letters between the United Kingdom and such colonies and foreign countries respectively, in addition to the rate of 6d. sterling per halfounce, &c., the postage which is to be charged between the United Kingdom and Hanover. The colonial or foreign rate, however, is to be calculated from or to the port of arrival or departure of the packet. When such transit letters are not conveyed direct between the United Kingdom and Hanover, but are forwarded by the routes of Holland, Belgium, France, or any other foreign country, they must be treated as letters sent in transit between those countries and the United Kingdom. XIII. The transit rate of postage to be charged by Hanover upon letters to or from the United Kingdom, or on letters passing through the United Kingdom to and from its colonies and possessions, to and from those foreign countries with which the British Government shall make arrangements for a mutual reduction of postage, shall be the uniform rate of 2d. sterling per single letter of half an ounce, and so on when such letters shall pass through Hanover and can be transmitted direct by the Hanoverian Post Office to such foreign countries, or from these to the Hanoverian Post Office. But for letters sent to or from the Kingdom of Saxony, and those countries beyond to and from which letters can be forwarded by Saxony, the transit rate to be charged by Hanover shall be 3d. sterling, including the transit postage which the Hanoverian Post Office pays to the Prussian Post Office for the transit of the closed mails passing between Hanover and Saxony through the Prussian territory. XIV. These rates of 6d. and 2d. or 3d. respectively must be combined into one uniform rate of 8d. or 9d., of which 6d. sterling will belong to Great Britain and 2d. or 3d. to Hanover. The 2 Post Offices of Great Britain and Hanover shall mutually account to each other for that portion of the postage which is due to each on the correspondence forwarded to them. XV. The Post Office of Hanover shall grant a passage through its territory to the British messengers with the closed bags containing the correspondence between England and Hamburgh, whenever the direct navigation to and from the Elbe shall be interrupted in consequence of the severity of the season. The British Post Office shall not pay anything to Hanover for such passage, but shall make the necessary disbursements for the conveyance at the time, and bear any extraordinary expenses which the passage of the Hamburgh mails through the Hanoverian territories may have occasioned. The present Article does not refer to those cases when the British steam-boats reach Cuxhaven, but cannot continue their voyage to Hamburgh, in which cases the mails must be forwarded to Hamburgh by land as hitherto, at the expense of the IIanoverian and Hamburgh Post Offices. XVI. The Post Office of Hanover engages to allow the transmission through its territory of the closed mails containing the correspondence between the British Office and the colonies or the possessions of the United Kingdom in the East Indies, and also the Ionian Islands and the British Offices established in the Levant, should the British Office deem it expedient to forward or receive those mails through the territory of Hanover. The British Office engages to pay to the Hanoverian Office, in lieu of transit postage, the sum of 101. sterling for every mail passing through Hanover in the said direction. The Hanoverian Post Office, in return, engages to convey the mails and the officer in charge of them at its own expense by means of the ordinary trains on the railways, or in the mail carriages or diligences employed by the Hanoverian Office, it being, however, understood that if the British Office should deem it expedient to make use of special trains or carriages, the expense of conveyance shall be defrayed by the British Office. XVII. The Post Office of Hanover further engages to grant to the Post Office of the United Kingdom the transit through its territory in closed mails of the correspondence between the United Kingdom, the British colonies and possessions, and those foreign countries which shall make Conventions with the British Office for the mutual reduction of postage at the rate of 6d. sterling for every ounce net weight for letters, and at the rate of 1d. sterling for every newspaper or printed paper. When the said closed mails are transmitted to or from the Post Office of Saxony or the office of any country beyond to and from which letters can be forwarded by Saxony, the transit postage to be charged by Hanover shall be 8d. per ounce net weight, in consideration of the transit postage which the Hanoverian Office has to pay to the Prussian Office, as stated in Article XIII. 4.-Newspapers. XVIII. The rate to be taken by the British Post Office on newspapers published in the United Kingdom, and duly stamped, when conveyed between the United Kingdom and Hanover direct by packetboat or private ship, shall be 1d. sterling for each newspaper, and no higher rate of postage than two-thirds of a good groschen shall be levied by the Post Office of Hanover in that country on such newspapers. Conversely no higher charges than those above stated shall be made by the Post Office of Hanover, or by the Post Office of the United Kingdom, on newspapers duly published in Hanover and printed in the German language, either when dispatched from that kingdom or when delivered in the United Kingdom. No accounts shall be required between the 2 offices for the mutual transmission of newspapers, each office retaining on its own account the postage it shall have charged according to the preceding stipulations. XIX. It is always understood that newspapers when forwarded from the United Kingdom to Hanover, or from Hanover to the United Kingdom, shall be subject to the following conditions, viz. : 1st. That they are sent in bands or covers open at the sides, so that they may be easily examined. 2nd. That the preceding stipulation does not in any way invalidate the right of either of the said offices to refuse to convey or deliver such of those newspapers with respect to which the laws and ordinances concerning their publication and circulation have not been daly complied with. 5. Various Regulations. XX. Accounts showing the results of the mutual transmission of the correspondence shall be made out at the end of every quarter, and having been examined, compared, and settled by the 2 offices, shall be paid without delay in British currency by that office which shall be found to be indebted to the other. XXI. Dead letters and newspapers which cannot be delivered, from whatever cause, shall be mutually returned monthly for the same amount of postage, which was originally charged by the sending office. With respect to letters misdirected or missent, they shall be reciprocally returned without delay on the footing stated above. Lastly, letters addressed to persons who have changed their residence, whatever be the origin of such letters, shall, in like manner, be returned, charged with the same rate that should have been paid by the parties to whom they are addressed. XXII. The present Convention is concluded for an indefinite period to commence from the 1st of October, 1845. It cannot be annulled by either of the 2 offices, except after notice given to the other office at least 6 months previously. XXIII. The present Convention shall be ratified, and the Ratifications exchanged at London within 6 weeks, or sooner, if possible. In witness whereof the respective parties have signed the present Convention. Done in duplicate at the General Post Office, London, the 8th day of July, 1845. (L.S.) FRIESLAND. (L.S.) W. L. MABERLY. |