The Mercury of 28 August 1889 reported that "The new system of telegraphic money orders will come into operation (in Tasmania) on September 1. The maximum amount of any one order has been fixed at £10".
The Launceston Examiner, on 23 November 1864, reported that:
"We are glad to be able to announce that the system of Post Office Money Orders will come into operation in Tasmania with the commencement of the new year (1 January 1865).
It is needless for us to descant upon the great public convenience which will be afforded by this ready mode of transmitting small sums of money for it most be patent to every one. The only cause for regret is that the system was not introduced long ago.
On and after the first January next, money orders for any sum not exceeding £10 may be obtained and be made payable at the following places:
The post-offices at Hobart Town, Launceston, Oatlands, Campbell Town, Franklin (Huon), Hamilton, Longford, New Norfolk, Port Arthur, Ross, Sorell, Torquay and Westbury.
Applications for such orders, or payment of orders, may be made daily (Sundays excepted) between the hours of 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. Orders not exceeding the amount mentioned above may also be obtained on Victoria, New South Wales, New Zealand, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
The commission on money orders payable in Tasmania will be as follows:
For orders payable in the colonies the rates of commission will just be double.
For orders payable in Great Britain and Ireland:
No person will be entitled to demand or receive more than one Money Order payable to one person upon the same day, at any one of the places mentioned above. Of course this is to prevent an abuse of the system. Persons may have advices of money orders forwarded by electric telegraph to any place where they are payable, upon making special application on the form to be provided for that purpose and paying the charges for the transmission of messages by electric telegraph.
All money orders will be payable at sight; but the post master, or other person acting on his behalf, will be allowed a reasonable time before payment to make any enquiry be may deem necessary to establish the identity of the person presenting the order with the payee.
No money order will be payable after a period of six months from the date of issue; and if a money order is not duly presented within that time, it will become lapsed and void, and a new order (for which a second commission, to be deducted from the amount of the order, will be charged) will be necessary.'' If an Order be not paid before the expiration of twelve months from the time it was drawn, all claim to the money will be forfeited, unless, under peculiar circumstances, the post office of the country in which the order was drawn thinks proper to allow it.
Any person presenting a lapsed order is to be directed to transmit it, with an application for a new order, to the Comptroller of the Money Order Office at the chief office in the country in which it was issued.
Should it be proved to the satisfaction of the Postmaster-General that a Money Order has been lost or destroyed, or that the person in whose favor a money order is drawn has died or cannot be found, the Postmaster-General may direct the money to be refunded to the person who obtained the order. In any case, where a Postmaster on whom a money order is drawn shall, from illness, want of funds or any other cause, be unable or fail to pay the amount required upon such order being presented, the Postmaster-General shall not be liable to be sued for or on account of such inability or failure".