The office of preparation was always the head office of the district in which the addressee resided, and its duty was to prepare the money order in the name of the payee upon receipt of the intimation from the office of issue. The procedure was as follows: An application for a money order was made at the office of issue and, on payment of the amount with commission, a receipt was given to the remitter and the application was sent to the head office of the district in which the payee resided. This office was called the office of preparation, and if the payee resided in its delivery area it would also be both the office of delivery and payment. If, however, the payee resided at a sub or branch office, the office of preparation made out a money order for delivery at such sub or branch office and for payment at the post office named by the remitter in his application. It was not necessary for the office of delivery to be the office of payment; the remitter could name any office authorized to pay money orders as the office of payment. Upon receipt of the money order by the payee an acknowledgment signed by him was sent to the remitter, and the payee had to make his own arrangements for cashing his money order at the proper office of payment. The commission charged on money orders was accounted for by postage stamps affixed to the back of the application by the office of issue, and the rates were as follows: Rs. A. P. Not exceeding Rs. 10 0 2 0 Exceeding Rs. 10, but not exceeding Rs. 25 0 4 0 " Rs. 25 " " Rs. 50 0 8 0 " Rs. 50 " " Rs. 75 0 12 0 " Rs. 75 " " Rs. 100 1 0 0 " Rs. 100 " " Rs. 125 1 4 0 " Rs. 125 " " Rs. 150 1 8 0 Rs.150 was the maximum amount of a money order. Redirection was permissible, but such redirection did not affect the original office of payment, and this could only be altered by the payee signing the order and sending it to the office of preparation with an application for the issue of a new order payable to himself or anyone named by him at some specified office. A new order was issued, but a second commission was charged for this service. Money orders lapsed at the end of the month following that of issue, but were still payable for two months after lapsing if a second commission was paid; upon the expiry of that period they were forfeited to Government.