Mode of packing certain articles

The following provisions apply to the articles named when transmitted by inland parcel post– (a) eggs shall be packed in a wooden or other rigid box with suitable partitions and a well-fitted lid, and each egg wrapped separately in newspaper or other soft material, the eggs being placed on end, each in a separate partition, and the vacant space in the box filled with newspaper or cotton waste. The parcel shall be marked “eggs”; (b) parcels of fish and meat shall be marked “perishable” and shall be so packed as to 58 prevent contact of the contents with other postal articles or leakage of any moisture; (c) flowers shall be enclosed in boxes of cardboard, wood or metal; (d) fruit shall be so packed that the juice cannot exude. Metal boxes with tightly fitting lids shall be used for soft fruit. Parcels of fruit shall be marked “fruit”; (e) hats, millinery and similar articles shall be packed in rigid boxes of wood or other material, or in stout leatherboard or fibre board boxes with lids extending about two-thirds of the depth of the box or in strong cardboard boxes protected externally by light cross bars of wood consisting of two frames placed at right angles to one another and fastened together where they cross at the top and the bottom; the contents should be surrounded in the box with sufficient crumpled tissue paper or other soft packing material to prevent movement; (f) musical instruments shall be enclosed in stout wooden cases with sufficient soft internal packing to prevent movement and to prevent damage through jolting; (g) pictures in frames shall be protected at the front and back by stout wooden boards each rather larger than the frames. Soft packing shall be placed firmly between the corners of the frame and the boards but not so as to press on the glass; (h) any liquid, oil or substance which easily liquefies shall be enclosed in a glass bottle 59 hermetically sealed. Such bottle shall be placed in a special box of metal, wood or of strong corrugated cardboard containing sawdust, cotton or spongy material in sufficient quantity to absorb the liquid if the bottle becomes broken. The box itself, if it is of thin wood, shall be enclosed in a second case of metal, wood, or strong corrugated cardboard, or of stout thick leather. Where a perforated wooden block is used, having a thickness of at least 2½ mm. (1/8") in the thinnest part and fitted with a lid. It shall not be necessary to enclose this block in a second case; (i) a fatty substance which does not easily liquefy, such as ointment, soft soap, resin, as well as silk worm eggs, shall be enclosed in an inner cover (box, bag of linen, or parchment,) which shall itself be placed in a second box of wood, metal or stout thick leather. A sample of liquid or any fatty substance, or a sample enclosed in a linen or paper envelope of little strength, shall have a label, preferably of parchment, attached for the address of the addressee, the postage stamps, and the impression of the date stamps. The address shall be repeated on the article itself; (j) any article, such as tinned food, which would be spoiled if packed in the manner prescribed, may be admitted in a cover hermetically sealed. In that case the sender or the addressee may be required to assist in the check of the contents, either by opening the article or in some other satisfactory manner; (k) an article of glass or other fragile material shall be securely packed (in a rigid box of metal, 60 wood or strong corrugated cardboard) in such a way as to prevent all risk of injury to other postal articles or to postal officers; (l) dry powders, whether dyes or not, shall be enclosed in a stout tin box placed inside a wooden box with sawdust between the two covers. Dry non-colouring powder shall be placed in a box of metal, wood, or cardboard, the box itself being enclosed in a bag of linen or parchment; (m) live bees, leeches, silk-worms and silk-worm eggs shall be enclosed in a box so constructed as to avoid all danger and to allow the contents to be ascertained; (n) sharp instruments such as scissors, knives, razors, forks, steel pens, nails, watch machinery, metal tubing, pieces of metal or ore, may be sent by post only if packed and guarded in so secure a manner as to involve no risk to the contents of the mail bags and to the officers of the Post Office; (o) Gramophone Records (Shellac) shall be enclosed in their envelopes and sorted in sets according to size. Each set shall be cross-tied to form a compact bundle. The bundle or bundles shall then be firmly embedded in sufficient soft packing material in a rigid box of wood (or of stout fibreboard, preferably with a lid extending about two thirds of the depth of the box) of sufficient size to permit at least one inch of packing above, below, and around the records; (p) Gramophone Records (long playing-plastic) shall be enclosed in their envelopes and sorted 61 in sets according to size. Each set shall be placed between corrugated cardboard fillers in a separate rigid box of stout cardboard or fibreboard (preferably with a lid extending about two thirds of the depth of the box, so that the records cannot move about in the box. Where it is desired to send more than one size of record in the same box any empty spaces around the edges of the smaller records shall be filled with soft packing. Conditions of re- direction.