Since the first edition of this work, a general postal treaty has been entered into between the United States, Germany, Austro-Hungary, Belgium, Denmark, Egypt, Spain, France, Great Britain, Greece, Italy, Luxemburg, Sweden and Norway, Holland, Portugal, Russia, Roumania, Servia, Switzerland and Turkey.

The first article of the treaty is as follows:

"The countries between which the present treaty is concluded, shall form, under the title of General Postal Union,' a single postal territory for the reciprocal exchange of correspondence between their post offices."

In place, therefore, of repeating here the articles of the first edition, with references to the various treaties then existing, the following articles of this chapter, excepting the last seven, are introduced, and are intended to be conformable in substance to the permanent provisions of the new treaty.

Exchange of correspondence.

446. There shall be an exchange of correspondence between the nations, by their respective post departments; which may include correspondence originating in or destined for any country whatever to which any of the nations serve as intermediaries.

The post department of each nation shall notify to that of every other nation the countries to which it serves as intermediary.

Classes of correspondence.

447. Subject to the provisions of this Chapter, such correspondence may include any matter of the following classes:

1. Letters, ordinary and registered:

or

2. Postal cards; newspapers; books, bound stitched; prints of all kinds, comprising maps, plans, engravings, drawings, photographs, lithographs, and all other like productions of mechanical processes; legal or commercial documents; pamphlets; visiting cards; notices and papers of every kind, whether printed, engraved, lithographed or autographed; sheets of music; patterns or samples of merchandise, including grains and seeds, not having a commercial value.

Rates of postage on letters.

448. The rate of postage on letters is twenty-five centimes for a single prepaid letter. A letter which does not

exceed fifteen grammes in weight is considered a single letter. The charge upon letters exceeding that weight is a single rate for every fifteen grammes or fraction of fifteen grammes.

The charge on unpaid letters is double that levied in the country of destination on prepaid letters. Postal cards must be prepaid. The postage upon them is one-half of that on paid letters, with power to raise the fractions to units.

For all conveyance by sea of more than three hundred nautical miles, there may be added to the ordinary postage an additional charge, not to exceed the half of the general rate for a paid letter.

Rates on other postal packets.

449. The charge for the transmission of any other postal packet, that is, of any of the matters enumerated in Article 447, other than letters, is seven centimes for each single packet.

A packet which does not exceed fifty grammes in weight, is considered a single one. The charge upon packets exceeding that weight is a single rate for every fifty grammes or fraction of fifty grammes.

For all conveyance by sea of more than three hundred nautical miles, there may be added to the ordinary postage an additional charge, not exceeding the half of the general rate fixed for packets of this class.

The maximum weight of the packets is two hundred and fifty grammes for patterns of merchandise, and one thousand grammes for the others.

The Government of any country may refuse to convey over its territory or to deliver packets specified in this Article, with regard to which the laws and regulations which determine the conditions of their publication and circulation have not been observed.

Registered correspondence.

450. The letters and packets specified in Article 447 may be registered. Every registered packet must be prepaid. The postage payable on registered letters and

packets, is the same as that on those not registered. The charge to be made for registration and for return receipts must not exceed that made in the interior service of the country of origin.

In case of the loss of a registered letter or packet, except from overruling necessity, there shall be paid an indemnity of fifty francs to the sender, or, at his request, to the person addressed, by the office of the country in the territory or in the maritime service of which the loss has occurred, -that is to say, where the trace of the article has been lost,-unless, according to the legislation of such country, the office is not responsible for the loss of registered matter sent through its interior post. The payment of this indemnity shall be made with the least possible delay, and, at the latest, within a year from the time of application. And all claim for indemnity is excluded if it be not made within a year from the time when the registered letter or packet was posted.

Prepayment required.

451. Prepayment of postage can be made only by means of postage-stamps, or stamped envelopes valid in the country of origin. Newspapers and other printed papers unpaid or insufficiently paid shall not be forwarded.

Other matter when unpaid or insufficiently paid shall be charged as unpaid letters, after deducting the value of the stamped envelopes or postage-stamps (if any) employed.

Interior postage.

452. No additional postage shall be charged for the re-transmission of letters or packets within the interior of a country. But in case a letter or packet which has only passed through one of the countries should, by being re-directed, have to pass through another, the post office of the country of destination may add its interior rate.

Certain official correspondence free.

453. Official correspondence relative to the postal service is exempt from postage. With this exception, no franking or reduction of postage is allowed.

Accounts.

454. Each office shall keep the whole of the sums which it collects by virtue of the foregoing Articles 448, 449, 450, 451, and 452. Therefore no accounts in respect to those need be kept between the several offices of the service.

Neither the senders nor the receivers of letters and other packets shall be called upon to pay, either in the country of origin or in that of destination, any tax or duty other than those prescribed in this chapter.

Right of transit.

455. The right of postal transit is guaranteed throughout the entire territory of the parties hereto. There shall be full liberty of exchange, the several post offices of the service having the right to send reciprocally, in transit through intermediate countries, closed mails, as well as correspondence in open mails, according to the wants of the traffic and the exigences of the service.

Closed mails and correspondence sent in open mails must always be forwarded by the most rapid routes at the command of the post offices concerned.

When several routes offer the same advantages of speed, the despatching office may choose the route to be adopted.

Closed mails must be made up whenever the number of letters and packets would otherwise, in the judgment of those in charge of the transit office, hinder its operations.

The despatching office shall pay to the office providing the transit the sum of two francs per kilogramme for letters, and twenty-five centimes per kilogramme for the several packets specified in Article 449, net weight, whether the transit takes place in

closed mails or in open mails. This payment may be increased to four francs for letters, and to fifty centimes for the packets specified in Article 449, when a transit is provided of more than seven hundred and fifty kilometres in length over the district of one office. It is understood, however, that in any case in which the transit is already actually gratuitous or subject to lower rates, those conditions shall be maintained.

Whenever a transit shall take place by sea over a distance exceeding three hundred nautical miles, the office, by or at the expense of which this sea-service is performed, shall have the right to payment of the expenses attending the transport. The expense shall be reduced as much as possible. The payment which the office providing the sea conveyance may claim on this account from the despatching office shall not exceed six francs fifty centimes per kilogramme for letters, and fifty centimes per kilogramme for the packets specified in Article 449, (net weight.) In no case shall these expenses be higher than those now paid, and no payment shall be made upon the sea routes on which nothing is paid at the present time.

In order to ascertain the weight of the correspondence forwarded in transit, whether in closed mails or in open mails, there shall be taken, at periods which shall be determined upon by common consent, an account of such correspondence during two weeks. Until revised, the result of that account shall serve as the basis of the accounts of the post offices between themselves.

Each office may demand a revision:

1. In case of any important modification in the direction of the correspondence;

2. At the expiration of a year after the date of the last account.

The provisions of the present article are not applicable to the Indian mail, nor to the mails conveyed across the territory of the United States of America by the