departing from or arriving at ports of the German Postal Union, of letters and book packets comprised in the closed mails which the British office may send or receive, in accordance with Article XIX preceding, the sum of 1d. penny per ounce, British, of letters, net weight, for every 250 British statute miles over which such letters may be conveyed beyond the limits of the German Postal Union, and the sum of 1d. per pound, Prussian, of book packets, also net weight, for every 500 British statute miles over which such book packets may be conveyed beyond the limits of the German Postal Union.

In each case the distance shall be measured in a direct line, without regard to the route actually traversed.

XXII. The Prussian Post Office shall pay to the British Post Office for transit through the territory of the United Kingdom of letters and book packets comprised in the closed mails which the Prussian Office may send or receive by way of the United Kingdom, in accordance with Article XIX preceding, the sum of 4d. per ounce, British, of letters, net weight, and the sum of 5d. per pound, Prussian, of book packets, also net weight.

XXIII. The Prussian Post Office shall pay to the British Post Office for the sea conveyance of letters and book packets comprised in the closed mails which the Prussian office may send or receive, in accordance with Article XIX preceding, by British mail packets or private ships departing from or arriving at ports of the United Kingdom, the sum of 1s. per ounce, British, of letters, net weight, and the sum of 5d. per pound, Prussian, also net weight, of book packets.

XXIV. There shall be reserved in the fourgons, carriages, or vehicles conveying through the territory of the German Postal Union the mails from Great Britain to the East Indies or Australia, or from the East Indies or Australia, to Great Britain, as well as on board the German mail packets employed in the conveyance of those mails, a place, free of charge, for a British Courier, who shall keep the said mails under his special care, and who shall have the right to be present at the purification of the correspondence contained in those mails, whenever it shall take place, and at all other operations to which the said correspondence may be subjected.

XXV. It is understood that the weight of dead letters of every kind, as well as that of the letter bills and other forms of account consequent on the exchange of correspondence conveyed in closed. mails by one of the two offices on account of the other, and which are mentioned in the preceding Articles XX, XXI, XXII, and XXIII, shall not be included in the weight of the letters and book packets on which shall be assessed the rates fixed by the said Articles.

XXVI. There shall be an exchange of letters between the Austrian Post Office in Alexandria (Egypt), and the British Post Offices in Aden, Bombay, Calcutta, Madras, Point de Galle, Port Louis, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, King George's Sound, Adelaide, Geelong, Melbourne, Hobart Town, Launceston, Sydney, Brisbane, Auckland, and Wellington.

The rate to be collected by the British Post Office, for the conveyance through Egypt, and for the sea conveyance, by British mail packets, between Suez and the several British ports enumerated above, shall be the rate now levied, or that may be hereafter levied, for sea conveyance, as well as for British and Colonial inland conveyance, upon letters conveyed by British packet from the United Kingdom to such ports, respectively.

But the British Post Office promises to do all in its power to obtain for the German Post Offices the option of receiving and sending, unpaid or paid to destination, letters coming from or addressed to the East Indies and Australia.

XXVII. For the sea conveyance to or from Trieste of any of the closed mails referred to in Article XIX preceding the British Post Office may, if it think proper, employ vessels, the property of the British Government, or vessels freighted or subsidized by that Government, and such vessels shall be considered and treated as vessels of war in the port of Trieste, and be there entitled to the same honours and privileges.

These packets shall be exempted in the said port, as well upon their entrance as upon their departure, from all tonnage, navigation, and port dues; excepting, however, the vessels freighted or subsidized by Government, which must pay such dues if they are levied on behalf of corporations, private companies, or individuals.

They shall not on any account be diverted from their especial duty, or be liable to seizure, detention, embargo, or arrêt de prince.

XXVIII. The British mail packets shall be at liberty to take on board or land at the port of Trieste specie and gold and silver bullion, as well as passengers, of whatever nation they may be, with their wearing apparel or luggage, on condition that the commanders of those packets shall submit to the sanitary, police, and customs regulations of the port, concerning the arrival and departure of travellers.

Nevertheless, the passengers admitted on board those packets who do not think fit to land during the stay at the said port, shall not, under any pretext, be removed from on board, be liable to any search, or be subjected to the formality of a visa of their passports.

XXIX. The British mail packets may enter or leave the port of

Trieste at any hour of the day or night. They may also, if they think proper, without anchoring, embark or disembark the mails and passengers in the roads, or at the entrance of the harbours, so long as they observe the regulations referred to in Article XXVIII preceding.

XXX. Whenever a British packet carrying mails shall be compelled to put into any port of the German Postal Union, other than that at which such packet should touch, the Post Office of the place where the said mails shall be ianded shall use the most certain and expeditious means of forwarding them to their destination.

XXXI. Ordinary or registered letters and book packets misdirected or mis-sent, shall be reciprocally returned without delay through the respective offices of exchange for the same weight and amount of postage at which they were charged by the despatching office to the other office.

The articles of a like nature addressed to persons who have changed their residence shall be mutually forwarded or returned, charged with the rate that would have been paid by the receivers.

XXXII. Ordinary or registered letters and book packets exchanged in ordinary mails between the two Post Offices of Great Britain and Prussia, which cannot be delivered, from whatever cause, shall be mutually returned at the expiration of every month. Such of those articles as shall have been charged in the accounts shall be returned for the amount of postage which was originally charged by the sending office.

Those which were sent paid to destination shall be returned without postage or charge.

With regard to unpaid dead letters which have been conveyed in closed mails by one of the two offices on account of the other, they shall be admitted for the same weight and amount of postage which were charged in the transit accounts of the respective offices, on a simple declaration, or on nominal lists vouching for the amount of postage demanded when the letters themselves cannot be produced by the office which has to claim the amount of their postage from the corresponding office.

XXXIII. The British Post Office and the Post Office of Prussia shall determine by mutual consent the direction of the correspondence reciprocally transmitted, and shall settle the arrangements relating to the form and the liquidation of the accounts arising out of the mutual transmission of correspondence, as well as every other matter of detail which may be necessary to ensure the execution of the stipulations contained in the present Convention.

The two offices shall have power to modify from time to time by mutual consent, the arrangements made in virtue of this Article, as well as those fixed by all the preceding Articles,

XXXIV. Ordinary letters, registered letters, and book packets, exchanged between the two Post Offices of Great Britain and Prussia, which shall have been paid to destination, or for some part of the distance beyond the territory of the despatching office, shall be marked in a conspicuous part of the address with an impression in red ink of a stamp intended to denote to the respective offices of exchange the extent of prepayment.

The stamp P.D. shall be impressed on ordinary or registered letters as well as on book packets which shall be prepaid to destination.

The stamp P.P. shall be impressed on ordinary letters as well as on book packets which shall be prepaid for some part of the distance beyond the territory of the despatching office.

XXXV. Each of the mails exchanged between the Post Offices of the two countries shall be accompanied by a letter bill in which the despatching office shall state the nature of the articles which the mail contains, and the amount of postage due to each office. The office to which the mail shall be forwarded shall acknowledge its receipt to the despatching office by return of post.

The letter bills and acknowledgments of receipt of the Post Offices of London and Dover for the travelling Post Office between Verviers and Cologne, and for the office of Berlin, shall be according to the forms annexed to the present Articles.

The letter bills and acknowledgments of receipt which the travelling Post Office between Verviers and Cologne, and the office of Berlin, shall use in their communications with the British offices of exchange, shall agree with the forms above described.

XXXVI. If it should happen on the usual days and hours for making up the mails that an office of exchange has not any letter to forward to the corresponding office, the despatching office shall nevertheless send, in the ordinary way, a mail which shall contain a blank letter bill.

XXXVII. The British Post Office shall every month separate accounts exhibiting the results of the transmission between prepare the respective offices of exchange of the correspondence mutually exchanged, whether in ordinary mails or in closed mails. Such accounts shall be founded upon the acknowledgments of receipt of the respective offices during the month.

XXXVIII. The separate accounts described in the preceding Article shall be incorporated every month in general accounts, showing the result of the transmission of the correspondence exchanged either in ordinary or closed mails between the Post Office of Great Britain and the Post Office of Prussia.

XXXIX. The general accounts mentioned in the preceding Article shall be compared and settled by the two offices, and the

balance shall be paid at the end of every quarter by that office
which shall be found to be indebted to the other.

XL. The present Convention shall come into operation on the
1st day of November, 1862, and shall continue in force until one of
the two Contracting Parties shall have announced to the other,
one year in advance, its intention to terminate it. During this
last year the Convention shall continue to be fully and entirely
carried into effect without prejudice to the settlement of the
accounts between the British and Prussian offices after the expiration
of the said term.

It is, however, reciprocally agreed that none of the provisions contained in the last paragraph of Article XVIII, or in Articles XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, or XXX, of this Convention shall take effect until each of the Contracting Parties has announced to the other that satisfactory arrangements arising out of this Convention, on the side of the British office with the Post Offices of Austria, Hamburgh, Bremen, and The United States, and on the side of the Prussian office with the Post Offices of Austria and The United States, have been concluded.

All the agreements which now regulate the exchange of correspondence between The United Kingdom and Prussia, or any of the States of the German Postal Union, shall cease to have effect from the date of the day when the present agreement shall be put into execution.

Done in duplicate at London, the 13th day of October, 1862.
(L.S.) ROWLAND HILL.
(L.S.) A. METZNER.

WHEREAS, by Article XL of the Convention, concluded in London on the 13th October instant, between the General Post Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the General Post Office of Prussia, it was stipulated that the said Convention should come into operation on the 1st November, 1862,

and

Whereas, since the signature of the said Convention, it has been found expedient to defer the date of its coming into operation; now We, the Undersigned Commissioners who signed the said Convention, being duly authorized, have agreed, and do hereby agree and declare, that the Convention aforesaid shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1863.

In witness whereof we have signed these presents.

Done in duplicate, in London the 22nd day of October, and in Berlin the 25th day of October, 1862.

ROWLAND HILL.
A. METZNER.