A.—2

36

I also do myself the honour to suggest to Your Excellency that a certificate recording the exchange of the approvals should at the same time be signed in duplicate, one of which I shall transmit to His Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, together with Your Excellency's Ministerial approval. I avail, &c, A. C. Grant Duff. His Excellency Monsieur Zemp, President of the Swiss Confederation.

MoNsiBUB le Charge d'Affaires, — Berne, le 8 Juillet, 1902. Repondant a la note que vous avez bien voulu adresser, eu date dv 25 Juin dernier, a Monsieur le President de la Confederation Suisee, nous avons l'honneur de vous faire part de cc gui suit:— Endate dv 11 Janvier, 1901, la Direction Generale dcs Postes, repondant a une lettre que lvi avait adresse'e le 23 Novembre, 1900, le General Post Office a Wellington s'est declaree disposee a faire delivrer jusqu'a nouvel' oidre aux destinataires sans perception de- taxe, a la condition qu'elles ne portent aucun signe les designant comme insuffisamment affranchies, les lettres de la Nouvelle Zelande a destination de la Suisse affranchie dun penny par 15 g. Au norn dv Gouvernement de Sa Majeste le Eoi dv Eoyaume Nui de la Grande Bretagne et de l'lslande et dcs Possessions Britanniques d'outre mer vous nous evez demande de ratifier cet arrangement. Nous avons inurement examine cette question et sommes arrives a la conclusion qu'ensuite de la position prise par les Administrations dcs pays voisins comme aussi pour ne pas engager l'avenir il ne convenait pas de maintenir la concession faite par I'Administration dcs Postes Suisses, mais, au contraire de revenir a l'etat existant avant le ler Janvier, 1901, eu cc gui concerne la taxe dcs lettres originaires de la Nouvelle Zelande k destination de la Suisse. Afin de ne pas poster prejudice aux expediteurs soit aux destinaires, la taxe reduite dun penny par 15 grammes sera toutefois encore considered comme valable pour les lettres provenant de la Nouvelle Zelande gui seront mises a la poste jusqu'au 30 Septembre, 1902, inclusivement. Passe de delai, V Administration dcs Postes Suisses devra, en revanche, taxer toutes les letters provenant de la Nouvelle Zelande gui ne seront pas affranchies' aux conditions generales fixees par' la Convention Postale Universelle de Washington dv 15 Juin, 1897. Nous saisissons, etc., Au norn dv Conseil Federal Suisse, Le President de la Confederation, Zemp. Le Chancelier de la Confederation, Monsieur A. C. Grant Duff, Charge D'Affaires, Bingier. De Sa Majeste Britannique.

M-x Lord,— Borne, 20th July, 1902. I have the honour to report that I duly submitted to the Italian Foreign Office the proposal contained in your Lordship's despatch in this series, No. 13, of the 17th May last, for placing on record a Ministerial approval of the arrangement entered into between the Postal Departments of New Zealand and Italy, with a view to effecting certain changes in postal rates. From the reply of the Italian Government, copy and translation of which is enclosed herein, Your Lordship will perceive that the Minister of Posts and Telegraphs demurs to treating the working arrangements entered into between the two Departments as an actual international agreement in the nature of an " union plus restreinte," as defined by Article 21, paragraph 2, of the Washington Convention. The Minister, while prepared to maintain the understanding arrived at with the Postal Department in New Zealand, in accordance with which letters sent from New Zealand with a penny stamp are now accepted and delivered in Italy, does not feel justified in treating as a formal contract what is purely a unilateral arrangement, which lacks, in his opinion, the characteristic quality of reciprocal advantage. I explained to the Under-Secretary of State that His Majesty's Government were of opinion that the view of the International Bureau at Berne was justified technically by a literal construction of the second clause of Article 21, and that I found some difficulty in understanding the scruples of the Minister of Posts to sanction formally what he had already sanctioned administratively. Monsieur Malvano asked me to ascertain what views other European countries to which the same application had been addressed had taken, and promised, if it could be shown that a similar unilateral arrangement had received formal Ministerial approval elsewhere, he would invite consideration of the point at issue. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. the Marquess of Lansdowne, K.G., &c. Bennell Eodd.

[Translation.] Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Borne, 19th July, 1902. Monsieur le Charge D'affaires, — I duly communicated to the Ministry of Posts the substance of the note which you addressed to me on 6th June last, informing me of the opinion expressed by the British Government as to the advisability and the measures to be taken for the conclusion of an agreement to be founded on an exchange of notes between the Postal Administrations of Italy and New Zealand for the reduction of the postal tariff on letters from that English colony to Italy. I now have the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a note, dated the 17th of the aforesaid month ('?), in which the Ministry of Posts point out the reasons for which, in their