E.—No. 4.

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FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE

Newspapers, and all other kinds of printed matter, are to be subject to the laws and regulations of each country, respectively, in regard to their liability to be rated with letter postage, when containing written matter, or for any other cause specified in said laws and regulations, as well as in regard to their liability to Customs duty, under the revenue laws. Article IV. The United States Office engages to grant the transit through the United States, as well as the conveyance by United States Mail Packets, of the correspondence in closed mails which the New Zealand Post Office may desire to transmit via the United States to British Columbia, the British North American Provinces, the West Indies, Mexico, Central and South America, and at the following rates of United States transit postage, viz.: — For the United States territorial transit of closed letter mails from New Zealand, for Mexico, British Columbia, Canada, or other British North American Provinces, when transmitted entirely by land routes, six cents per ounce for letter mails, and sixteen cents per pound for all kinds of printed matter. For the United States territorial and sea transit of closed mails from New Zealand for British Columbia, or other British North American Provinces, Mexico, Central and South America, or the West India Islands, when transmitted from the United States by sea, twenty-five cents per ounce for letter mails, and twenty cents per pound for all kinds of printed matter. The New Zealand Post Office shall render an account to the United States Post Office, upon Letter Bills to accompany each mail, of the weight of the letters, and also of the printed matter, contained in such closed mails, forwarded to the United States for transmission to either of the above named countries and colonies ; and the accounts arising between the two offices on this class of correspondence shall be stated, adjusted, and settled quarterly, and the amounts of United States transit charges found due on such closed mails shall be promptly paid over by the New Zealand Post Office to the United States Post Office, in such manner as the Postmaster-General of the United States shall prescribe. Article V. Pre-paid letters from foreign countries, received in and forwarded from the United States to New Zealand, shall be delivered in said Colony free of all charges whatsoever ; and letters received in New Zealand from the United States, addressed to New South Wales or Australia, will be forwarded to destination, subject to the same conditions as are applicable to correspondence originating in New Zealand and addressed to those countries. Article VI. In the event of any of the Australian Colonies not agreeing with New Zealand to contribute to the maintenance of any line of mail packets plying between New Zealand and the United States of America, and subsidized by New Zealand, the New Zealand Post Office may require the United States Post Office not to forward by such subsidized packets any mails, letters, newspapers, or other articles addressed to such Colony ; and the New Zealand Post Office may refuse to transmit to their destination all mails, letters, newspapers, or other printed matter, addressed to such Colony and received in New Zealand from the United States by such subsidized packets ; and may refuse to forward to their destination by such subsidized packets all mails, letters, newspapers, or other printed matter, received in New Zealand from such Colony, and addressed to the United States of America or elsewhere. Article VII. The two Post Departments may, by mutual agreement, provide for the transmission of registered articles in the mails exchanged between the two countries. The register fee for each article shall be ten cents in the United States, and sixpence in New Zealand. Article VIII. The two Post Departments shall settle by agreement between them all measures of detail and arrangement required to carry this convention into execution, and may modify the same in like manner from time to time, as the exigencies of the service may require. Article IX. Every fully pre-paid letter despatched from one country to the other, shall be plainly stamped with the words " Paid all," in red ink, on the right-hand upper corner of the address, in addition to the date stamp of the office at which it was posted; and on insufficiently paid letters, the amount of the deficient postage shall be inscribed in black ink. Article X. Dead-letters, which cannot be delivered, from whatever cause, shall be mutually returned, without charge, monthly, or as frequently as the regulations of the respective offices will permit. Article XI. This convention shall come into operation on the day of , 1870, and shall be terminable at any time on a notice by either office of six months. Done in duplicate, and signed in Washington the day of , one thousand eight hundred and seventy, and in Wellington, New Zealand, on the day of in the same year. Postmaster-General of the United States. Postmaster-General of New Zealand.