£.—3

2

are agreed to be comprehended) which shall at any time and from time to time by the PostmasterGeneral or any of his officers or agents be required to be conveyed, as hereinafter provided, between Melbourne, in Victoria, and Point de Galle or Colombo, as hereinafter provided, in Ceylon, by way of and calling at King George's Sound, in the Colony of Western Australia, and also by way of and calling at Glenelg, in the Province of South Australia, or, at the option of the Postmaster-General, at the Semaphore, in the same province, a sufficient number of good, substantial, and efficient steam-vessels of adequate power, and supplied with first-rate appropriate steam-engines. 2. Every vessel carrying mails under this agreement shall, on entering or leaving Port Phillip Bay, in Victoria, weather permitting, stop to deliver or to receive alongside the vessel the Geelong mails and such other mails as the Postmaster-General may direct, at Queenscliff, the time occupied in such stoppage not to be reckoned in the running time of the voyage. 3. That the vessels to be employed under this agreement shall be always furnished with all necessary and proper machinery, engines, apparel, furniture, stores, tackle, boats, fuel, lamps, oil, tallow, provisions, anchors, cables, fire-pumps and other proper means of extinguishing fire, lightningconductors, charts, chronometers, nautical instruments, and whatsoever else may be requisite for equipping the said vessels and rendering them constantly efficient for the service hereby agreed to be performed, and also manned and provided with competent officers with appropriate certificates, granted pursuant to the Act or Acts of the Imperial Parliament of Great Britain and Ireland in force for the time being relative to the granting of certificates to officers in the merchant service, with a competent surgeon, and with a sufficient number of efficient engineers and a sufficient crew of able seamen and other men, to be in all respects, as to vessels, engines, equipment, officers, engineers, and crew, subject in the first instance and from time to time and at all times afterwards to the approval of the Post-master-General or of such person or persons as he shall at any time or times or from time to time authorize to inspect aud examine the same. 4. The Company shall at their own cost provide on each of the vessels to be employed under this agreement, a separate and convenient room for the convenient and secure deposit of the mails under lock and key, and shall also at the like cost (if and when they shall be required so to do by the said Postmaster-General) erect and provide on each of such vessels employed under this agreement a separate and convenient room for sorting and making up the said mails, and shall provide in such room all such furniture, lamps, fittings, and other conveniences as shall be necessary or convenient for the purpose of sorting and making up the said mails; and all such furniture, lamps, fittings, and other conveniences shall be from time to time cleansed and kept in repair, and the oil for the lamps supplied, by the servants and at the cost of the Company, and the services of the crew of every such vessel shall from time to time be given in the conveyance of the mails between the mail-room and the sorting-room. The Company shall also, if required by the Postmaster-General so to do, convey free of cost, on such parts of the voyage as he may direct, one or two mail-agents, to be berthed and messed as first-class passengers. The duties of such mail-agent or mail-agents shall be to take charge of and sort the mails, and he or they shall have no power of control over the commander of the vessel conveying the said mails. 5. That one of such vessels so approved, equipped, and manned as aforesaid shall, once in every fourteen days, and on such days and at such hours as shall be fixed by the Postmaster-General upon or after the day hereinafter appointed for the commencement of this agreement (until and unless any other days or hours shall, under the proviso herein in that behalf contained, be substituted instead thereof), and immediately after the mails are embarked, put to sea from the Ports of Melbourne and Point de Galle or Colombo, as the case may be, respectively; and the Company shall convey in such vessels to and from, and cause to be delivered and received at, such of the ports or places hereinbefore mentioned all such mails as shall or may be tendered or delivered to or received by the Company or any of their agents, officers, or servants by or from or under the direction of the Postmaster-General or any of his officers or agents. 6. That, if at any time or times the Post master-General shall desire to alter the particular days, times, or hours of departure from aud arrival at any of the ports or places to or from which mails are to be conveyed under this agreement, ho shall be at liberty so to do on giving three calendar months' previous notice in writing of such his desire to the Company; and the Company shall observe, perform, fulfil, and keep such altered days, times, and hours. 7. That, should it be deemed by tho Postmaster-General requisite for the public service that any vessel to be employed under this agreement should at any time or times delay her departur-e from any port from which the mails are to be conveyed under this agreement beyond the period appointed for her departure therefrom, the Postmaster-General, his officers or agents, shall have power to order such delay (not, however, exceeding twenty-four hours) by letter or telegram addressed by him or them to the master of any such vessel or person acting as such, and which shall be deemed a sufficient authority for such detention; and the said Postmaster-General, his officers or agents, shall have power, to be exercised in writing as aforesaid, to delay the departure of any vessel employed under this agreement from Point de Galle or Colombo, as the case may be, until the mails from England are placed on board. 8. All mails conveyed by the Company in pursuance of this agreement from Point de Galle or Colombo, as hereinafter provided, to Melbourne shall be conveyed by way of King George's Sound, and also by way of Glenelg or the Semaphore, as the Postmaster-General may direct; and the voyage from Point de Galle or Colombo, a.s the case may be, to Melbourne shall be completed in four hundred and fifty-six hours, inclusive of the stoppages at King George's Sound aud Glenelg or the Semaphore, which stoppages shall not, together, exceed twenty-four hours. 9. All mails conveyed by the Company in pursuance of this agreement from Melbourne to Point de Galle or Colombo, aa the case may be, shall be conveyed by way of Glenelg or the Semaphore, as the Postmaster-General may direct, and also by way of King George's Sound; and the voyage from Melbourne to Point de Galle or Colombo shall be completed in four hundred and fifty-six hours, inclusive of the stoppages at Glenelg or the Semaphore and King George's Sound, which stoppages shall not, together, exceed twenty-four hours. 10. The Company further agree that, so long as Her Majesty's mails are conveyed from Brindisi