With reference to any point of time after the beginning of the appointed day, any reference in the provisions of the M17Post Office Act 1953 (hereafter in this paragraph referred to as the “principal Act”) specified in the following table to the Post Office (except in the expression “an officer of the Post Office”) shall be construed as referring to the authority, and any reference in those provisions to an officer of the Post Office shall be construed as referring to a person engaged in the business of the authority.

Section 8(3) of the principal Act (mode of dealing with packets posted in contravention of the Act or of regulations thereunder) shall, as from the appointed day, have effect as if, for the references to regulations made under the Act, there were substituted references to the provisions of a scheme made under section 28 of this Act and as if, for the reference to the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the authority.

As from the appointed day, subsection (2) of section 16 of the principal Act (application of customs Acts to postal packets) shall have effect with the substitution, for the reference to the Postmaster General, of a reference to the Minister; but the Minister shall not make a recommendation under that subsection to the Treasury except after consultation with the authority.

Duties F75(whether of customs or excise) charged on imported goods or other charges payable in respect of packets to which the said section 16 applies (whether payable to the authority or to any other postal administration) may be recovered by the authority in any court of competent jurisdiction as if they were simple contract debts, and, in any proceedings for the recovery of any charges so payable, a certificate of the authority of the amount thereof shall be evidence (and, in Scotland, sufficient evidence) of that fact.

In the application of this sub-paragraph to Scotland the words “as if they were simple contract debts” shall be omitted.

As from the appointed day, section 17 of the principal Act (power to detain postal packets containing contraband) shall have effect with the substitution, for the reference to the Postmaster General, of a reference to the authority.

As from the appointed day, section 19(1) and (2) of the principal Act (Post Office mark evidence of amount of postage, &c.) shall have effect as if references to the Post Office and the Postmaster General included references to the authority, and section 19(3) of that Act shall have effect as if, for the reference to a certificate signed by or on behalf of the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to a certificate of the authority.

Section 21(3) of the principal Act (protection of bankers collecting postal orders) shall, as from the appointed day, have effect as if, after the words “Postmaster General”, there were inserted the words “or the authority established by section 6 of the Post Office Act 1969”.

References in sections 22 and 23 of the principal Act (issuing money orders with fraudulent intent and forgery and stealing of money orders) to a money order shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as including references to a postal order.

As from the appointed day, section 24 of the principal Act shall have effect as if, for the reference to the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the authority, as if, for the words “money orders”, there were substituted the words “orders for the payment of money” and as if the words “and subject to any prescribed modifications”, the words “within the meaning of those sections” and the proviso were omitted.

References in sections 50 and 51 of the principal Act (extension of postal facilities and accommodation) to the Postmaster General shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as referring to the authority.

With reference to any point of time after the beginning of the appointed day, the reference in section 56 of the principal Act (criminal diversion of letters from the addressee) to a person not in the employment of the Postmaster General shall be construed as referring to a person not engaged in the business of the authority.

With reference to any point of time after the beginning of the appointed day, the reference in section 61 of the principal Act (prohibition of affixing placards, notices, &c., on post office letter boxes, &c.) to the Postmaster General shall be construed as referring to the authority.

References in section 62 of the principal Act (prohibition of imitation of post office stamps, envelopes, forms and marks) and section 64 of that Act (prohibition of false notices as to reception of letters, &c.) to the Postmaster General shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as referring to the authority.

As from the appointed day, section 63 of the principal Act (prohibition of fictitious postage stamps) shall have effect as if, in subsection (1), for the words from the beginning to “prescribed”, there were substituted the words “Except for such purposes as may be approved by the Post Office in writing and in accordance with such (if any) conditions as may be attached to the approval, a person shall not”.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F77

As from the appointed day, section 72(1) of the principal Act (evidence of thing being a postal packet) shall have effect as if, for the reference to an article’s having been accepted on behalf of the Postmaster General for transmission by post, there were substituted a reference to its having been accepted on behalf of him or the authority for transmission by post.

As from the appointed day, section 72(3) of the principal Act (application in certain proceedings of section 27(4) of the M18Theft Act 1968, and evidence of employment of a vessel, vehicle or aircraft by or under the Post Office for the transmission of postal packets under contract) shall have effect as if, for the reference to a vessel, vehicle or aircraft having been at any time employed by or under the Post Office, there were substituted a reference to its having been at any time employed by or under the Post Office or the authority.

As from the appointed day section 78(1) of the principal Act (provisions as to post office letter boxes) shall have effect as if, for the reference to the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the authority; and section 78(2) of that Act shall have effect as if the reference to a certificate signed by or on behalf of the Postmaster General included a reference to a certificate of the authority and, for the reference to the permission or authority of the Postmaster General, there were substituted a reference to the permission or authority of the Postmaster General or the authority.

The reference in section 79(1) of the principal Act to the Postmaster General shall, as from the appointed day, be construed as referring to the authority.

As from the appointed day, the definition of “parcel” in section 87(1) of the principal Act (interpretation) shall have effect as if, for the reference to regulations, there were substituted a reference to the provisions of a scheme made under section 28 of this Act.

As from the appointed day, the definition of “post office letter box” in section 87(1) of the principal Act shall have effect as if, after the words “the Postmaster General”, in both places where they occur, there were inserted the words “or the authority established by section 6 of the Post Office Act 1969”.

As from the appointed day, the reference, in the definition of “the purposes of the Post Office” in section 87(1) of the principal Act, to the execution of any duties for the time being undertaken by the Postmaster General or any of his officers shall be construed as including a reference to the exercise or performance of any powers or duties conferred or imposed by, or by virtue of, this Act on the authority; and any provision to which that definition is relevant (whether contained in the principal Act or any other Act) shall be construed accordingly.

As from the appointed day, the reference in section 87(2)(b) of the principal Act (delivery of postal packet to an officer of the Post Office to be delivery to a post office) to delivery to an officer of the Post Office shall be construed as a reference to delivery to an officer of the Post Office or to a person engaged in the business of the authority.

As from the appointed day, “postage”, in the principal Act, shall, unless the context otherwise requires, mean postage chargeable by the authority.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F78, as from the appointed day, any. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F79 office belonging to, or occupied by, the authority shall be a prohibited place for the purposes of that Act.

Section 5 of the M22Official Secrets Act 1920 shall not apply to the authority; and, as from the appointed day, the reference in subsection (6) of that section to the Postmaster General shall be construed as referring to the authority.

As from the appointed day, references to the Postmaster General in subsections (1) and (2) of section 2 of the M24Motor Vehicles and Road Traffic Act (Northern Ireland) 1930 (conveyance of mails by public service vehicles) shall be construed as referring to the authority.

As from the appointed day, references to an officer of the Post Office in the said subsection (1) shall be construed as referring to a person engaged in the business of the authority.

As from the appointed day, the authority shall be deemed to be public utility undertakers and its undertaking a public utility undertaking for the purposes of the provisions of the M25Civil Defence Act 1939, F80

As from the appointed day, in the M26said Act of 1939 the expression “the appropriate department” shall, in relation to the authority, mean the Minister.

Where any work proposed to be done on or after the appointed day by F42the Northern Ireland Housing Executive in pursuance of a clearance or demolition order or a re-development scheme made by them under F43the M5Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 involves, or is likely to involve, an alteration in a telegraphic line belonging to, or used by, the authority, paragraphs (1) to (8) of section 7 of the M6Telegraph Act 1878 shall apply to the alteration and accordingly shall have effect, subject to any necessary modifications, as if references therein to undertakers included references to F42the Northern Ireland Housing Executive.

Where, in pursuance of an order under section 22 of the Housing of the M7Working Classes Act 1890, section 14 of the M8Housing Act (Northern Ireland) 1961, F44Article 51 of the Housing (Northern Ireland) Order 1981 or section 25 of the M9New Towns Act (Northern Ireland) 1965, that comes into operation on or after the appointed day, a public right of way over land is extinguished and, immediately before the day on which the order comes into operation, there is under, in, on, over, along or across the land a telegraphic line of the authority’s, the authority shall have the same powers in respect of the line as if the order had not come into operation; but, if a person entitled to land over which the right of way subsisted requires that the line should be altered, paragraphs (1) to (8) of the said section 7 shall apply to the alteration and accordingly shall have effect, subject to any necessary modifications, as if references therein to undertakers included references to the person by whom the alteration is required.

In this paragraph F45“telegraphic line” and “alteration” have the same meanings as in the M10Telegraph Act 1878.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F81

In the proviso to section F82F8333(4) of the M28Housing (Scotland) Act 1974F83paragraph 9(4) of Schedule 8 to the Housing (Scotland) Act 1987, the expression “apparatus” shall, in relation to the authority, be construed generally and shall not be limited by the definition thereof in section 208(1) of F84the M29Housing (Scotland) Act 1966

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . F85

The M52Land Commission Act 1967 shall have effect as if, in subsection (3) of section 58 thereof in its application to the authority, for the words from “the Minister who” to the end of the subsection, and in subsection (6) of section 89 thereof, in its application to the authority, for the words from “the appropriate Minister” to the end of the subsection, there were substituted the words “the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications”.

This paragraph shall come into operation on the appointed day.