railways between New York and San Francisco. Those services shall continue to form the object of special arrangements between the post offices concerned, subject to articles 465 and 466.

Relations with other countries.

456. The relations of the nations parties hereto with other nations on the subject of this Chapter shall be regulated by the separate conventions which now exist or which may be concluded between them.

The rates of postage chargeable for the conveyance beyond the jurisdiction of the nations parties hereto shall be determined by those conventions, and they shall be added in such case to the rates prescribed in this chapter.

In conformity with the stipulations of Article 454, the rate shall be apportioned in the following manner: 1. The despatching office shall keep the whole of the rate for the prepaid correspondence addressed to foreign countries;

2. The receiving office shall keep the whole of the rate for the unpaid correspondence originating in foreign countries;

3. The office which exchanges closed mails with foreign countries shall keep the whole of the rate for the paid correspondence originating in foreign countries, and for the unpaid correspondence addressed to foreign countries.

In the cases mentioned in subdivisions 1, 2, and 3, of this article, the office which exchanges the mails is not entitled to any payment for transit. In all the other cases the transit rates shall be paid according to the stipulations of Article 455.

Domestic regulations.

457. The post offices of the various countries may establish for themselves regulations, in respect to the order and detail necessary to the execution of this chapter. But it is understood that these regulations

may always be modified by the common consent of the offices of the general service.

The several offices may make amongst themselves arrangements on subjects which do not concern the service generally; such as the regulations of exchange at the frontier, and the determination of limited circles in adjacent countries within which a lower rate of postage may be taken.

Internal regulations.

458. The provisions of this chapter shall not involve any alteration in the interior postal legislation of any nation, or any restriction on its right to maintain and to conclude treaties, as well as to maintain and establish more restricted postal unions, with a view to a progressive improvement of postal relations.

Central office.

459. There shall be organized, under the name of the international office of the general postal service, a central office, which shall be conducted under the supervision of a postal administration to be chosen by the conference of delegates hereinafter mentioned, and the expenses thereof shall be borne by all the offices of the general service. The general office shall be charged with the duty of collecting, publishing, and distributing information of every kind which concerns the international postal service; of giving, at the request of the parties concerned, opinions upon questions in dispute; of making known proposals for modifying the detailed regulations; of notifying alterations adopted; of facilitating operations relating to international accounts, especially in the cases referred to in Article 455, and in general of considering all questions in the interterest of the postal service.

Arbitration in case of disagreement.

460. In case of disagreement between two or more parties, as to the interpretation of this chapter, the question in dispute shall be decided by arbitration.

To that end, each of the parties concerned shall choose another party, not interested in the disagreement. The decision of the arbitrators shall be given by an absolute majority of votes. In case of an equality of votes the arbitrators shall choose some other party as umpire.

Conference every three years.

461. Every three years at least, a conference of delegates from the nations parties hereto shall be held, with a view of perfecting the postal service, and discussing matters of common concern. In this conference each nation shall have one vote, and each may be represented either by one or several delegates, or by the delegation of another nation, but no delegate can represent more than two nations at a time.

Free entry and departure of mail ships.

462. Subject to the sanitary, police, and customs regulations of the port, mail ships may enter and leave the ports which they serve, at any hour of the day or night, and may leave and take mails in the roads or at the entrance of the harbors, without anchoring, or otherwise.

Private mails forbidden.

463. Sending or carrying mail matter for hire from one nation to another, except for the post department of a nation, is a public offense, unless payment of postage to that department be first made; and the government of any nation may require mail matter carried either gratuitously or for hire to be surrendered to its post department.

Dangerous substances.

464. No person shall post anything containing explosive or other dangerous substances.

Transit of closed mails through each nation. 465. The post departmeut of each nation shall grant to the post department of every other nation the transit through its territory, and conveyance by its usual

means of mail transportation, whether by land or sea, and at the usual cost of transportation, of the closed mails exchanged in either direction between the latter and any country to which the former may serve as intermediary. But the transfer of a closed mail from one ship to another, without expense to the post department of the place, is not to be deemed a territorial transit, nor subject to postal charges by such department.

Mail matter not to be detained

466. Subject to the next article, all correspondence posted in one country for another, or received in one country from another, is free from all detention or inspection, and shall be forwarded by the most speedy means to its destination, or promptly delivered to its address, as the case may be; being subject, in its transmission, to the laws and regulations of each country respectively.

Letters with contraband goods.

467. Any correspondence suspected to contain contraband goods, may be opened and examined in presence of the party to whom it is addressed; and if, on such examination, contraband goods are discovered, the letter and its contents may be detained.

Violations of the mails.

468. The unlawful hinderance of the international postal service, or interference with, or appropriation of any correspondence entrusted thereto, or violation of the secrecy of such correspondence, is a public offense.

The following regulations accompanied the treaty:

DETAILED REGULATIONS for the execution of the Treaty concerning the formation of a General Postal Union, concluded at Berne, the 9th October, 1874.

I. Rates of Postage within the Union.-The Post Offices composing the Union shall communicate reciprocally the rates of postage which they shall have adopted in conformity with Articles 3, 4, and 5 of the Treaty, for paid and unpaid letters, and for the other paid articles originating in

and addressed to the Union, as well as the transit rates applicable to the land and sea services within the Union, by virtue of paragraphs 6, 7, 9, and 10 of Article 10 of the Treaty. Every modification adopted hereafter in the amount of those rates shall be notified without delay.

II. Exchange in Closed Mails.-The exchange of correspondence in closed mails between the Post Offices of the Union shall be regulated by common consent and according to the necessities of the service between the Post Offices concerned. If an exchange of mails should take place through the medium of one or of several other countries, due notice shal be given to the Post Offices of those countries.

III. Application of the Stamps.-1. The correspondence to be recip rocally exchanged shall be impressed, on the upper part of the address with a stamp indicating the place of origin and the date of posting.

2. Unpaid or insufficiently paid correspondence shall, in addition, be impressed with the stamp “T” (tax to be paid), the application of which shall devolve upon the office of the country of origin.

3. Registered articles shall bear the impression of the special stamp used for articles of a like nature in the country where they originate.

4. The several Post Offices shall forward to each other, through the medium of the International Office, an impression of the stamp last men tioned.

5. Every postal packet which does not bear the stamp "T" shall be considered as paid to destination and treated accordingly, unless there be an obvious error.

IV. Indication of the Number of Rates.-1. When a letter or other postal packet shall be liable, by reason of its weight, to more than a single rate of postage, the dispatching office shall indicate in the upper left-hand corner of the address, in ordinary figures, the number of rates paid, or to be paid.

2. This regulation shall not be obligatory in the case of correspond. ence fully prepaid addressed to a country of the Union.

V. Insufficient Prepayment.—1. When an article shall be insufficiently prepaid by means of postage stamps, the dispatching office shall indicate in figures, in black ink, placed by the side of the postage stamps, their total value. That value shall be expressed in francs and centimes.

2. In case postage stamps may be used which are not of any value in the country of origin, no account shall be taken of them. This fact shall be indicated by the figure "0" placed by the side of the postage stamps.

3. The office of the country of destination shall charge the insufficiently paid articles with the amount of the deficient postage, calculated at the rate of an unpaid letter of the same weight. In case of need, fractions may be raised to the monetary unit of charge in force in the country of destination.