649693-1892-Circular-Despatch-Postal-Convention-with-France — Page 3

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THE HONGKONG GOVERNMENT GAZETTE, 9TH APRIL, 1892.

SCHEDULE referred to in foregoing Order in Council.

CONVENTION between HER MAJESTY and the PRESIDENT of the FRENCH REPUBLIC respecting POSTAL COMMUNICATIONS.

Signed at London, August 30, 1890.

[Ratifications exchanged at London, March 23, 1891.]

HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the President of the French Republic, alike animated with the desire to fix the special treatment to be accorded to British packets in the ports of France and of the French Colonies and Possessions and to French packets in the ports of the United Kingdom and of the British Colonies an Possessions, and availing themselves of the right reserved to the Contracting Parties by the Convention of the Universal Postal Union, have resolved to conclude a Convention to that end, and have named for their Plenipotentiaries: Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Right Honour- able Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne Cecil, Marquis of Salisbury, Earl of Salisbury, Viscount Cran- borne, Baron Cecil, Peer of the United Kingdom, Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Member of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, &c.;

And the President of the French Republic, M. William Henri Waddington, Senator, Member of the Institute, &c., Ambassador of the French Republic to Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India :

Who have agreed upon the following Articles :----

ARTICLE I.

Between the Postal Administration of France and the Postal Administration of Great Britain there shall be a regular exchange of correspondence of all kinds, which shall be effected by means of two steam-packet services which shall continue to be maintained or subsidized, the one by the French Government and the other by the British Government, on the line between Calais and Dover.

The French Postal Administration and the British Postal Administration shall regulate, by common consent and in accordance with the mutual interests of both countries, the days and hours of departure and arrival of the subsidized packets.

ARTICLE II.

Independently of the correspondence which shall be exchanged between the Postal Administra- tions of the two countries by the means indicated in the preceding Article, those Administrations may reciprocally forward from one to the other correspondence of all kinds by the several means herein- after mentioned, namely: (1) by such packets as the French Government and the British Government may, respectively think it right to maintain, to freight, or to subsidize, for the conveyance of corres- pondence; (2) by merchant-ships plying between French ports and British ports.

ARTICLE III.

The commanders of British and French merchant-ships sailing from the ports of France or Algeria for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, on the one part, and the commanders of British and French merchant-ships sailing from the ports of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for France or Algeria, on the other part, shall be bound to take charge of the mails which the post-offices at the ports of departure may have to deliver to them.

ARTICLE IV.

The charges for the sea conveyance of correspondence exchanged between the French Postal Administration and the British Postal Administration by means of non-contract merchant-ships shall be paid to the commanders or owners of those vessels by the Postal Administration of the country of origin, namely:-

1. At the rate of 5 fr. per kilog. of letters and post-cards;

2. At the rate of 50 centimes per kilog. of other articles.

ARTICLE V.

When the packets employed by the French Postal Administration and by the British Postal Administration are national vessels owned by the State, or vessels belonging to Companies subsidized for the execution of postal service, such packets cannot be diverted from their destination nor be liable to seizure, embargo, or "Arrêt de Prince.'

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Passengers on such packets, who may not desire to go on shore during the vessel's stay in a port of either State, cannot be on any account taken from on board.