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emanate from, or terminate at, their offices, will allow them to pass in transit, unless the service be suspended.

253. The contracting parties reserve to themselves the power to stop the transmission of any private telegram which may appear dangerous to the security of the State, or which may be contrary to the laws of the country, to public order, or decency.

254. Each Government also reserves to itself the power to interrupt the system of the international telegraphs for an indefinite period, if it judges it necessary, either generally or only upon certain lines and for certain kinds of messages, upon condition that it immediately advises each of the other contracting Governments.

255. A central office, placed under the superior authority of the chief administration of one of the contracting Governments designated for that purpose in the service regulations, is appointed to collect, arrange, and publish information of all kinds relating to international telegraphy.

256. Administrative conferences will take

place periodically; such conference fixing the time and place of the next meeting.

SECTION IV.-MONEY ORDERS.

[Conventions also exist relating to Money Orders between Great Britain and Belgium, September 26, 1871, and January 1, 1882; Great Britain and Denmark, April 22, 1871, and January 26, 1882; Japan, May 10, 1881; Portugal, January 17, 1883; AustriaHungary, June 3, 1885; France and Canada, June 20, 1884; Italy, March 4, 1872, and November 5, 1881; Sweden, September 7, 1881.]

257. The remittance of sums of money may be made by means of post-office orders.

258. The post-offices of the contracting parties are authorized to determine by common agreement, and to modify, when required, the measures necessary for the execution of the Convention.

259. Each Power has also the right to regulate the rate of commission on the issue of the money orders which shall be delivered by its officers. It is, however, agreed that the rate in question shall not exceed two per cent.

SECTION V.-IMMUNITIES OF MAIL PACKETS.

By a Convention between the United Kingdom and France relative to communication by post, dated September 24, 1856, it was agreed as follows:—

Art. V. When the packets employed by the British Post Office, or by the French Post Office, in execution of Art. I. and II. of the present Convention, are national vessels, the property of Government, or vessels chartered or subsidized by Government, they shall be considered and treated as vessels of war in the ports of the two countries at which they regularly or accidentally touch, and be there entitled to the same honours and privileges. These packets shall be exempted in the said ports, as well upon their entrance as upon their departure, from all tonnage, navigation, and port dues, excepting however the vessels freighted or subsidized by Government, which must pay such dues in those ports where they are levied on behalf of corporations, private companies, or individuals. They shall not on any account be diverted from their especial duty, or be liable to seizure, detention, embargo, or arrêt de Prince.

Art. VI. The packets of the two Offices shall be at liberty to take on board, or land at the ports of the two countries at which they touch, whether regularly or accidentally, specie and gold and silver bullion, as well as passengers of whatever nation they may be,

with their wearing apparels or luggage, on condition that the captains of these packets shall submit to the sanitary, police, and customs regulations of these ports concerning the arrival and departure of travellers. Nevertheless, the passengers admitted on board these packets who do not think fit to land during the stay at one of the said ports, shall not under any pretext be removed from on board, be liable to any search, or be subjected to the formality of a visa of their passports.

Art. XI. In case of war between the two nations, the packets of the two Offices shall continue their navigation until a notification is made on the part of either of the two Governments of the discontinuance of the postal communications, in which case they shall be permitted to return freely and under special protection to their respective ports.

CHAPTER XV.

MONETARY UNION.

260. WITH a view to establish more complete harmony between their monetary legislation, and to remedy the inconvenience which resulted to the people of their respective States from the diversity of titles in their silver token coins, France, Belgium, Italy, and Switzerland (the so-called Latin Union) entered into a Convention, dated December 23, 1865, under which the gold and silver standard coins of each country were made current throughout the territories of the Union, and circulation was also given to the silver token coins of the several States to an amount not exceeding six francs per head of the population of each. In 1868 Greece joined the Union. The Treaty was for fifteen years, and in anticipation of the end of that period, on

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