AGREEMENT between the British Government and the Viceroy of Egypt, relative to the Transmission of British Mails through Egypt.-Signed at Alexandria, June 16, 1858.

HER Britannic Majesty's Government having instructed John Green, Esq., Her Majesty's Consul at Alexandria, now acting as Her Majesty's Agent and Consul-General in Egypt, to regulate by a new Agreement with His Highness the Viceroy of Egypt, the transmission through Egypt of Her Majesty's mails to and from the East Indies, Her Majesty's other possessions and colonies, and such other countries as British mails are made up for, through Egypt;

And His Highness Said Pasha, the Viceroy of Egypt, having appointed for this purpose His Excellency Nubar Bey, Director of the Railway and Transit Administration;

The above named have agreed upon the following Articles:

ART. I. The Egyptian Government guarantees the safety of Her Majesty's mails while passing through Egypt, provided that the Viceroy remains entrusted with the full and uninterrupted power enjoyed by his father and his predecessors, especially that of confirming or commuting sentences of tribunals in criminal matters.

II. The Egyptian Government engages to convey from Alexandria to Suez, and from Suez to Alexandria, the British mails to and from the East Indies, Her Majesty's other possessions and colonies, and such other countries as British mails are made up for, through Egypt. Local mails shall also be carried between Alexandria, Cairo, and Suez.

III. The time occupied in conveying the mails from Alexandria to Suez, and vice versâ, shall not, except under uncontrollable circumstances, exceed 24 hours; the hours to be computed from the time the mails are handed over the side of the British packets at Alexandria, up to their delivery on board the corresponding packets at Suez, and vice versa. But this arrangement is on the understanding that the packet from Southampton shall have arrived at Alexandria not less than 20 hours before that bringing the overland mail; and that the packet from Alexandria with the homeward mail shall sail for Southampton not less than 20 hours after that with the homeward overland mail.

Should such interval of 20 hours not be maintained, then, in every such case, the difference between 20 hours and the actual interval shall be added to the 24 hours to be allowed for each transit from packet to packet. Thus, if the interval be only 10 hours, 34 hours shall be allowed for the transit, and so on.

IV. When there is no separate arrival of the overland mail from Great Britain, or no separate despatch from Alexandria of [1861-62. LII.] 3 M

the overland mail for Great Britain, 41 hours shall be the time allowed each way for the transit of the mails from packet to packet.

V. Should it become practicable, the Egyptian Government agrees so to accelerate the conveyance of the mails as to complete the work in less time than that specified in the preceding Article.

VI. So long as any part of the railway between Cairo and Suez shall remain unopened for use, additional time shall be allowed for the conveyance of the mails, calculated on the slower pace of camels as compared with travelling by railway, and the administration binds itself to accelerate the transport of the mails through the desert by camels as much as possible.

VII. The British Post Office shall be at liberty, as heretofore, to send messengers (not more than 3 in number) with the mails; and suitable provision shall be made for the conveyance of these messengers from Alexandria to Suez and back, and from Suez to Alexandria and back.

VIII. The Egyptian Government shall provide substantial and safe boats for landing and embarking the mails at Alexandria and Suez, and proper means for the conveyance of the mails between the point of embarkation or landing and the railway; also a suitable carriage for the conveyance of the local mail between the point of embarkation or landing and the Post Office in Alexandria, and between the Post Office and the railway station.

IX. On the railway the mails shall be conveyed in closed trucks, and neither passengers, goods, nor anything else shall be placed in the same trucks.

X. The Egyptian Government shall provide suitable and separate places on the quays at Alexandria and Suez for the landing, loading, and embarkation of the mails. Warehouse room also shall be afforded at the railway stations at Alexandria and Suez for storing such mails as it may be necessary to leave at these stations, and in these warehouses accommodation shall be provided for sorting the mails, should such be required by the British Post Office. The keys of such warehouses shall be in charge of the agents of Her Britannic Majesty's Postmaster-General.

XI. For the due performance of all the foregoing services by the Egyptian Government, Her Britannic Majesty's Government agree to pay the sum of 12,0007. sterling per annum, the payments to be made quarterly (3,000l. each quarter), commencing with the expiration of the first quarter. The exchange to be calculated at 973 piastres per sovereign, according to the Egyptian Government

tariff.

XII. Should the Agent of Her Britannic Majesty's Government appointed for the purpose fail to make the quarterly payment

within 15 days of the appointed time, Her Majesty's Government shall be bound to forfeit to His Highness the Viceroy the sum of 1007. sterling for every such delay; and, on the other hand, should the time occupied in the conveyance of the mails ever exceed that mentioned in Article III, the Egyptian Government agree that the sum of 1007. sterling shall be deducted from the next quarterly payment for every such delay, unless the delay should arise from causes over which the Egyptian Government have no control.

XIII. Should the number of mails in transit through Egypt be increased beyond the present number of 5 mails monthly each way (the mail via Southampton and the overland mail being always counted together as one mail only), the payment to the Egyptian Government shall be increased at the rate of 1007. for each single transit.

XIV. The present Agreement is concluded for 3 years, from the 30th June next, and shall remain in force during a continued succession of periods of 3 years each, unless a notification to the contrary be made by either party to the other 12 months at least before the expiration of any such period.

XV. In witness whereof the before-named Nubar Bey and John Green, Esq., have signed the present Agreement, and affixed thereto their respective seals.

Done in duplicate, Alexandria, 16th June, 1858.

(L.S.) N. NUBAR.
(L.S.) JOHN GREEN.

ADDITIONAL ARTICLES to the Detailed Regulations arranged between Great Britain and France, for the execution of the Postal Convention of 24th September, 1856.*--Signed at London, May 16, and at Paris, May 19, 1860.† (Translation.)

THE Postmaster-General of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland on the one part, and the Director-General of the French Post Office on the other part,

With reference to Articles XXXI, XXXII, and XXXVI, of the Postal Convention concluded between France and Great Britain the 24th September, 1856;

With reference also to the Detailed Regulations arranged between the French Post Office and the Post Office of Great Britain, for the execution of the said Convention, signed at Paris the 27th October, 1856, and at London the 12th November, 1856; Have agreed as follows:

* Vol. XLVI. Page 195.

+ Signed also in the French language. + Page 1123.

ART. I. There shall be a direct exchange of closed mails by means of British packets and by way of the Isthmus of Suez, between the office of Marseilles and the travelling office from Lyons to Marseilles, on the one part, and the offices of Aden, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Point de Galle, Penang, Singapore, and Hong Kong, on the other part, as well for ordinary letters, regis tered letters, and printed papers of all kinds exchanged by the said route between the inhabitants of France and Algeria, and the inhabitants of the British possessions in Asia, as for articles of a like nature exchanged between the inhabitants of the foreign countries the correspondence of which is transmitted through France, and the inhabitants of the British possessions before mentioned.

II. The persons who wish to send ordinary letters either from France and Algeria to the British possessions in Asia, or from the British possessions in Asia to France and Algeria, shall have the option of leaving the entire postage of those letters to be paid by the persons to whom they are addressed, or of paying in advance the postage to the place of destination.

The Post Office of France shall pay to the British Post Office as well for paid letters forwarded from France and Algeria addressed to the British possessions in Asia, as for unpaid letters forwarded from the said possessions addressed to France and Algeria, the sum of 1 franc 624 centimes per 30 grammes of letters, net weight. On its side, the British Post Office shall pay to the Post Office of France for paid letters forwarded from the British possessions in Asia addressed to France and Algeria, the same rate as for paid letters from the British colonies in America; and for unpaid letters forwarded from France and Algeria addressed to the British possessions in Asia, the same rate as for unpaid letters addressed to the British colonies of America.

III. The ordinary letters coming from or addressed to the foreign countries, the correspondence of which is transmitted through France, which shall be comprised in the closed mails referred to in Article I preceding, shall be subject to the same conditions with respect to prepayment as the letters exchanged between those same foreign countries and the Island of Malta by way of France.

The Post Office of France shall pay to the Post Office of Great Britain for such of the said letters as shall be fully prepaid by the inhabitants of the foreign countries, the correspondence of which is transmitted through France, the same rate as for letters coming from or addressed to France.

As to the rate to be paid by the British Post Office to the Post Office of France, as well for paid letters forwarded from the British

possessions in Asia addressed to the foreign countries, the correspondence of which is transmitted through France, as for unpaid letters or letters charged with a French transit rate forwarded from the said countries, addressed to the British possessions in Asia, it shall be the same as for letters exchanged between those same foreign countries and the Island of Malta by way of France.

IV. The office of Marseilles and the travelling office from Lyons to Marseilles may deliver to the British Exchanging Offices specified in Article I preceding, registered letters addressed to the British possessions in Asia.

On their side, the British Exchanging Offices before mentioned may deliver to the office of Marseilles and to the travelling office from Marseilles to Lyons registered letters addressed as well to France and Algeria as to the foreign countries to which the inhabitants of the British possessions in Asia shall have the right of forwarding, by way of France, ordinary letters paid to destination.

V. The forms of letter bills and acknowledgments of receipt of which the office of Marseilles and the travelling office from Lyons to Marseilles shall make use in their communications with the offices of Aden, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Point de Galle, Penang, Singapore, and Hong Kong, shall be according to the pattern annexed to the present Articles.

The forms of letter bills and acknowledgments of receipt of which the offices of Aden, Bombay, Madras, Calcutta, Point de Galle, Penang, Singapore, and Hong Kong shall make use in their communications with the office of Marseilles and with the travelling office from Marseilles to Lyons, shall agree with the pattern above referred to.

VI. The provisions of the Articles XXIX, XXX, XXXII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI, XXXVII, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLI, XLV, XLVI, XLVII, XLVIII, and XLIX of the Detailed Regulations arranged between the Post Office of France and the British Post Office for the execution of the Convention of the 24th September, 1856, signed at Paris the 27th October, 1856, and at London the 12th November, 1856, are applicable to the corre spondence coming from or addressed to the British possessions in

Asia.

VII. The present Articles shall be considered as additional to the Detailed Regulations referred to in the preceding Article, and shall be carried into effect on the 1st day of July 1860.

Done in duplicate and signed at London the 16th day of May, 1860; and at Paris the 19th of the same month.

(L.S.) ARGYLL.

(L.S.) STOURM.