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British Colonies of India, Malta, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, the British West Indies, the Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena, Natal, Ceylon, Mauritius, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, New Zealand, Newfoundland, Bermuda, Canada, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Sierra Leone, Gambia, the Gold Coast, and the Falkland Islands.

The Bremen Post Office shall account to the British Post Office, in addition to the postage due to the British Post Office, and to half the fee levied for the registration between Bremen and the United Kingdom, for the sum of 5 silver groschen upon every registered letter addressed to any of the countries or colonies above enumerated.

XIV. Subject to the following conditions, book packets, including under that designation newspapers and printed papers of every kind, may be sent from Bremen to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, whether via Belgium or direct by private ship, at such rates of postage as may be fixed from time to time by the Bremen Post Office, and from the United Kingdom to Bremen at such rates of postage as may be fixed from time to time by the British Post Office.

1. The postage must be prepaid.

2. Book packets, insufficiently prepaid by means of postage stamps, shall be charged with double the amount of the deficiency. The produce of this charge shall be retained by the office which collects it.

3. Every packet must be sent either without a cover, or in a cover open at the ends or sides, so as to admit of the examination of its contents.

4. A book packet may contain any number of separate books of other publications, prints, or maps, whether printed, engraved or lithographed, and whether on paper, parchment, or vellum, as also photographs on paper, parchment, or vellum; further, all legitimate binding, mounting, or covering of a book, publication, &c., or of a portion thereof, shall be allowed, whether such binding, &c., be loose or attached; as also rollers in the case of prints or maps, markers (whether of paper or otherwise), in the case of books, and in short, whatever is necessary for the sake of transmission of literary or artistic matter or usually appertains thereto; but no patterns or books of patterns (unless these consist merely of paper), shall be allowed.

5. No book packet may contain any writing, figures, or manual marks whatsoever.

6. No book packet must exceed two feet British in length, width, or depth, or 3lbs Prussian in weight.

XV. In exception to the stipulations of Article XIV preceding, it is agreed that ordinary corrections in writing shall be allowed in the case of book packets containing unbound proof sheets only.

XVI. The British Post Office shall pay to the Post Office of Bremen, on such of the book packets mentioned in Article XIV preceding as shall originate in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as on prepaid book packets passing in transit through the United Kingdom, the sum of 5d. per Prussian pound net weight.

The Post Office of Bremen on its side shall pay to the British Post Office, on such of the book packets mentioned in Article XIV preceding as shall originate in Bremen, the sum of 4 silver groschen per Prussian pound net weight for the entire service to be rendered by the British Post Office, and 4d. per Prussian pound in repayment of the transit rate to be paid to Belgium.

XVII. No postage whatever shall be charged by the Bremen Post Office upon the delivery of book packets originating in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and addressed to Bremen; and, in like manner, no postage whatever shall be charged by the British Post Office upon the delivery of book packets originating in Bremen, and addressed to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

It is nevertheless understood that this provision does not in any way invalidate the right either of the British Office or of the Bremen Office to refuse to deliver newspapers or other printed papers, the importation of which may be prohibited by the laws and regulations of the country to which they are forwarded.

In the event of any stamp duty, fee for delivery, or other charge being levied hereafter in Bremen upon newspapers or other printed papers originating in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the whole amount of such stamp duty, fee for delivery, or other charge, shall be paid over by the Bremen Post Office to the British Post Office.

Reciprocally, in the event of any stamp duty, fee for delivery, or other charge, being levied hereafter in the United Kingdom upon newspapers or other printed papers originating in Bremen, the whole amount of such stamp duty, fee for delivery, or other charge, shall be paid over by the British Post Office to the Bremen Post Office.

XVIII. The payments at the rate of 1d. per letter, and 1d. per 4 ounces for book packets on account of the sea conveyance of letters and book packets, contained in the Mails exchanged between the British Post Office and the Bremen Post Office, by means of private ships, shall be made to the commanders or owners of those ships, as follows:

When the vessel employed is a Bremen ship, the payment shall be made by the Bremen Post Office, and when the vessel employed is a British ship, the payment shall be made by the British Post Office.

The British Post Office shall reimburse the Bremen Post Office the amount paid by the latter upon letters forwarded in either direction, as well as the amount paid upon book packets forwarded from the United Kingdom to Bremen by a private ship belonging to Bremen.

On its side the Bremen Post Office shall reimburse the British Post Office the amount paid by the latter upon book packets forwarded from Bremen to the United Kingdom by a private ship belonging to the United Kingdom.

XIX. The Post Office of Bremen shall pay to the British Post Office for the conveyance across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland of book packets in transit which the British Post Office shall convey through its territory on account of the Post Office of Bremen, the sum of 5d. per Prussian pound, net weight.

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The Post Office of Bremen shall further pay to the British Post Office for the sea conveyance of book packets which shall be conveyed, on account of the Post Office of Bremen, by British mail packets or by private ships leaving or arriving at the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the sum of 5d. per Prussian pound, net weight.

In consideration of the expense incurred by the British Post Office for the conveyance of mails across the Isthmus of Suez or the the Isthmus of Darien, the Post Office of Bremen shall further pay to the British Post Office for book packets which the Post Office of Bremen shall forward or receive by British mail packets and by way of either isthmus, viz.:

For the conveyance of book packets across the Isthmus of Suez, a transit rate of 4d. per Prussian pound, net weight.

For the conveyance of book packets across the Isthmus of Darien, a transit rate of 1s. per Prussian pound, net weight.

XX. Ordinary or registered letters and book packets mis-directed 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.

XXI. Ordinary or registered letters and book packets exchanged in ordinary mails between the two Post Offices of Great

Britain and Bremen, 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.

XXII. The British Post Office and the Post Office of Bremen 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.

XXIII. Ordinary letters, registered letters, and book packets of every kind exchanged between the two Post Offices of Great Britain and Bremen, 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.

XXIV. 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 for the mails sent from the Post Office of London to the Post Offices of Bremen and Bremerhaven via Belgium, shall be according to the Form B annexed to the present Articles.

The letter bills and acknowledgments of receipt for the mails sent from the Post Office of London and Hull, to the Post Offices of Bremen and Bremerhaven, direct by private ship, shall be according to the Form C, annexed to the present Articles.

The letter bills and acknowledgments of receipt which the offices of Bremen and Bremerhaven shall use in their communications with the Post Offices of London and Hull, shall agree with the forms above described.

XXV. 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.

XXVI. The British Post Office shall every month prepare separate accounts exhibiting the results of the transmission between the respective offices of exchange of the correspondence mutually exchanged. Such accounts shall be founded upon the acknowledgments of receipt of the respective offices during the month.

XXVII. 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 between the Post Office of Great Britain and the Post Office of Bremen.

XXVIII. 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.

XXIX. The present Agreement shall come into operation on the 1st day of January, 1863, 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 Agreement shall continue to be fully and entirely carried into effect without prejudice to the settlement of the accounts between the British and Bremen Offices after the expiration of the said term.

All the Agreements which now regulate the exchange of correspondence between the United Kingdom and Bremen, 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 15th day of December, 1862.

(L.S.) ROWLAND HILL.

(L.S.) GEORGE J. GOSCHEN.

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