the latter point to Santo Domingo, in the Republic of the same name, thence by land line to Puerto Plata, thence by cable to Cape Haitien, and from the latter point to New York.

ART. 2. The privilege referred to in the above article shall be for a period of 20 years, counting from the date of this contract.

ART. 3. The National Government also grants to the contracting company for the same period of 20 years the preferential right with regard to third parties and equal conditions to establish any other systems of communication already invented or to be invented.

ART. 4. The company shall continue to use the line which it already has between La Vela de Coro and Curacao for cable communication with the cities in the west of the Republic, but the national Government can suspend the service of this section of the cable when it sees fit without any obligation to indemnify the company.

ART. 5. The contracting company binds itself to charge for each word of the cablegram over its lines the prices as shown in the following table, which shall always be uniform as well for the point of origin as for the point of destination:

PARAGRAPH 1. To the charges as fixed in the above table shall be added those that are charged on the land line in foreign parts and on the cable lines that do not belong to the company and over which cables have to reach their point of destination.

PAR. 2. In case of interruption in cable from Cape Haitien to New York, which is the normal line of communication, the contracting company, which operates three cables to Santiago de Cuba, to Guadeloupe, and to Salinas, shall transmit cables over these lines, charging to any one of said points, in addition to the 5 bolivars per word, maximum tariff in that case to any one of the above points, corresponding to the foreign lines in use.

ART. 6. The contracting company binds itself to deliver to the national Government the quantity of twenty-five one-hundredths of a bolivar per word on telegrams sent and received. It is understood that this sum of twenty-five one-hundredths of a bolivar is included in the internal tariff over the land lines of Venezuela.

ART. 7. The contracting company binds itself to reduce, on the portion which belongs to it, 50 per cent for official telegrams from the Government of Venezuela and the national press. Official telegrams referred to here as well as those of the press shall be provided for in the rules of the International Telegraph Convention (revision of London, 1903).

ART. 8. The national Government has a right to name a fiscal in the offices of the company when it sees fit and for the time it deems necessary. The national Government shall also have the right to forbid the transmission of any private telegram which seems to offer danger to the State or which is contrary to the laws of the country, to public order, or to good customs.

ART. 9. The contracting company recognizes the right of the national Government to ask for the removal of the company's employees in Venezuela, merely indicating the cause which actuates the request for removal.

ART. 10. The contracting company binds itself to deliver gratis and daily to the Ministry of Fomento its bulletins of world's news as soon as received and to place them in prominent locations in their offices in the Republic.

ART. 11. The contracting company has the right to maintain a central office in Caracas and to utilize for its service the land line which it has established from this city to La Guira.

ART. 12. The contracting company binds itself to submit semimonthly to the Ministry of Fomento a detailed report of all official and private cablegrams received and sent.

ART. 13. The national Government exonerates the contracting company from all national, municipal, and State tax, including that of stamps.

ART. 14. The national Government exonerates the contracting company from customs duties for the introduction of the implements and fixtures indispensable to its service, in each case the company fulfilling the legal formalities.

ART. 15. It is agreed that all interruption in foreign communication lasting more than six months in the first five years of the contract and four months in the remaining period shall be equivalent to annulment of this contract.

ART. 16. The present contract can not be transferred to a third party without the consent of the national Government and in no case can it be transferred to a foreign government.

ART. 17. All doubts and controversies arising as to the understanding and fulfillment of this contract shall be decided by the competent tribunals of Venezuela, but in no case can it give rise to international claim.

Two copies of the same tenor and to one effect made in Caracas, May 11, 1909-98th and 51st.

DESIRE BRUN.
R. M. BARABANO.

The undersigned, Dr. Jevenal Anzola, in his character as attorney general of the nation and by virtue of special instruction from the Federal Executive, as appears in an official note from the Minister of Internal Relations, dated May 10, 1909, No. 820, which is hereby annexed, party of the first part; and for the party of the second part, Desire Brun, representative of the French Cable Co., according to a power of attorney, the original of which accompanies this document, to be returned leaving a certified copy thereof, hereby declare that in order to end absolutely and definitely all questions and claims pending between the United States of Venezuela and the French Cable Co., whatever their origin and nature may be, have agreed to celebrate, and do hereby celebrate, the agreement as contained in the following articles:

ARTICLE 1. The French Cable Co. acknowledges and accepts the annulment of the contract it has with the national Government dated April 23, 1895, said annulment having been decreed by the Federal and cessation court on August 4, 1905.

ART. 2. The French Cable Co., hereafter to be called the company, cedes and transfers for the possession and property of the Government of Venezuela the coastwise cable lines which it has between La Guira and Puerto Cabello, between La Vela de Coro and Maracaibo, and between La Guira, Higuerote, Cumana, Porlamar, and Carupano, and the lines and land offices pertaining to these cables, with all the apparatus, utensils, and accessories at present belonging to them, everything in the state in which it is found at present.

ART. 3. The national Government grants to the company the exclusive privilege of cable communications from Venezuela to foreign parts for a period of 20 years and in the terms and under the conditions of a special contract entered into between the Minister of Fomento and the said company, said contract to be incorporated with this agreement as an integral part of it.

ART. 4. All the suits and executions at present pending between the nation and the company are hereby terminated for the purpose of which this original document shall be added to the papers in the suit which the nation is at present carrying on against the above-mentioned company in the superior court of this district. A certified copy of this same document shall be added to the papers in the suit which was pending in the Federal and cessation court for annulment of the contract heretofore mentioned.

ART. 5. Both parties formerly and forever renounce all actions and claims proceeding from questions which have been a matter of litigation between them,

ART. 6. The non fulfillment' by either of the parties to this transaction constitutes, ipse facto, its annulment.

ART. 7. The present agreement shall be ratified by the French Cable Co. at its next meeting of shareholders and in accordance with its statutes.

Two copies of the same tenor and to one effect made this day, the 11th of May, 1969, in Caracas-ninety-eighth and fifty-first.

DESIRE BRUN.
JUVENAL ANZOLA.

Copy of agreement, dated August 10, 1914, between His Majesty's Government, the Government of the Dominion of Canada, the Crown agents of the colonies, and the West India & Panama Telegraph Co., (Ltd.), for the reduction of rates in respect of telegrams passing over the company's system

An agreement made the 10th day of August, 1914, between William Wedgwood Benn and William Jones, Esqs., two of the Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, (hereinafter called "the treasury," which expression shall, where the context admits, include the Lords Commissioners of the treasury for the time being), for and on behalf of His Majesty's Government, of the first part; Sir Reginald Laurence Antrobus, K. C. M. G., C. B.; Sir Maurice Alexander Cameron, K. C. M. G.. late a major in His Majesty's Corps of Royal Engineers; and Sir William Hepworth Mercer, K. C. M. G., all of Whitehall Gardens, in the city of Wesminster, the Crown agents for the colonies, (hereinafter referred to as the "Crown agents," which expression shall include, where the context so admits, the Crown agents for the colonies for the time being), acting for and on behalf of the Governments of Trinidad, British Guiana, Barbados, St. Kitts, Antigua, Dominica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Granada, of the second part; the Hon. George Halsey Perley, a member of the Canadian ministry for and on behalf of the Government of the Dominion of Canada, (hereinafter called "the Canadian Government," which expression shall, where the context admits, include the Government of the Dominion of Canada for the time being), of the third part; and the West India & Panama Telegraph Co., (Ltd.), whose registered office is at 4 South Place, Finsbury, in the county of London, (hereinafter called "the company," which expression shall, where the context admits, include their successors and permitted assigns), of the fourth part.

Whereas the company's rates of charge to the public in respect of the transmission from place of origin to place of destination of ordinary telegrams sent between the respective places mentioned in the first schedule hereto and passing over the company's system of telegraphs and submarine cables have hitherto been the respective rates specified in the said first schedule; and

Whereas for the considerations hereinafter appearing the company have agreed to reduce the said rates in manner hereinafter more particularly set forth.

Now, therefore, it is hereby mutually covenanted, agreed, and declared between the said parties hereto as follows, (that is to say):

1. In this agreement wherever the context admits the expressions

(a) "The Direct Co." and "the Halifax Co.," mean the Direct West India Cable Co. and the Halifax & Bermudas Cable Co., respectively.

(b) "The colonies means and includes all the colonies named in the second schedule hereto.

(c) Foreigner" means and includes any person who is not a British subject.

(d) "Foreign corporation" means and includes any corporation not having its principal place of business in His Majesty's dominions or not being established under and subject to the laws of some part of those dominions.

(e) "Government telegrams" means and includes all telegrams transmitted or to be transmitted on behalf of His Majesty's Imperial Government or the Government of any part of His Majesty's dominions.

(f) "International convention" means the International Telegraph Convention made at St. Petersburg and dated July 10-22, 1875, and includes any modification thereof to be made from time to time.

(g) International regulations" means the regulations made in pursuance of the international convention as revised at the International Telegraph Conference held in Lisbon in 1908, and includes any further revision or modification thereof to be made from time to time at any similar conference.

(h) "Deferred telegrams" means telegrams accepted at a reduced rate on condition that they may be deferred in transmission or delivery, or both, and being telegrams in one language only, (such language being in the case of each class of deferred telegrams as shall be prescribed therefor by His Majesty's Postmaster General by notification in the London Gazette), and consisting of words or letters combined into sentences or phrases conveying a meaning intelligible in the telegraph sevrice.

(i) Press telegrams" means telegrams in plain language (as defined by the international regulations) addressed to newspapers (duly published in accordance with the respective laws in force in the countries of such publication) and intended in good faith for publication in full in such newspapers, respectively.

(j) "United Kingdom" means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, including the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.

(k) "The current rates of charge" means the rates of charge to the public for the time being in force in accordance with the provisions of this agreement in respect of the transmission from place of origin to place of destination of ordinary telegrams (including radiotelegrams) passing over the company's system of telegrams and submarine cables: Provided. That in the case of radiotelegrams sent to or from a ship at sea the current rates of charge shall not be deemed to include the ship charge or coast-station charge in respect of the wireless transmission thereof between the coast station and the ship.

(1) The company's revenue means and includes the gross amount (without any deduction whether in respect of cost of news supplied to the colonies or otherwise) of all sums and the value of all considerations received or obrained by the company for or in respect of the transmission of telegrams or otherwise howsoever (except the subsidies hereinafter made payable to the company): Provided always, That if the company's system of submarine cables shall hereafter be extended to any country or place to which it does not now extend. then and in any such case the additional sums received by the company for and in respect of the transmission of telegrams over the new cables shall not be deemed to be included in the company's revenue for the purposes of this agreement.

2. The company shall during the continuance of this agreement effectually maintain and work their existing system of telegraphs and submarine cables and will use their best endeavors to insure uninterrupted and satisfactory telegraphic communication thereby between each of the colonies and all other places to which the said system now extends.

3. (1) If and whenever such communication as aforesaid with any of the colonies shall be interrupted or (having been interrupted) shall be restored, the company shall forwith give full particulars in writing to the crown agents of such interruption or restoration, as the case may be.

(2) The company shall also during the continuance of this agreement (unless and until prevented by the refusal of either of the Governments of British Guiana and Trinidad to grant or renew a license to the company for a wireless telegraph station in either of those colonies and by the nonexistence of any other means of communication by wireless telegraphy) effectually maintain and work communication by wireless telegraphy between British Guiana and Trinidad at all times when satisfactory communication between those colonies by the company's said system of telegraphs and cables shall be interrupted.

4. (1) The company hereby undertake that the current rates of charge for telegrams sent between the respective places mentioned in the third schedule hereto shall not exceed the respective rates specified in the said third schedule. (2) If and whenever in any year as from and after the fourth anniversary of the date on which the provisions of this agreement shall have come into operation the company's revenue shall exceed £126.600, the company shall as from the 1st day of July next following the expiration of that year make permanent reductions during the continuance of this agreement in the current rates of charge for the time being in force as follows (that is to say) as to the rates referred to in paragraph (a), (b), and (c) in the said third schedule a permanent reduction of one-fifth part of the company's proportion thereof and as to the rates referred to in paragraph (d) in the said third schedule a permanent reduction (subject to the minimum charge of 1 shilling for each telegram) of one-tenth part of the company's proportion thereof: Provided always, That in computing the amount of any reduction of a rate under this subclause any fraction of a penny less than 1 halfpenny shall be ignored.

(3) As from and after any and every such reduction of the current rates of charge as mentioned in the last preceding subclause hereof the reduced rates shall for the purpose of further reductions in subsequent years and for all other purposes be deemed to be written in the said third schedule and to appear therein in lieu of the current rates of charge previously in force.

5. (1) In respect of all Government telegrams and press telegrams the company shall reduce their proportion of the current rates of charge by one-half. (2) Government telegrams shall at all times be transmitted over the company's said system of telegraphs and cables in priority to all other telegrams. 6. (1) The company shall accept deferred telegrams to and from the colonies, respectively, from and to all places in the colonies, the United Kingdom, and the Dominion of Canada and all other places from or to which there shall be in existence or operation a system or service of deferred telegrams (except where the current rate of charge shall be 5d. per word or less).

(2) The company hereby undertake that in respect of all deferred telegrams the current rates of charge shall be reduced by one-half, provided that the reduced rates shall in no case be less than fivepence per word.

7. (1) The company shall at all times be and remain a British company registered in Great Britain or a British colony and having its principal place of business within His Majesty's dominions, and the chairman of the said company and a majority of the other directors shall at all times be British subjects, and the company shall not at any time be or become directly or indirectly controlled by foreigners or a foreign corporation.

(2) In the event of any alteration being proposed in the memorandum or articles of association or in the constitution of the company two calendar months' previous notice of the proposal to make such alteration shall be given in writing to the treasury, who, if in their opinion the said alteration shall be contrary to the cardinal principle of this clause that the company shall be and remain a British company under British control, may refuse their consent to such alteration. If and whenever any such alteration shall be made without the written consent of the treasury, or if the company shall in the opinion of the treasury at any time cease to be a British company or become a corporation under foreign control, or if the chairman and a majority of the directors shall not be British subjects, or if the company shall assign the subsidies hereby granted or either of them or any part thereof without the previous consent in writing of the treasury, the treasury may at any time thereafter, by notice in writing under the hand of a secretary of the treasury for the time being, cancel and determine the several subsidies hereby granted, and the same shall thereupon respectively cease to be payable without prejudice nevertheless to the company's obligations hereunder, all of which shall continue in full force.

8. (1) The company shall at all times accept from the Direct Co. all telegrams tendered to them by the Direct Co., and shall hand to the Direct Co. all telegrams requested by the senders to be sent by the Direct Co.'s system of telegraphs, and shall make such arrangements as shall secure the prompt interchange between the company and the Direct Co. of all such telegrams as aforesaid respectively.

(2) In the event of telegraphic communication from the colonies through the United States via Key West being interrupted the company shall hand to the Direct Co. all telegrams which the senders shall not have ordered to be sent by some specified route other than the interrupted or the Direct Co.'s route.

(3) The company shall cease to make a charge for an additional word or additional words in their rates of charge for telegrams received by them from the Direct Co., and shall not in any manner discriminate against any telegrams to be so received or against telegrams to be handed by them to the Direct Co. 9. In accounting with the Halifax Co. and the Direct Co. for telegrams transmitted in either direction over the joint systems of telegraphs of those com panies and also over the company's said system of telegraphs and cables the company shall pay or allow to those companies jointly sums amounting to at least 4d. per word in respect of each telegram charged for at ordinary rates and at least 2d. per word in respect of each Government or deferred or press telegram and shall pay in addition in respect of telegrams handed over by them to the said companies the charges for prepaid replies and (except in the case of telegrams transmitted to Newfoundland, Cape Breton, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, the Province of Ontario, Prince Edward Island, or the Province of Quebec, or any other places in North America to which the current rates of charge shall be the same as to the last-mentioned places) any charges payable