addressed to "TELEGRAPHIST" at any other office within the Kingdom requesting information as to present weather conditions in that vicinity.

148. The charge for an inland meteorological telegram is one half of the inland ordinary telegram rate for both the request and the reply telegrams, subject to a minimum charge for each as for seven words at the reduced rate.

149. The sender of an inland meteorological telegram must pay the charges for the reply telegram before it is delivered to him.

150. The paid service indication -OBS- must be written before the address of the original telegram and the reply. In addition, the reply telegram must bear the indication -COLLECT- at the end of the preamble.

Urgent Telegrams

151. Priority of transmission and delivery may be obtained by writing before the address the paid service indication -URGENT-, and payment of charges at double the ordinary telegram rate per word.

152. Urgent telegrams are subject to a minimum charge as for seven words at the urgent telegram rate.

153. Urgent private telegrams shall have priority over ordinary private telegrams.

154. Urgent telegrams do not necessarily obtain priority of transmission on any part of the telecommunication network which is conducted by means of radio.

Press Telegrams

155. Press telegrams are admitted in the inland service at the rate prescribed in the Schedule hereto.
(Substituted by G.S. 74/77.)

156. Press telegrams are telegrams the text of which is made up of information and news for publication in newspapers and other periodical publications or for radio sound or television broadcasting.

157. Press telegrams must be addressed only to newspapers or periodical publications, to news agencies or bureaux, to press services of diplomatic missions, or to authorized radio sound or television broadcasting companies, organizations or stations.

158. They may not be addressed by name to a person connected with the newspaper, periodical, broadcasting company, etc.

159. Press telegrams may be addressed to a registered address.

160. Press telegrams may be accepted only from authorized representatives of newspapers, periodical publications, news agencies or bureaux or press services of diplomatic missions or authorized radio sound or television broadcasting companies, organizations or stations.

161. Press telegrams must bear, at the beginning of the address, the paid service indication -PRESS-.

162. The only special services allowed are -URGENT-, -TMx-, and -CTA-, if these services are admitted by the countries of destination.

163. Press telegrams may contain only material for publication, radio sound or television broadcasting. They may not contain any passage, announcement or communication having the character of private correspondence, nor any advertisement or communication for insertion in any publication, for radio broadcasting or for televising whether or not a charge is made.

164. An instruction relative to the publication or broadcasting of the matter may be included, but must be enclosed in parentheses and placed either at the beginning or the end of the text; the number of words in such an instruction may not be more than 10 per cent of the number of chargeable words in the text, or exceed twenty words in all. The parentheses are charged for, but are not included in the number of words in the instructions.

165. Stock exchange and market quotations, results of sporting events and meteorological observations and forecasts, with or without explanatory text, shall be admitted in press telegrams.

166. Press telegrams must be expressed in plain language, in either the language of the newspaper, periodical publication or news agency bulletin to which the telegram is addressed or the language in which the radio sound or television broadcast is carried out; the national language or languages of the country of origin or the country of destination; one or more additional languages in use in the country of origin or destination; or in the French language.

167. The sender of a press telegram may be required to furnish proof that there is a newspaper, periodical publication or news agency bulletin in the country of destination of the telegram, published in the language chosen, or that the radio sound or television broadcast is carried out in this language.

168. Press telegrams are subject to a minimum charge as for 14 words at the press telegram rate.

169. The charges for press telegrams are shown in the table succeeding the List of Oversea Telegram Rates.

170. The additional fees payable for multiple-address press telegrams are the same as for ordinary multiple-address telegrams.

171. The paid service indications, -URGENT-, -TMx- and -CTA- shall be charged for at the same rate as the press telegram to which they relate.

172. According to the category to which they belong (ordinary or urgent), press telegrams shall rank, for transmission and delivery, with ordinary or urgent private telegrams.

173. If a telegram which does not fulfil the conditions set-out for press telegrams is presented as a press telegram, the indication -PRESS- shall be deleted by the office of origin, and the telegram shall be charged for at the rate for the class (ordinary or urgent) to which it belongs.

174. The balance of the charge may be collected from the addressee when a telegram which does not meet the conditions set forth in these regulations reaches the office of destination with the indication -PRESS-.

Telegrams concerning persons protected in time of War
by the Geneva Conventions of 12th August, 1949

175. The following telegrams bear the paid service indication -RCT-before the address-

(a) telegrams addressed to prisoners of war, civilian internees, or their representatives, sent by recognized relief societies assisting war victims;

(b) telegrams sent by prisoners of war, civilian internees, or their representatives;

(c) telegrams sent in the course of their duties under the Conventions by the national Information Bureaux or the Central Information Agency, for which provision is made in the Geneva Conventions, or by delegations of such Bureaux or Agency, concerning prisoners of war, civilians who are interned or whose liberty is restricted, or the death of military personnel or civilians in the course of hostilities.

176. In telegrams bearing the paid service indication -RCT-, the only special services which are admitted are the following: urgent telegrams, prepaid reply, notification of delivery, if such services are admitted by the country of destination.

177. The charge per word for an ordinary -RTC- telegram is one quarter of the ordinary telegram charge per word to the same destination.

178. The charge per word for an urgent -RTC- telegram is the same as the ordinary telegram charge per word to the same destination.

179. Ordinary and urgent -RCT- telegrams are subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words.

180. Ordinary and urgent -RCT- telegrams have the same priority of transmission and delivery as ordinary and urgent private telegrams.

Ordinary Telegrams

181. Ordinary telegrams are those telegrams not bearing before the address a paid service indication identifying them as being of a particular class.

182. Ordinary telegrams are subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words.

183. Any special service allowed by these regulations may be used in ordinary telegrams, except in telegrams to those countries shown in the List of Oversea Telegram Rates as not admitting particular special services.

Letter Telegrams

184. Inland letter telegrams may be accepted only between the hours of 8.30 a.m. and 4.30 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, and 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. Saturdays, excluding statutory holidays.

(a) Charges for inland letter telegrams are as shown in the Schedule, and are subject to a minimum charge as for 2 words at the inland letter telegram rate.

(b) Inland letter telegrams must be addressed to a person by name or title, and must bear a full postal address. Inland letter telegrams may not be addressed to a telegraph code address or to a telephone address.

(c) The sender of an inland letter telegram must write before the address the paid service indication -LT- which is charged for as one word and is included as one word in the minimum number of words chargeable. Inland Government letter telegrams may bear the paid service indication -LTF-.

(d) The text of an inland letter telegram must be written in plain language, but may bear a single code word at the being of the text and have a code signature.

(e) The only special service permitted in the inland letter telegram service is prepaid reply -RPx-.

(f) Inland letter telegrams are delivered by post at the office of destination, and are posted not sooner than 6 hours after handing in; and not later than 12 hours after handing in, the latter time being reckoned during the hours of the inland letter telegram service only, intervening hours at night, Saturday afternoon, Sunday, and statutory holidays being disregarded. In the event of enquiries the time of posting shall be given as the time of delivery.

(g) Inland letter telegrams are transmitted after all other classes of inland and overseas telegram.

(Substituted G.S. 76/73.)

185. Letter telegrams are accepted, for those oversea countries which admit them, at one half of the ordinary telegram rate per word, subject to a minimum charge as for 22 words at the letter telegram rate.

186. The sender of a letter telegram must write before the address the paid service indication -LT- which is charged for as one word and is included as one word in the minimum number of words chargeable.

187. Government letter telegrams, or replies to Government telegrams may bear the paid service indication -LTF-.

188. Letter telegrams bearing the paid service indication -LTF- are charged at the same rate and are subject, as regards acceptance, transmission and delivery, to the same conditions as letter telegrams bearing the paid service indication -LT-.

189. Radiotelegrams are not admitted as letter telegrams.

190. Letter telegrams may be addressed to a registered address, a telephonic address, a telex address, a post office or telegraph office address, or a post office box address.

191. The text of a letter telegram must be written in plain language, but groups of figures and letters used to denote commercial marks, technical terms, etc., which are acceptable as plain language, are permissible.

192. A letter telegram may have a single check word in secret language consisting of not more than 5 letters or 5 figures at the beginning of the text, and a code signature is permissible.

193. In the case of a letter telegram written in other than the English or Tongan languages the sender must sign on the back of the telegram form a declaration stating that the text is expressed wholly in plain language and bears no meaning other than that which appears on the face of it. The declaration must indicate the language or languages in which the telegram is expressed.

194. The only special services admitted in letter telegrams are the following-

(a) multiple addresses, -TMx-;

(b) communicate to all addresses, -CTA-;

(c) delivery by post, -POST-;

(d) delivery by registered post, -PR-;

(e) delivery at post office, -GP-;

(f) delivery at post office as registered letter, -GPR-;

(g) delivery at telegraph office, -TR-;

(h) delivery by telephone, -TFx-;

(i) delivery by telex, -TLXx-;

(j) delivery on a specified date, -DELIVERx-.

195. The corresponding paid service indications are charged for at the reduced rate.

196. Letter telegrams are transmitted after all classes of telegram.

197. Letter telegrams are generally delivered after 8 a.m. local time at the office of destination on the day following that of lodgement, but if this would result in their receiving substantially the same service as ordinary telegrams, they may not be delivered until after 2 p.m. local time on the day after that of lodgement. If the application of this rule would result in the delivery of a letter telegram later than 24 hours after the time of lodgement, it may be delivered after 2 p.m. local time at the office of destination on the day of lodgement.

Commonwealth Social Telegrams

198. Commonwealth Social telegrams may be sent to those British Commonwealth countries shown in the List of Oversea Telegram Rates as admitting them. They are not admitted in the inland service.

199. The text must consist solely of greetings, family news, or other non-commercial or personal communication, and must be in plain language.

200. Code addresses, telephone numbers, or post office box numbers may be used in the address, and code signatures are permitted.

201. Commonwealth social telegrams are subject to a minimum charge as for 10 words, at the letter telegram rate.

202. The sender of a Commonwealth social telegram must write before the address the indicator -GLT-, for which no charge is made, and which is not included as one word in the minimum number of words chargeable.

203. The only special services permitted in Commonwealth social telegrams are -RPx- and -TFx-.

204. Conditions of transmission and delivery of Commonwealth social telegrams are the same as for letter telegrams.

Collect Telegrams

205. Telegrams for which the charges are to be collected from the addressee on delivery must bear the indication -COLLECT- at the end of the preamble.

206. Except as stated below, inland or oversea collect telegrams may not be sent unless prior arrangements have been made with the Department. When such arrangements are made the persons authorized to send collect telegrams will be issued with a permit. The permit must be produced at the time of lodgement of collect telegrams.

207. Government offices, other than those at Nuku'alofa, may send collect telegrams provided that such telegrams are on official business and are signed by one of those officers authorized by the Prime Minister to send official telegrams.

208. Commodity Board offices, other than those at Nuku'alofa, may send collect telegrams, provided that such telegrams are signed by the officer in charge of the officer concerned.

209. When oversea telegrams, or inland telegrams requiring retransmission from Nuku'alofa to another station, are sent as collect telegrams by Government or Commodity Board officers as authorized above, the indication -COLLECT- shall be deleted from the preamble before retransmission from Nuku'alofa, and the charges for the telegram shall be recovered from the appropriate office at Nuku'alofa.

210. Collect telegrams are subject to a minimum charge according to the class of telegram to which they belong.

RADIOTELEGRAMS

211. Radiotelegrams to ships at sea are accepted at any office within the Kingdom at the rates shown in the table succeeding the List of Oversea Telegram Rates.

212. Radiotelegrams are subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words.
(Substituted, G.S. 17/61.)

213. The address of a radiotelegram must be as complete as possible and must include the name or designation of the addressee; the name of the ship station as it appears in the List of Ship Stations; and the name of the coast station as it appears in the List of Coast Stations through which the radiotelegram is to be transmitted.

214. In the address of a radiotelegram, the name of the coast station, when written as it appears in the List of Coast Station, is counted and charged as one word, irrespective of its length. The name of the ship station of destination, when written as it appears in the List of Ship Stations, supplemented if necessary by the call sign of the ship station, is counted and charged as one word, irrespective of its length.

215. Urgent radiotelegrams are not admitted in either the direction ship to shore or shore to ship, but the sender may obtain priority of transmission for his radiotelegram over the internal or international telecommunication system by paying for that part of the transmission at the urgent rate and writing before the address the indication -URGENT-.

216. The following paid service indications are available for radiotelegrams: -RPx-, -TC-, -TMx- and -OBS-.

217. When a radiotelegram cannot be transmitted to the ship, the coast station and ship charges may be refunded to the sender.

218. Other conditions of acceptance, transmission and delivery, as applied to telegrams and not stated above, apply also to radiotelegrams unless inappropriate.

OVERSEAS POSTAL TELEGRAMS

219. Telegrams may be accepted as inland ones to offices within the Kingdom for posting from such offices to oversea addresses by surface mail or airmail.

220. The sender must supply a full postal address on the telegram, including the name of the office of destination and the country, and write after this the word "POST" if to be posted by surface mail or "AIRMAIL" if to be posted by airmail, followed by the office from which it is to be posted (e.g. "Spedding Ltd., Box 462 Auckland Post Vava'u").

221. Telegraphic code addresses are not permissible in this service, and no special services are admitted.

222. The charge for oversea postal telegrams is the same as for inland telegram at either the ordinary or urgent rate, subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words plus the amount required for postage to the country of destination.

223. On receipt at the office to which it is addressed for posting, the telegram is enclosed in an envelope which is to show the exact address as it appears on the telegram excluding the word "post" and the name of the office from which it is posted.

ORDER OF TRANSMISSION OF TELEGRAMS

224. The transmission of telegrams shall take place in the following order-

(a) SVH telegrams;

(b) Priority Nations telegrams;

(c) Government telegrams for which the sender has requested priority of transmission;

(d) meteorological telegrams;

(e) urgent service telegrams, urgent service advices and paid service advices;

(f) urgent private telegrams, urgent RCT telegrams and urgent press telegrams;

(g) non-urgent service telegrams, non-urgent service advices and acknowledgements of receipt;

(h) Government telegrams for which the sender has not requested priority of transmission; ordinary telegrams, RCT telegrams and press telegrams;

(i) letter telegrams (LT, LTF, and GLT).

225. Telegrams of the same rank shall be transmitted by the sending office in the order of their time of handing in.

PROHIBITED TELEGRAMS

226. The transmission of inland, oversea or radio-telegrams of the following nature or character is prohibited-

(a) messages which are indecently or obscenely worded, or which appear to contain matter of a treasonable, seditious, libellous or grossly offensive character;

(b) messages in plain language relating to betting, or in code language reasonably supposed to relate to betting;

(c) messages instigating or aiding the commission of any criminal offence or fraud;

(d) messages addressed to initials only, to a fictitious name, or a nom de plume at a Post Office or Telegraph Office;

(e) a telegram consisting of address only;

(f) telegrams addressed to, or re-forwarded by, a telegraphic reforwarding agency.

227. The Superintendent shall determine whether any message comes within the scope of paragraph (a) of regulation 226 and, in the case of any other message, the officer for the time being in charge of the telegraph office at which such message is tendered for transmission shall determine whether it comes within the scope of that regulation.

STOPPAGE OF TELEGRAMS

228. SVH telegrams, Government telegrams and Government letter telegrams shall be entitled to transmission as of right.

229. The office of delivery must stop telegrams addressed to a telegraphic reforwarding agency known to be organised with the object of enabling the correspondence of third parties to evade the full payment of the charges due for transmission, without intermediate reforwarding, between the office of origin and the office of ultimate destination.

230. Telegrams which have been reforwarded by such an agency may likewise be stopped by the office of ultimate destination.

231. A prohibited telegram which has been accepted for transmission may be stopped during its transmission.

SPECIAL SERVICES

232. The following special services are available for overseas telegrams, except to those countries shown in the List of Overseas Telegram Rates as not admitting particular special services; and for inland telegrams, except those special services specifically mentioned as being not admitted in the inland service.

Telegrams with prepaid reply

233. The sender of a telegram may prepay the cost of any telegram to be sent by his correspondent by writing before the address the paid service indication -RP-, followed by the amount paid for the reply.

234. The office of delivery shall issue to the addressee a voucher for an amount equivalent to that stated in the original telegram. This voucher shall give the right to send, up to its value, a telegram of any class with or without special services, to any destination.

235. The voucher can only be used to pay for a telegram within a period of 3 months following the date of its issue.

236. When the charge for a telegram paid for by a voucher exceeds the value of the voucher; the excess charge must be paid by the sender using the voucher. If the reverse is the case, the difference between the value of the voucher and the amount of the charge actually due shall be refunded to the sender of the original telegram when application is made, either by the sender or by the addressee, within four months of the date of issue of the voucher, but only if the difference is at least 17s. in the case of an oversea telegram and 10s in the case of an inland telegram. (Amended by G.S. 5/67.)

237. If the value of the voucher is less than the minimum charge for the reply telegram, the sender using the voucher must pay the difference.

238. When the addressee, for any reason, does not use the voucher, and it is surrendered to the office of issue the value of the voucher shall be refunded to the sender of the telegram if application is made either by him or by the addressee within a period of 4 months following the date of issue of the voucher.

239. When the addressee refuses the voucher or when the voucher cannot be delivered to him because he cannot be found the office of destination will arrange for the refund to the sender of the amount of the unused voucher.

Telegrams with Notification of Delivery

240. The sender of a telegram may ask that the date on, and time at which his telegram has been delivered to his correspondent be notified to him by telegram immediately after delivery. To this end, the sender must pay a charge equivalent to that for an ordinary 7-word telegram for the same destination and by the same route. He shall then include, before the address, the paid service indication -PC-.

241. In the notification of delivery of a telegram which is delivered by post, the date and time of posting are given.

242. If the telegram has not been delivered, the charge for a notification of delivery may be refunded to the sender on application.

Telegrams to Follow Addressee

243. The sender may request the office of destination to forward the telegram to follow the addressee, should the addressee have left the address given. The sender should write before the address the paid service indication -FS-. A series of addresses may be furnished by the sender, or the addressee's new address may be inserted at the office of destination if it is known or ascertainable.

244. When a series of addresses is supplied by the sender, each address must be complete and include the office of destination. If delivery is not effected at the first address, the paid service indication -FS FROM (name of office) - is placed before the address; the address which has been unsuccessfully tried is deleted from the telegram; and the telegram is forwarded to the next address appearing upon it, or to the addressee's new address as ascertained by the delivery office.

245. The charge to be collected at the outset for a telegram to follow shall be the charge for the first section only, all the addresses being included in the number of words. Any supplementary charge shall be collected from the addressee and shall be reckoned on the basis of the number of words transmitted at each redirection.

246. When a telegram to follow bears the paid service indication -TC-, the charge for collation shall be added, at each redirection, to the other redirection charges.

247. When the addressee refuses to pay the redirection charges, the telegram shall nevertheless be delivered, and the charges will be collected from the sender.

Redirection of Telegrams

248. Any person, furnishing the necessary credentials, may request that telegrams addressed to him teaching a telegraph office be redirected by telegraph to a new address given by him.

249. Requests for redirection must be made in writing by the addressee himself who must accept responsibility for the payment of redirection charges to the office of delivery.

250. Telegrams for which no special instructions have been furnished, may be redirected by telegraph in accordance with particulars given at the addressee's abode.

251. The person who requests a telegram to be redirected may pay the charge for redirection.

252. A telegram so redirected must bear the paid service indication -REDIRECTED FROM- before the address, and the indication -COLLECT-at the end of the preamble.

253. When necessary, the address of a telegram to be redirected is amended by the redirecting office, and retransmission charges are payable in accordance with the amended number of words in the telegram.

254. Urgent oversea telegrams and urgent inland telegrams are redirected at urgent inland rates. All other classes of telegram are redirected at ordinary inland rates.

255. Redirected telegrams for which retransmission charges are payable by the addressee will be enclosed in an envelope, which will be clearly marked showing the amount to be paid and the reason for the charges.

256. A receipt for the amount to be collected will be delivered with the telegram upon payment of the full required amount by the addressee.

257. When a telegram telegraphically redirected is not delivered, either because the addressee declines to pay the redirection costs, or for any reason whatsoever, the redirection charges will be collected from the person who gave instructions to redirect the telegram, and the sender shall be advised of the non-delivery of his telegram.

258. A telegram, inland or oversea, cannot be redirected to an oversea address.

Multiple Address Telegrams

259. Any telegram may be addressed either to several addresses in the same locality, or in different localities served by the same telegraph office, or to the same addressee at different abodes in the same locality or in different localities served by the same telegraph office. For this purpose, the sender shall write before the address the paid service indication -TMx-. The name of the office of destination shall appear once only, at the end of the address.

260. In telegrams addressed to several addresses, the address must appear after the name of each addressee. In telegrams for a single addressee at several abodes, the name of the addressee must appear before each address.

261. A multiple telegram is charged as a single telegram, all the addresses being reckoned in the numbers of words.

262. The charge for each copy is reckoned separately on the basis of the number of chargeable words which it is to contain. The number of copies to be prepared shall be equal to the number of addresses.

263. Each copy of a multiple telegram must bear only the address proper to it, preceded, if necessary by any paid service indications relevant to it.

264. The paid service indication -TMx- must not appear on it, unless the sender has requested the contrary. Such request must be included in the number of charged words and must be expressed by the indication -CTA-. Each copy of the multiple telegram must then bear, in addition to the indications -TMx- and -CTA- and the address proper to it, all the other addresses. These shall be reproduced after the signature, or in the absence of a signature after the text; they shall be preceded by the indication "telegram also addressed to .......... (other addresses)".

265. In a multiple telegram, the paid service indication identifying the class of the telegram, and the indication -TC-, if applicable, shall be written only once before the indication -TMx-. The paid service indication -CTA-, if applicable shall be written only once after the indication -TMx-. Other paid service indications shall be written before the address to which they relate.

266. In the copies to be delivered, or redirected, the number of words appearing in the preamble of the telegram shall be altered to agree with the number of words on each copy.

Express Delivery

267. Express delivery is not available for inward oversea telegrams or for inland telegrams.

268. Telegrams for which special delivery fees are required by the office of destination will be delivered immediately to the addressee if the sender writes before the address the indication -EXPRESS-, and the delivery fees will be collected from the addressee.

269. If the addressee of a telegram bearing the paid service indication -EXPRESS- refuses to pay the express charge, the telegram shall nevertheless be delivered, and the charge will be collected from the sender.

270. A sender who wishes to pay the fixed charge for express delivery shall write before the address of the telegram the paid service indication -XP-.

Delivery by Post or Air Mail

271. Telegrams addressed to localities served by international telecommunication channels may be forwarded by express, by post or by air mail only by a telegraph office of the country in which these localities are situated.

272. Telegrams addressed to localities not served by international telecommunication channels may be delivered at their address from a telegraph office of the country in which the locality of destination is situated, either by post, or, if these services exist, by express or by air mail.

273. A sender who wishes his telegram to be forwarded by post, must write, before the address, the paid service indication; -POST- if the telegram is to be forwarded as an ordinary letter; -PR- if the telegram is to be forwarded as a registered letter; -PAV- if the telegram is to be forwarded by air mail; or -PAVR- if the telegram is to be forwarded by registered air mail.

274. The name of the telegraph office from which the telegram is to be forwarded by post or air mail must be placed immediately after the name of the locality of final destination.

275. Except in the special case of Oversea Postal Telegrams, a telegram may not be sent to one country for posting to another country unless the country of destination is not connected to the international telecommunication system, or unless the locality of destination cannot be reached by the telecommunication system of the country of destination.

276. Inland telegrams may be delivered by ordinary post, for which no extra fee is payable, or by registered post, for which a fee of 30s. is payable. (Amended G.S. 5/67.)

Delivery at Post Office

277. The sender may request that his telegram be delivered at a post office by writing before the address the paid service indication -GP-; or may request that his telegram be delivered at a post office as a registered letter by writing before the address the paid service indication -GPR-.

Delivery at the Telegraph Office

278. The sender may request that his telegram be retained at a telegraph office until called for by the addressee by writing before the address the paid service indication -TR-.

Delivery to Addressee only

279. The sender may request that his telegram be delivered to the addressee in person by writing before the address the paid service indication -MP-.

Delivery by Day or Night

280. The sender may request that his telegram be delivered during the daytime only by writing before the address the paid service indication -DAY-.

281. The sender may request that his telegram, if it arrives at its destination at night, be delivered immediately by writing before the address the paid service indication -NIGHT-.

282. The special services of delivery by day or night are not available for inland telegrams.

Delivery on a Specified Date

283. The sender may request that his telegram be delivered on a specified date by writing before the address the paid service indication -DELIVERx- (x being the date).

Delivery by Telephone

284. The sender may request that his telegram be telephoned to the addressee by writing before the address the paid service indication -TFx- (x being the addressee's telephone number).

Delivery by Telegraph Exchange

285. The sender may request that his telegram be delivered by the addressee's telegraph exchange connection by writing before the address the paid service indication -TLXx- (x being the addressee's telegraph exchange number).

Retention at Coast Station for a Specified Number of Days

286. In the case of a ship not being within radio range of the coast station to which the telegram is addressed, the sender may fix the number of days for which the radiotelegram may be held by the coast station by writing before the address the paid service indication -Jx- (x being the number of days). Otherwise, if the ship is out of range, the telegram is reported as undeliverable on the morning of the fourth day following the day of lodgement.

Telegram to be Relayed by one or two Mobile Stations

287. The sender of a radiotelegram addressed to a ship which is out of range of the coast station may request that it be relayed by one or two intermediate ship stations by writing before the address the paid service indication -RM-, and by paying an additional ship charge at the rate shown in the List of Ship Stations. If a different rate applies to the ships concerned, the higher rate is applied.

DELIVERY OF TELEGRAMS

288. Telegrams are delivered from offices within the Kingdom without charge.

289. At Nuku'alofa, telegrams for addresses within 2 miles of the Post Office are delivered by hand; and at Ha'apai, Vava'u and Niuatoputapu, telegrams for addresses within one mile of the Post Office are delivered by hand. At other offices telegrams are delivered as opportunity offers.

290. Telegrams for addresses outside the delivery areas are delivered by whatever means may be available and appropriate.

291. Telegrams received at Nuku'alofa after normal delivery hours may be telephoned to the addressee, unless written instructions to the contrary have been given.

292. Telegrams received during the night at other offices may be delivered immediately when they are recognized by the office of destination to be of an urgent nature of if they bear the paid service indication -URGENT- or, in the case of oversea telegrams, the paid service indication -NIGHT-.

293. Telegrams bearing the paid service indication -DAY- are never delivered during the night.

294. Telegrams shall be delivered according to their address, either at the private house, office, business house, etc., of the addressee, or to the place where he is living or staying temporarily, or Post Office (-GP-), or registered Post Office -GPR-, or to a Post Office Box.

295. A telegram taken to an address may be delivered either to the addressee, to an adult member of his family, to any person in his service, to his lodgers or guests, or to the receiving officer at the hotel or the house, unless the addressee has designated in writing a special representative.

296. Telegrams may not be delivered to a person in the street or other public place, except to the addressee himself.

297. A telegram which is delivered to an address other than that to which it is addressed, or to a place other than the addressee's normal residence or his place of business or employment, may only be delivered to the addressee himself.

298. Addressees may, by written request, have all their telegrams delivered personally.

299. The signature of the person to whom a telegram is delivered must be endorsed on an official telegram receipt. The date and time of delivery may also be entered upon the telegram receipt.

300. A telegram bearing the paid service indication -DELIVERx- may, if received in time, be delivered on the date mentioned provided a telegram delivery service is available at the office of destination on the date concerned and it is due, in the case of a letter telegrams, for delivery on that date.

301. SVH telegrams, and Government telegrams for which the sender has requested priority in transmissions shall be delivered immediately on receipt at the office of destination.

302. If the sender has requested delivery to the addressee in person by writing before the address the paid service indication -MP-, any other method of delivery shall be excluded, in order that delivery may be made only to the addressee in person. The office of destination shall write the indication "ADDRESSEE ONLY" in full before the address on the cover and shall give the necessary instructions to the messenger.

303. The addressee of a telegram bearing the indicator -MP- may be required to give reasonable proof of his identity before delivery of the telegram.

304. Telegrams addressed "POST OFFICE", "REGISTERED POST OFFICE" or delivered by post, shall, with respect to delivery and period of retention, be subject to the same rules as postal correspondence.

305. When a telegram is addressed "TELEGRAPH OFFICE" it shall be claimed at the telegraph counter by the addressee or his duly authorized representative, who shall, if so requested, prove his identity.

306. Telegrams to be delivered to passengers in a ship or aircraft may be delivered to the representative of the shipping line or of the airline. If the ship is entering port, the telegram shall be delivered preferably to the addressee himself, before disembarkation, as far as this is practicable and does not entail expense.

UNDELIVERED TELEGRAMS

307. If an oversea telegram remains undelivered 24 hours after the time of receipt at the delivery office, a service advice is forwarded to the office of origin, stating the reason for non-delivery, and the sender is advised.

308. If an inland telegram for an address within the delivery area remains undelivered 24 hours after the time of receipt at the delivery office, a service advice is forwarded to the office of origin, and the sender is advised.

309. If an inland telegram for an address outside the delivery area remains undelivered 7 days after the day of receipt at the delivery office, a service advice is forwarded to the office of origin, and the sender is advised.

310. If, after the expiration of 42 days from the date of receipt of the telegram at the delivery office further delivery instructions have not been received from the office of origin, and the telegram, inland or oversea, is still undelivered, a further service advice is forwarded stating that the telegram is still undelivered, and that it has been cancelled.

CANCELLATION OF TELEGRAMS

311. The sender of a telegram or his authorized representative may, on establishing his identity, stop its transmission and delivery, if there is still time, except that an international telegram partly or entirely transmitted may not be cancelled but the sender of such international telegram may inform the addressee of the cancellation by use of another paid international telegram.
(Amended G. 345/78.)

312. Before the transmission has commenced, a telegram may be cancelled upon payment of the fee prescribed in Part VI to the Schedule hereto.
(Substituted by G.S. 74/77.)

313. The receipt issued for payment of the charges of the telegram must be endorsed by the sender "Refund received" and bear his signature. A receipt for the cancellation fee endorsed by the receiving officer "Fee for cancellation, refer Receipt No. ............", is then issued to the sender of the cancelled telegram.

314. If an inland telegram has been transmitted by the office of origin, the sender may request its cancellation only by a paid service advice addressed to the office of destination. The sender must pay the cost of a telegraphic reply to the cancelling advice. In the absence of instructions to the contrary in the paid service advice, the addressee shall be informed of the cancellation of the telegram, if it has been delivered to him.
(Amended G. 345/78.)

315. If an inland telegram is cancelled before reaching the office of destination, the office of origin, after deducting the charge for the distance traversed, shall refund to the sender the unexpended balance of the charge for the original telegram, the cancelling service advice, and the paid telegraphic reply, if any.
(Amended G. 345/78.)

CORRECTIONS AND REPETITIONS

316. (a) The sender may correct his telegram before transmission begins without charge.

(b) References in Regulations 317 and 325 inclusive to "telegram" and "telegrams" shall not apply to international telegrams.

(Inserted by G. 345/78.)

(c) Corrections to international telegrams wholly or partly transmitted may be made by the sender to the address section only by paid service telegram and to the text or signature by another paid telegram to the addressee directly.

(Inserted by G. 345/78.)

317. During the minimum period of preservation of records, the sender and the addressee of any telegram which has been transmitted or is in course of transmission, or a person duly authorized by either of them, may, by arrangement with the officer-in-charge of the Telegraph Office, have information obtained or instructions given by telegraph about the telegram, after first, if necessary, establishing their status and identity.

318. They may also, with a view to correcting a telegram which they have sent or received, have it repeated, wholly or partially, by the office of destination or origin or by an intermediate office.

319. When the sender or addressee wishes to obtain information concerning his telegram by telegraph, he must pay the cost of a telegram conveying the request, and the reply telegram, at the ordinary telegram rate; each of which is subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words.

320. When the sender wishes to correct a telegram already transmitted, he must pay the cost of a telegram conveying the correction at the ordinary telegram rate, which is subject to a minimum charge as for 7 words.

321. These telegrams (request and reply) are termed "paid service advices".

322. When the addressee asks for repetition, he shall be required to pay only the established charge for each word to be repeated; this charge shall always be at the ordinary rate, regardless of the nature of the original telegram.

323. The charge for each word to be repeated, which shall be paid by the addressee, shall cover the cost of both the request and the reply. The minimum charge shall be as for 3 words for an ordinary telegram to the same destination.

324. Rectifying, completing and cancelling telegrams, and all other communications relating to telegrams, already transmitted or in course of transmission, must, when they are addressed to a telegraph office, be exchanged solely between the offices in the form of paid service advices at the expense of the sender or addressee.

325. Paid service advices are denoted by the service instruction ST. Those sent at the request of the addressee, to obtain the repetition of a message believed to be incorrect, always require a reply by telegram without the need for using the paid service indication -RPx-. In other cases, where a reply by telegraph is desired, that indication must be used, and a charge for a reply of 7 words must be collected.

REIMBURSEMENTS

326. On request, or following a complaint regarding the performance of the service, reimbursement shall be made to the person who made the payment, subject to the following conditions.

327. For any telegram which, through the fault of the telegraph service has not reached its destination or has not been delivered to the addressee or to a postal service, until after a period of 12 hours in the case of a telegram exchanged between Tonga and Fiji, New Zealand, or Western Samoa; or 24 hours in all other cases, the total charge for the telegram shall be refunded.

328. The time periods, indicated above shall be reckoned from the time of acceptance of the telegram; except for letter telegrams, when they shall be calculated from the time when such telegrams should normally have been delivered.

329. The following shall not be included in the periods indicated above-

(a) the period during which offices are closed in respect of any relation that is the cause of delay;

(b) the night period, if the telegrams do not bear the paid service indication -NIGHT-, or if they bear the paid service indication -DAY-;

(c) the time occupied in postal conveyance;

(d) the time occupied in express conveyance;

(e) the time taken for the maritime or air transmission of radiotelegrams and also the period of retention of such telegrams at a land station or on board a mobile station.

330. If the telegram has been the subject of a notice of non-delivery because the address has been inadequate or has not been registered, and if, later, the address has been corrected or supplemented by a paid service advice at the sender's request, the time periods shall be calculated as from the time when this paid service advice was issued.

331. The periods of 12 and 24 hours mentioned above shall be reduced by half for SVH telegrams, for Government telegrams with priority, for urgent telegrams and for paid service advices.

332. A refund shall not be made if nondelivery or delay is the result of an insufficient address or indistinct writing by the sender.

333. For a telegram which has been accepted here and stopped by a telegraph administration abroad on the ground of its being dangerous to the country, or contrary to its laws or public order, the full amount paid is refunded.

334. For a telegram which has been stopped in the course of transmission as a result of the interruption of a route, the total charge for the telegram shall be refunded.

335. For a telegram cancelled by request, the charges in excess of those required for the transmission to the office at which it was stopped, if any, shall be refunded.

336. For a telegram forwarded to its destination by post or other means owing to the interruption of a telegraph route, the charge appropriate to the section of the route not effected by electrical means, less the amount expended for the substitute means, shall be refunded.

337. For a change or alteration, in course of transmission, of the name of the office of origin or of the date of handing in with the result that the telegram has not fulfilled its purpose, the total charge for the telegram shall be refunded.

338. The charge for any word or words omitted during transmission shall be refunded.

339. For errors in transmission or omission of words to the extent that the meaning of a plain language telegram has been altered, or rendered unintelligible, the total charge for the telegram may be refunded.

340. For errors in transmission or omission of words to the extent that a part of the text of a collated telegram in secret language or of a telegram in plain language has been unable to fulfil its purpose, the charge for this part of the text may be refunded.

341. A mistake in the transmission of a check word or number shall give a right to reimbursement only if it relates to a telegram that was collated.

342. For a prepaid reply telegram having manifestly failed to fulfil its purpose owning to an error on the part of the service in the request telegram or in the reply telegram or in the treatment of one of these telegrams, the total charge for the request telegram including the amount for the prepaid reply, shall be refunded.

343. For a prepaid reply voucher which has not been used and is surrendered to the office of issue before the expiration of a period of 4 months from the date of issue, the amount paid for the reply shall be refunded.

344. For a prepaid reply voucher refused by the addressee of the telegram or not delivered because the addressee cannot be found, the amount paid for the reply shall be refunded.

345. For a prepaid reply voucher for an amount greater than the charge for the telegram franked by means of the voucher, the difference between the two amounts shall be refunded on condition that it is equal to at least 17s. in the case of an oversea telegram, or 10s. in the case of an inland telegram and that application is made within four months of the date of issue of the voucher.
(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

346. The charge for a service not performed and also the charge for the relevant paid service indication shall be refunded. However, the charges for paid service indications shall not be refunded in the case where non-performance of the special service is not the result of an error on the part of the telegraph service.

347. For a notification of delivery not despatched because it has proved impossible to deliver the telegram, the charge for the notification of delivery may be refunded.

348. In the cases provided for by these regulations, the refund shall apply only to the actual telegrams which have failed to be delivered or which have been cancelled, delayed or altered, including unused accessory charges, but not to messages which may have been caused, or rendered useless, by the non-delivery, delay or alteration.

349. The charge for words cancelled by paid service advice shall not, in any case, be refunded.

350. When a land station advises the office of origin that a radiotelegram cannot be transmitted to the mobile station of destination, the land and mobile station charges relating to the radiotelegram shall be refunded to the sender.

351. When the land station has forwarded the radiotelegram to the mobile station by means other than wireless telegraphy the mobile station charge only shall be refunded to the sender.

352. In the case of partial reimbursement for a multiple telegram, the amount to be refunded shall be the message copy charge plus the word rate for the address, excluding the name of the office of destination.

353. No refund shall be granted for rectifying telegrams which instead of being exchanged from office to office in the form of paid service advices, have been exchanged directly between the sender and addressee.

354. All claims for a refund of charges must be presented within 4 months from the date on which the telegram was handed in.

355. In general, every claim should be presented to the office at which the telegram originated, and whenever possible, should be accompanied by written evidence, but the claim may, however, be made by the addressee to the office of destination.

356. When a claim for refund is made, a uniform enquiry fee of not more than 17s. in the case of an oversea telegram, or 10s. in the case of an inland telegram shall be collected from the applicant.

357. When a complaint is recognized as well founded, the prescribed refund shall be made by the office of origin, and the inquiry fee shall be returned to the applicant.

358. The right to refund shall be forfeited after a period of 6 months from the date of the letter by which the sender was informed that a refund has been allowed to him.

COPIES OF TELEGRAMS

359. Subject to the exceptions contemplated in section 12 of the Telegraph Act, originals or copies of telegrams may be shown only to the sender or the addressee, or to the authorized representative of one of them.

360. During the minimum period fixed for preservation of the records, the sender and the addressee of a telegram or their authorized representatives shall have the right to obtain certified copies of his telegram, or of the delivery copy, upon payment of a fee of 9s. for each copy in respect of a telegram sent or received during the month then current, or upon payment of a fee of 18s for each copy in the case of a telegram sent or received during a previous month.
(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

361. The sender or addressee requiring copies of his telegram must give reasonable proof of his identity if so required, and an agent of a sender or addressee must produce written authority before copies are supplied to him.

REGISTRATION OF TELEGRAPHIC CODE ADDRESSES

362. Telegraphic code addresses may be registered at any telegraph office within the Kingdom for the use at that office or at any other office within the Kingdom, upon obtaining prior approval of the Superintendent for the use of the code word, and by paying the prescribed fee.

363. A separate fee is payable for each office at which a telegraphic code address is registered.

364. The word used as a telegraphic code address must not contain more than ten letters; it may be a real or an artificial word, but must be pronounceable and easy to read; and must be easily distinguishable from all other registered code addresses. Christian names and surnames; the names of professions, trades, newspapers, countries, towns, streets, etc., cannot be registered as telegraphic code addresses.

365. The same code word may not be registered for different persons or firms at the same or different offices.

366. Registration may be transferred from one office to another for a fee of 10s. Registration cannot be transferred from one person to another or from one business to another.

367. Telegrams bearing an unregistered code address are delivered to the addressee if it is known for whom the telegram is intended upon payment of a fee of 5s. in the case of an inland telegram, or 25s. in the case of any other telegram.

368. The charges for the registration of a telegraphic code address are prescribed in Part VI of the Schedule hereto.
(Substituted G.S. 74/77.)

ARCHIVES

369. The originals of outward telegrams and copies of inward telegrams, and the relevant documents relating to their handing in, transmission and delivery are retained at telegraph offices until the settlement of the relative accounts and in any case for at least 6 months counting from the month in which the accounts were sent.
(Amended G.S. 6/62 and 146/79.)

RADIOTELEPHONE SERVICE

370. The radiotelephone service between stations in the Kingdom is available for public use between the hours of 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Mondays to Fridays, excluding public holidays.

371. Radiotelephone calls to individual stations are restricted to periods within these hours as may be deemed necessary by the Superintendent for technical reasons.

372. The radiotelephone service to ships at sea is available as occasion demands. Radiotelephone calls to ships at sea are restricted to conversations between masters of ships and their agents ashore concerning matters of ship's business only.

Applications for Radiotelephone Calls

373. Requests for radiotelephone calls must be lodged in sufficient time to allow the application for the call to be transmitted to the distant station, for the person called to be contacted, and for the confirmation of the call to be transmitted to the station of origin of the call.

374. Calls to all stations must be made on a person-to-person basis, in which the person requesting the call specifies the person with whom he wishes to speak.

375. Radiotelephone calls to Nuku'alofa may be connected without prior arrangement after the completion of all booked calls, provided that they are made within the calling station's period of radiotelephone operation. Such calls may only be made to the telephone number of the person required, and may not be made to a person by name. If no reply is received from the telephone number requested, a fee is payable by the person requesting the call. If the call should be answered, but the person required is not available, the minimum charge is payable.
(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

376. Except in the case of official Government calls, and calls between Commodity Board offices, a deposit must be paid by the person requesting the call, including collect calls, at the time of the request.

Charges

377. A minimum charge for 3 minutes is payable for all radiotelephone calls, plus additional charges for each minute or part of a minute in excess of 3 minutes.
(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

378. The chargeable time commences when the persons begin their conversation, and ends immediately the conversation is completed.

379. The charge made is that appropriate to the net effective period, with a minimum of 3 minutes, during which speech conditions were satisfactory. An allowance may be made in respect of interruptions, if any, by atmospheric or other conditions, at the discretion of the radiotelephone operator.

380. No indication is given of the duration of the call whilst it is in progress.

381. In all cases the person making the call is responsible for the payment of charges. If the charges for a collect call are not paid by the person called, they will be recovered from the person requesting the call.

382. A receipt on the official telegraph receipt form must be issued for the payment of all radiotelephone charges.

383. The receipt for the deposit shall show the following particulars-

(a) the date of payment;

(b) the words "Deposit for R/T to ... (name of station)";

(c) the amount paid;

(d) the signature of the officer receiving the money.

384. If further charges are payable on completion of the call, an additional receipt must be issued, which must show the following particulars-

(a) the date of payment;

(b) the words "R/T to ... (name of station)";

(c) the duration of the call in minutes;

(d) the words "minimum charge paid" and the number of the receipt for the deposit;

(e) the additional amount paid;

(f) the signature of the officer receiving the money.

(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

Collect Calls

385. Payment of the charges for radiotelephone calls by the person called may be arranged at the time of lodgement of the request.

386. If the person called does not agree to the payment of the charges, the call will be cancelled, and the deposit, less a fee may be refunded. The call may be re-established for the same or a different time, at the expense of the person requesting the call, upon payment of a new deposit.
(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

387. Collect calls on official Government business may be accepted from those Government officers who are authorized by the Prime Minister to send official telegrams.

388. Officers in charge of Commodity Board offices may make collect calls to their offices at Nuku'alofa.

Cancellation of Calls

389. A call may be cancelled before the application has been transmitted, and the full amount deposited may be refunded.

390. If a call is cancelled not less than one hour before the time arranged for it, a refund of the deposit, less a cancellation fee may be made.
(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

391. If a call is cancelled within one hour of the time arranged for it, no refund of the deposit may be made.

392. If a call is cancelled and is later renewed, whether for the same or a different time, a full deposit must be paid, even if a cancellation fee or no reply fee has been paid in respect of the cancelled call.
(Amended G.S. 74/77)

393. Calls will be cancelled if-

(a) either the person called or the person requesting the call fails to attend at the time arranged for the call;

(b) the person requesting the call or the person called is not immediately available at the telephone to which connection of the call has been arranged at Nuku'alofa;

(c) the person called cannot be located in time;

(d) in the case of a collect call, the person called refuses to pay the charges;

(e) through technical fault at either station or through atmospheric conditions, the radiotelephone service is interrupted.

Refund of Deposit

394. The full amount of the deposit may be refunded if-

(a) the call is cancelled because of technical failure of either station;

(b) the radiotelephone service is interrupted by adverse atmospheric conditions;

(c) the call is not connected due to any fault of the service;

(d) in the case of a collect call, the person called agrees to pay the charges for the call;

(e) the call is cancelled before the application has been transmitted.

395. A refund of the deposit, less cancellation or no reply fee may be made if-

(a) the person wanted refuses to accept the call;

(b) the person called cannot be located prior to the time arranged for the call;

(c) the person wanted, in the case of a collect call, refuses to pay the charges;

(d) no reply is received to a call to a specified telephone number at Nuku'alofa;

(e) the call is cancelled at least one hour before the time arranged for it.

(Amended G.S. 74/77.)

396. No refund of the deposit may be made if-

(a) the call is not connected through the failure of the person requesting the call or the person called to attend at the time specified for the call;

(b) the call is cancelled because the person called or the person requesting the call is not immediately available at the telephone to which connection of the call has been arranged at Nuku'alofa;

(c) the call is cancelled within one hour of the time arranged for it.

397. When a refund of a deposit, as authorized by these regulations, is paid, the receipt for the deposit shall be endorsed by the person making the payment "Refund received ... (Signature of the person receiving the refund)" and returned to the office of issue. If a cancellation or no reply fee is payable, a new receipt for the amount of the fee shall be issued, and shall be endorsed by the receiving officer "R/T cancellation fee" or "R/T no reply fee", whichever is appropriate.

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THE SCHEDULE

PART I

Overseas Telegram Rates