Sec. 899. A bill shall be prepared as indicated by the prescribed form (see sec. 880 as to particulars required in billing) and sent in each rotary-lock pouch or sack (see sec. 881).

Sec. 900. Hand-to-hand receipt shall be obtained for dispatches of registered mail in paper jackets or in pouches or sacks closed with rotary locks, whenever practicable. Unless it is known that hand-to-hand receipt can be obtained over the entire route, pouches or sacks used to inclose registered matter shall not be filled so that they can not be inclosed in a No. 2 iron-lock pouch.

Sec. 901. Postal employees who receive or dispatch rotarylock pouches, sacks, or jackets shall carefully examine them for any damage to the pouches or sacks or discrepancy in the lock numbers, and make sure the pouches or sacks are securely locked. (See sec. 920.)

Sec. 902. 2. When a registered jacket or rotary-lock sack or pouch addressed to a railway post-office train or transfer clerk is missent or has missed connection, it shall be treated by the postmaster or other postal employees receiving it in accordance with section 921.

Sec. 903. Postal employees shall use registered paper jacket envelopes in the dispatch of five or more, and should use such jackets when practicable in the dispatch of three or more separate registered articles addressed to or intended for distribution by the same post office, registry transfer station, railway post office, terminal railway post office, or transfer clerk, when at least one record and handling of the articles in transit will thereby be saved.

3. When applicable the rules governing rotary-lock pouches and sacks shall be observed in the opening and closing of registered jacket envelopes; in other respects the treatment of the jacket envelopes shall be as prescribed for registered letters and parcels, except as modified herein. (See sec. 922.)

Sec. 904. All domestic registered letters or parcels to go by the same mail to the same office shall be, if practicable, inclosed in the same registered jacket envelope and entered on the same manifold bill. Such envelope shall be plainly postmarked so that the postmark will appear partly upon the lower flap. The number of the registered jacket shall be entered in the proper place on the dispatching record.

2. When made up for a railway post office, its name and the train number shall be given in the address on the jacket. Jackets containing “special-delivery" articles shall be marked Special delivery on the address side.

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Sec. 905. Separate registered jackets shall be used for foreign and domestic mail. Jackets containing registered matter for the countries named shall be marked "Canada," "Cuba," 'Mexico," or "Panama," respectively. Registered jackets containing registered mail for any other foreign country shall be marked "Foreign," unless addressed direct to a foreign country served through a Pacific coast exchange office. (See secs. 1002 and 1003.)

2. Registered jackets containing registered matter for United States naval vessels, the Canal Zone, or the Philippine Islands, shall be marked "Naval mail," "Canal Zone," or Philippines," respectively.

Sec. 906. Registered jacket envelopes and sealed sacks shall be consecutively numbered, beginning with No. 1 on the first day of July of each year and continuing throughout the fiscal year, without regard to the numbers on the articles inclosed in them.

Sec. 907. If a registered jacket envelope is dispatched unaddressed or unsealed, except as provided in paragraph 5, section 883, or in bad order, and a depredation is committed which can not be traced to the person committing it, the dispatching postal employee will be held responsible for the loss.

*

Sec. 908. When a misdirected or unaddressed registered jacket ** * is received at a post office or railway post office, it shall be opened and contents verified in the presence of two witnesses (when practicable) who shall certify on the bill and jacket whether the contents were found correct, as billed. If it is found that any of the contents can be expedited they shall be distributed and dispatched to destinations, the empty jacket filed, and the coupon of the bill signed and indorsed with the reason for opening and sent to the post office or railway post office by which the jacket was dispatched, and the irregularity reported * * *. If it is found that none of the mail can be expedited, the entire contents shall be reinclosed in the jacket, with the bill, both jacket and bill being indorsed to show why the jacket was opened (and whether the contents were found correct) and signed by the opening employees. The jacket and contents shall then be placed in another jacket properly addressed and indorsed with the name of the original dispatching office or railway post office, and also with the name of the rejacketing office or railway post office, sealed, witnessed (when practicable), and dispatched under the original jacket number. Jackets which upon opening are found to contain mail billed or

intended for another office will be similarly treated. (See secs. 969 and 972.)

Sec. 909. 3. When a railway postal clerk discoveres a registered jacket in a damaged condition while in his possession, he shall indorse such fact on the jacket and accompanying receipt. The damaged jacket shall be indorsed “Reenveloped by (name of railway postal clerk, etc.)," and inclosed in another registered jacket bearing the same number, postmark, office of origin, and address, and the postmark of the railway post office or transfer office jacketing the same. A statement of the facts shall be made in the proper record. If a clerk is not provided with a supply of registered jackets, he shall make proper indorsement and deliver the jacket to the post office at the terminus of his run or to a connecting line or transfer office to be reenveloped. A damaged jacket too large for inclosure in another jacket shall be delivered to the post office at the terminus of the clerk's run, there to be rewrapped and treated as prescribed in this section.

Sec. 910. A jacket plainly addressed to a post office in operation shall not be delayed merely because some simple irregularity is noted in connection with it. Registered jackets, sacks, or pouches in transit or addressed to another post office shall not be opened, except as provided in the regulations or by special order of the Third Assistant Postmaster General.

Sec. 911. When a registered jacket envelope addressed to a railway post-office train misses connection, it shall be treated in the manner prescribed for rotary-lock pouches by section 921.

Sec. 912. When the quantity or bulk of registered mail addressed for delivery in any State or Territory justifies, postal employees may dispatch such mail in pouches and sacks closed with rotary locks and in jackets, addressed simply to a State or Territory by name only, in accordance with the following limitations:

2. State pouches, sacks, and jackets shall not be made up until schemes and instructions have been received from the proper officer of the Railway Mail Service.

3. State pouches, sacks, and jackets shall be prepared and treated in accordance with their rules and regulations governing registered pouches, sacks, and jackets, and, as far as applicable, shall be opened and contents distributed by the authorized railway postal clerks only.

Sec. 913. Authority to make up State pouches, sacks, or jackets shall not be construed as permitting the exceptional dispatch of registered mail in iron-lock pouches.

Sec. 914. Dispatches addressed to offices may be billed and inclosed in the proper State pouch, sack, or jacket, and one or more State pouches, sacks, or jackets may be billed and inclosed in another State pouch, sack, or jacket addressed to the same State, when at least one record and handling in transit is saved thereby.

Sec. 915. When the quantity or bulk of registered mail is not sufficient to justify the use of a sack or pouch, and is too large to inclose in a registered paper jacket envelope, it may be rewrapped in a strong paper wrapper, securely sealed, and a registered paper jacket split open and so pasted thereon as to expose both front and back.

Sec. 916. Lead-sealed sacks may be used in authorized cases in lieu of, and in accordance with the regulations governing, rotarylock pouches and sacks, and registry jackets, in the dispatch of registered mail whenever the quantity or bulk of such mail justifies.

Sec. 917. All postal employees furnished with rotary-lock keys may make and receive dispatches of registered mail in pouches or sacks closed with rotary locks when the quantity or bulk of registered matter involved justified the use of the equipment and at least one handling in transit of the registered mail inclosed is saved thereby.

NOTE. All post offices of the first and second classes, all terminal railway post offices, all railway post offices in full postal cars, and in the most important apartment car lines designated by an asterisk (*) in the schedules of the Railway Mail Service, and certain transfer clerks have rotary-lock keys. Lists are published in the current Official Postal Guide showing the post offices of the third and fourth classes, branch post offices, and stations that have such keys.

Sec. 918. When a rotary-lock pouch or sack is delivered handto-hand receipt therefor shall be taken immediately on the proper record.

2. When hand-to-hand delivery can not be made of a rotarylock pouch or sack it shall be inclosed in an iron-lock mail bag, labeled to the proper office, and a registry dispatch receipt card or manifold bill describing the pouch or sack by its letter, fixed and rotary lock numbers inclosed with it.

3. In receipting, each rotary-lock pouch or sack shall be counted as one registered piece in the totals written on registry dispatch receipt card.

Sec. 919. Railway postal clerks (including transfer clerks) and postmasters at offices which are terminals of railway postoffice runs may reciprocally make hand-to-hand delivery of registered mail in pouches or sacks closed with rotary locks

whenever the quantity or bulk of such matter justifies the use of the equipment, in lieu of hand-to-hand delivery of the matter by individual pieces. This does not authorize the pouching of such mail under iron locks between railway post offices and terminal post offices.

Sec. 920. If a pouch or sack in transit is damaged so as to endanger the contents or if it bears a damaged or defective lock, the receipt given for it shall show such fact, and it shall be sent to, or delivered at, the first office having a rotary-lock key and there opened, the contents repouched, and the bill indorsed "Pouch delivered to this office because of ; con

tents (correct or incorrect, as the case may be, any discrepancy being stated). Postal employees shall record the facts in such cases and make a report at once to the Third Assistant Postmaster General, Division of Registered Mails, or to their inspector in charge if the damage involves the mail or indicates a loss. The pouch shall then be forwarded to its destination.

2. If a new pouch or sack or lock must be substituted, the fact shall be stated on the original bill, and the new lock numbers given.

3. Upon the arrival of the damaged pouch or sack at an office having a rotary-lock key, the receiving clerk shall withhold his receipt until the contents have been examined and checked with the bill. When hand-to-hand delivery is made, the delivering postal employee shall be allowed to be present at such examination, and if there be any discrepancy or damage to the contents, the receipt shall so state.

4. When, however, it is necessary for the protection of the registered matter, or to avoid its being materially delayed, a postmaster or a railway postal clerk may open the seam of a registered pouch or sack which is so damaged as to endanger its contents or has attached a lock which can not be opened. Appropriate note showing the action taken should be made on the bill received in the pouch and also on the coupons of the bill, which in such cases should be returned to the post office or railway post office which made up the dispatch and note made on the bill to show disposition of the coupon. If any of the registered articles are damaged or missing, report should be made to the inspector in charge. (See secs. 921 and 922.) Pouches and sacks which have been so opened should be sent, with locks attached, to the mail-equipment shops, Washington, D. C., for repairs. (See secs. 1437 and 1442)