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cargo-work and coaling can be carried on at such port in all states of the weather: Provided that whenever the mail-ships call at Fremantle such an aditional number of hours shall be added to the period of transit applicable to mail route No. 3, as hereinafter provided, as shall be agreed upon between the Postmaster-General and the company, or, failing agreement, be settled b}- arbitration. i. (1.) Subject to the provisions of this agreement, each of the mail-ships employed on mail route No. •'! shall on every outward voyage start from a port in the United Kingdom, and, after the due delivery al Adelaide of the mails intended to be delivered at that port, continue her voyage to Melbourne and thence to Sydney, and (subject as aforesaid) each of such mail-ships shall on every homeward voyage commence her voyage at Sydney (calling at Melbourne on the route to Adelaide), and, after the due delivery of the mails at Brindisi (either by the same mail-ship or by some other mail-ship to whicli such mails shall have been transferred), continue her voyage to a port in the United Kingdom, whether any mails may or may not be required to be conveyed in any such mail-ship from or to the United Kingdom, or to or from Melbourne or Sydney on any such voyage. (2.) The times at whicli the mail-ships shall start from or arrive at the port of departure or arrival in the United Kingdom, Melbourne, and Sydney, and the rate of speed of the mail-ships between the United Kingdom and Brindisi, and between Adelaide, Melbourne, and Sydney shall be fixed by the company at their discretion, but not so as to affect the period of transit between Brindisi and Adelaide hereinafter referred to. 5. (1.) Subject to the provisions of this agreement, all mails to be conveyed under the provisions of this agreement upon mail route No. 1 shall be conveyed in either direction between Brindisi and Bombay within a period of 302 hours (hereinafter referred to as the "period of transit"). (2.) The period of transit shall include three hours allowed for a stoppage at Aden, and there shall be a stoppage at Aden on both the outward and homeward voyages for that time and no less. (3.) During the prevalence of the south-west monsoon the period of transit from Bombay to Brindisi shall be extended by twenty-four hours. 6. (1.) Subject to the provisions of this agreement, all mails to be conveyed under this agreement on mail route No. 2 shall be conveyed from Brindisi to Shanghai within a period of 736 hours, and from Shanghai to Brindisi within a period of 742 hours (each of which periods is hereinafter referred to as the " period of transit "). (2.) The periods of transit shall respectively include the following times allowed respectively for a stoppage at each of the following ports (that is to say): At Aden, three hours; at Colombo, twenty-four hours; at Penang, six hours; at Singapore, twenty-four hours; at Hong Kong (on outward voyage), twenty-four hours; at Hong Kong (on homeward voyage), thirty hours. (3.) During the prevalence of the north-east monsoon the period of transit from Brindisi to Shanghai shall be extended by forty-eight hours, and during the prevalence of the south-west monsoon the period of transit from Shanghai to Brindisi shall be extended by twenty-four hours. 7. (1.) Subject to the provisions of this agreement, all mails to be conveyed under this agreement on mail route No. 3 shall be conveyed in either direction between Brindisi and Adelaide within a period of 686 hours (hereinafter referred to as the " period of transit "). (2.) The period of transit shall include the time allowed for all stoppages of the mail-ships at the intermediate ports, and the mail-ships shall stop on both the outward and homeward voyages at Albany (or Fremantle) for six hours, and no less, and at Colombo for such period as may be necessary for the purpose of delivering, receiving, transferring, transhipping, or exchanging mails, and in no case less than the period (not exceeding twenty-four hours) appointed by the PostmasterGeneral in that behalf. (3.) During the prevalence of the south-west monsoon the period of transit from Adelaide to Brindisi shall be extended by twenty-four hours. 8. (1.) Each period of transit shall be deemed to commence so soon after the time appointed by the Postmaster-General for the departure of the mail-ship from the port or place of departure-, or after the completion of the embarkation of the mails intended to be thereby conveyed (whichever shall last happen), as having regard to practical considerations the anchor of such mail-ship can be weighed or the mail-ship can be loosed from her moorings, and each such period of transit shall be deemed to have been completed when the mail-ship has arrived and been anchored, or moored in some position at the port or place of destination from which the mails can be conveniently disembarked. (2.) In any case in which any outward or homeward voyage may be performed by more than one mail-ship, the period of transit shall be reckoned from the commencement of the voyage of the mail-ship by which the first part of the conveyance shall be performed to the completion of the voyage of the mail-ship by which the last part of the conveyance shall be performed. (3.) As regards mail route No. 1, the period of transit from Bombay to Brindisi shall be deemed to commence when the small steamships hereinafter mentioned with the mails on board arrive alongside the mail-ship by which the voyage is intended to be performed, and the period of transit from Brindisi to Bombay shall be deemed to be completed when the said small steamships arrive alongside the mail-ship by which the voyage has been performed. (4.) The times of commencement and completion of each period of transit shall be ascertained and recorded, and all calculations in connection therewith shall be made by officers of the Post-master-General, in pursuance of arrangements to be from time to time made by him for the purpose, and the decision of the Postmaster-General as to all questions relating to periods of transit shall be final and conclusive. 9. Should it be deemed by the Postmaster-General, his officers, or agents requisite for the public service that any mail-ship should at any time or times delay her departure from any port from which the mails are to be conveyed under this agreement beyond the time appointed for her