F.—l

54

(2.) If the request is to be made by telegraph the form is handed over to the telegraph service, which is intrusted with the transmission of its terms to the office of destination. 2. On receipt of the Form J, or of the telegram taking its place, the office of destination searches for the correspondence in question, and takes such steps as may be necessary. If, however, the case be one of an alteration of address requested by telegraph, the office of destination only retains the letter, and awaits the arrival of the necessary facsimile before complying with the request. If the search is fruitless, or if the article has already been delivered to the addressee, or if the request by telegraph is not so explicit that the article indicated can be recognised with certainty, the fact is at once communicated to the office of origin, which informs the applicant accordingly. 3. In the absence of any understanding to the contrary, Form J is drawn up in French, or bears a sublineary translation in that language; and in case the telegraph is used, the telegram is sent in French. 4. A simple correction of address (without modification of the name or description of the addressee) can also be claimed directly from the delivering office—that is to say, without fulfilling the formalities prescribed for the alteration of the address properly so called. 5. Any administration can require, by notification addressed to the International Bureau, that the exchange of applications, so far as such administration is concerned, shall be effected through the medium of the central administrations or of an office specially designated. In cases where the exchange of applications is effected through the medium of the central administrations, requests sent directly by the offices of origin to the offices of destination must be taken into account to the extent that the correspondence concerned shall be withheld from delivery until the arrival of the application from the central administration. The administrations which avail themselves of the option accorded by the first paragraph of the present clause bear the charges involved by the transmission, in their inland service, by post or by telegraph, of the communications to be exchanged with the delivering office. XXXI. — Use of Postage-stamps presumed to be Fraudulent for the Prepayment of Postage. 1. Subject to the regulations laid down by the laws of each country, even in cases where this reservation is not expressly stipulated in the provisions of the present Article, the under-mentioned procedure is followed for detecting the use of fraudulent postage-stamps for the prepayment of postage : — (a.) When the presence of a fraudulent postage-stamp (counterfeit or already used) on any article whatever is detected at the time of despatch by the post-office of a country whose law does not require the immediate seizure of the article, the stamp is net altered in any way, and the article, enclosed in an envelope addressed to the delivering office, is forward officially registered. (&.) This formality is notified without delay to the administrations of the countries of origin and destination by means of an advice in conformity with specimen X annexed to to the present regulations. A copy of that advice is, moreover, transmitted to the delivering office in the enyeLope which encloses the article bearing the supposed fraudulent postage-stamp, (c.) In order to establish the contravention, recourse is had to the addressee. The delivery of the article takes place only in case the addressee or his representative consents to make known the name and address of the sender, and to place at the disposal of the post-office, after having taken cognizance of the contents, the entire article, if it is inseparable from the offence itself, or else the part of the article (envelope, wrapper, portion of letter, &c.) which contains the address and the stamp stated to be fraudulent. (d.) The result of the representations made is set forth in a formal report in conformity with the specimen L annexed to the present regulations, in which report are recorded the incidents that have happened, such as failure to appear, refusal to receive the article or to open it or to make known the sender, &c. This document is signed by the postal official and by the addressee of the article or his representative ; if the latter refuses to sign, the refusal is recorded in place of the signature. The formal report is transmitted, with the relative vouchers, through the medium of the administration of the country of destination, to the postal administration of the country of origin, which, with the aid of those documents, takes proceedings, if necessary, to repress the infringement, according to its internal laws. XXXII. — Division of the Expenses of the International Bureau,. 1. The ordinary expenses of the International Bureau must not exceed the sum of 125,000 francs annually, irrespective of the special expenses to which the meeting of a Congress or of a conference gives rise. 2. The Swiss Postal Administration supervises the expenses of the International Bureau, makes the necessary advances, and prepares the annual account, which is communicated to all the other administrations. 3. For the apportionment of the expenses, the countries of the Union are divided into seven classes, each contributing in the proportion of a certain number of units, viz.,— Ist class ... ... ■' 25 units. sth class... ... ... 5 units. 2nd ... ... 20 „ 6th „ ... ... ... 3 „ 3rd „ ... ... ... 15 „ 7th „ ... ... ... 1 „ 4th „ 10 „