40

F.—l

3. Neither the senders nor the addressees of letters and other postal packets can be called upon to pay, either in the country of origin or in that of destination, any tax or postal duty other than those contemplated by the Articles above mentioned. Article XIII. 1. At the request of the senders, all classes of correspondence are sent to the addressees by a special messenger immediately on arrival in those countries of the Union which consent to undertake this service in their reciprocal relations. 2. Such correspondence, which is called " express," is subject to a special charge for delivery ; this charge is fixed at 30 centimes, and must be fully paid in advance by the sender, in addition to the ordinary postage. It belongs to the administration of the country of origin. 3. "When an article is destined for a place where there is no post-office, the postal administration of the country of destination can levy an additional charge up to the amount of the price fixed for delivery by express in its inland service, less the fixed charge paid by the sender, or its equivalent in the money of the country which levies this additional charge. 4. " Express " letters, &c, upon which the total amount of the charges payable in advance has not been prepaid are delivered by the ordinary means. Article XIV. 1. No supplementary postage is charged for the redirection of postal packets within the Union. 2. Undelivered correspondence does not, when returned, give rise to the repayment of the transit charges due to intermediate administrations for the previous conveyance of such correspondence. 3. Unpaid letters and post-cards and insufficiently paid articles of every description, which are returned to the country of origin ■as redirected or as undeliverable, are liable, at the expense of the addressees or senders, to the same rates as similar articles addressed directly from the country of the first destination to the country of origin. Article XV. 1. Closed mails may be exchanged between the post-offices of any one of the contracting countries and the commanding officers of naval divisions or ships of war of the same country stationed abroad, through the medium of the sea or land services maintained by other countries. 2. Correspondence of every description enclosed in these mails must consist exclusively of such as is addressed to or sent by the officers and crews of the ships to or from which the mails are forwarded; the rates and conditions of despatch applicable to them are determined, according to its internal regulations, by the postal administration of the country to which the ships belong. 3. In the absence of any arrangement to the contrary between the offices concerned, the postoffice which despatches or receives the mails in question is accountable to the intermediate offices for transit charges calculated in accordance with the stipulations of Article IV. * Tkrticle XVI. 1. There shall not be forwarded— (a.) Commercial papers, samples, and printed papers, which are not prepaid at least partly, or which are not made up in such a manner as to admit of an easy examination of the contents; (b.) Articles of the same categories which exceed the limits of weight and size prescribed by Article V.; (c.) Samples of merchandise having a saleable value. 2. If occasion arise, the articles mentioned in the preceding paragraph should be sent back to the post-office of origin and returned, if possible, to the sender. 3. It is forbidden— (1.) To send by post— (a.) Samples and other articles which, from their nature, may expose the postal officials to danger, or soil or damage the correspondence ; (b.) Explosive, inflammable, or dangerous substances; animals or insects, living or dead, except in the cases contemplated in the detailed regulations. (2.) To insert in ordinary or registered correspondence consigned to the post— (a.) Current coin; (b.) Articles liable to Customs duty; (c.) Gold or silver bullion, precious stones, jewellery, and other precious articles, but only in case their insertion or transmission is forbidden by the legislation of the countries concerned. 4. Packets falling under the prohibitions of the foregoing paragraph 3, which have been erroneously admitted to transmission, should be returned to the post-office of origin, except in cases where the administration of the country of destination is authorised by its laws or by its internal regulations to dispose of them otherwise. 5. The right is, moreover, reserved to the Government of every country of the Union to refuse to convey over its territory, or to deliver, articles passing at reduced rates in regard to which the laws, ordinances, or decrees which regulate the conditions of their publication or circulation in that country have not been complied with, or correspondence of any kind bearing obviously inscriptions, designs, &c, forbidden by the legal enactments or regulations in force in the same country.