that, on completion of the survey and plans they will not be liable to fall into any errors.

9. The contract price of £3,400 will be paid in five instalments. The first instalment of £500 will be paid on the date of signature of this agreement. £500 will be paid on arrival of the engineers at Kueilin. £1,000 will be paid when more than half the survey is completed. £1,000 will be paid when, on completion of the survey, the estimate and plans are handed in. As soon as the estimates and plans have been passed by an engineer of standing, and it is established that they do not deviate in any way from the lines laid down in the memorandum forming the separate document, the remaining £400 will be paid.

10. The engineers sent by Messrs. Pauling & Company Limited must obey the regulations of the Board of Communications.

In the event of misconduct on the part of the engineers or infringement of the Board's regulations, Messrs. Pauling & Company Limited shall immediately dismiss the offending party and substitute another engineer at their own expense, the Provincial Authorities not being answerable in any way.

Messrs. Pauling & Company will be careful to select highly qualified engineers of good conduct for these appointments.

11. The engineeers engaged by Messrs. Pauling & Company Limited must reach Kueilin within three months from the date of signature of the agreement. If they fail to arrive within the time limit, this agreement will become null and void and the first instalment of £500 will be repayable to the Provincial Authorities.

12. This agreement will be signed in duplicate, one copy being kept by each party.

Taotai Wei Han, Director of the Canton-Kowloon Railway will sign on behalf of the Governor of Kwangsi and Oswald Christian Ormsby on behalf of the firm of Messrs. Pauling & Company Limited.

(Signed)

H. WEI, on behalf of the Governor of Kwangsi.

O. C. ORMSBY, on behalf of Pauling & Co., Ltd.

Signatures certified to by H. H. Fox, H. B. M. Consul General.

19-5-'09.

NUMBER 1909/4.

GREAT BRITAIN (Hongkong) AND CHINA.

Arrangement regulating the exchange of postal parcels.*-June 5 and 22, 1909. THE exchange of postal parcels between the Administration of Posts of Hongkong and the Administration of Customs and Posts of China, provided for *The terms of this arrangement would appear to have been modified by the fact of the Chinese Government's adherence, from September 1, 1914, to the parcels post convention concluded at Rome, May 26, 1906 (No. 1906/3, ante).

in Article VIII of the Postal Arrangement concluded on the 12th December 1904 between the two above-mentioned Administrations,† shall be regulated according to the conditions hereunder stated.

ARTICLE I.—WEIGHT OF PARCELS.-The maximum weight of a parcel, whether of declared value or not, shall not exceed five kilogrammes (eleven pounds).

However, there shall be an exception made for parcels destined for Offices of the Administration of Customs and Posts of China that are not connected by railway or by steamer, in which case the limit shall be three kilogrammes (six pounds); but this limit may at any time hereafter be raised by mutual agreement between the two Administrations.

ARTICLE II.-DIMENSIONS OF PARCELS.-The postal parcels to which this Convention is for the present to apply shall be those of which no dimension shall exceed sixty centimetres (two feet) in any one direction and of which the volume shall not exceed twenty-five cubic decimetres (one cubic foot).

Parcels, however, containing umbrellas, walking-sticks, charts, plans, and such-like articles shall be accepted if they do not exceed one metre (three feet three inches) long and twenty centimetres broad or thick.

The limits of weight, dimensions, and volume herein determined may be increased by mutual agreement.

ARTICLE III.-EXCHANGE OF PARCELS.-The exchange of postal parcels shall take place through the intermediary of the British Offices established in China and the Chinese Offices established in the same localities as these British Offices; and where there are no British Offices between the British and Chinese Post Offices at Shanghai for postal parcels to or from river and coast ports north of Shanghai; but for postal parcels to or from southern ports, direct between the Offices of China and Hongkong.

ARTICLE IV-TRANSMISSION Of Parcels.-1.-The Hongkong Administration shall be intermediary (by means of the services it may maintain) for the exchange of parcels between China on the one part and the United Kingdom, British possessions, and foreign countries on the other.

2. The Administration of Customs and Posts of China engages on its part to assure the transmission by its services of all parcels that shall be handed to it by the Hongkong Administration.

ARTICLE V.-TARIFFS AND POSTAGE.-Each Administration shall itself determine the taxes and duties to be collected on postal parcels forwarded by its own Offices.

The prepayment of postage on postal parcels shall be obligatory before departure. However, the fee for delivery shall be payable by the addressee.

Moreover, parcels destined for places in China not connected by railway or by steamer may be further charged for transmission beyond railway or steamer services, at the expense of the addressee, supplementary taxes the amount of which shall be determined by the Administration of Customs and Posts of China.

For the text of this arrangement, see note concerning the Rome conventions of May 26, 1906 (No. 1906/3, ante).

It is understood that the Hongkong Administration shall not tax parcels exchanged between its Offices in China at rates lower than those charged by the Chinese Administration of Posts.

ARTICLE VI.-TRANSIT CHARGES.-1.-The Administration of Customs and Posts of China shall pay to the Administration of Posts of Hongkong the following charges:

For each parcel destined for Hongkong or any of its Agencies in China,

an inland postage of fr. 0.25.

For parcels destined for the United Kingdom, British possessions, and foreign countries, the charges indicated in Table A drawn up by the Administration of Posts of Hongkong.

For each closed box containing parcels exchanged between two Chinese Post Offices through the intermediary of Hongkong, a transshipment charge of $1 Mex.

2. The Administration of Posts of Hongkong shall pay to the Administration of Customs and Posts of China the following charges:—

(a.) For each parcel handed to the Chinese Administration, fr. 0.25.
(b.) For each parcel necessitating maritime or territorial transit within.
the limits of steam communications, an additional charge of
fr. 0.50.

(c.) For parcels destined for places outside of China, the additional
charges indicated in Table A drawn up by the Administration
of Customs and Posts of China.

N.B.-Each parcel destined for a place beyond the limits of steam communication (i.e., not over three kilogrammes weight) will pay at destination the Chinese domestic tariff.

ARTICLE VII.-PARCELS OF DECLARED VALUE.-Besides the transit charges, the Administration of origin shall pay, in respect of insurance fees on parcels of declared value, to the other Administration, and, if need be, to each Administration participating in the transmission when such Administration is under guarantee of responsibility, a proportional part of the determined insurance fees, viz.: for 300 francs or fraction of 300 francs, fr. 0.05 for territorial transit, and fr. 0.10 for maritime transit.

ARTICLE VIII.—ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF RECEIPT.-The sender of a postal parcel may obtain an acknowledgement of receipt of his parcel by paying a fee that shall not exceed fr. 0.25.

The same fee may be charged when, subsequent to posting, inquiries are made about a parcel, provided the special fee for an acknowledgment of receipt has not been paid already.

This charge shall accrue entirely to the Administration of origin.

ARTICLE IX.-DELIVERY AND CUSTOMS FORMALITIES.-It shall be allowable for the country of destination to collect from the addressce a fee that shall not exceed fr. 0.25 per parcel for delivery and Customs formalities.

ARTICLE X.-ANNULMENT OF CUSTOMS DUTIES.-In the case of the retransmission or of the return of a parcel to the Office of origin, the Customs duties that have been paid on the parcel in the country of first destination shall be annulled.

ARTICLE XI.-RESPONSIBILITY.-1.-Except in cases of force majeure, if a postal parcel be lost, despoiled, or damaged, the sender or, in his default or by his request, the addressee shall be entitled to an indemnity corresponding to the actual amount of the loss, the spoliation, or the damage, unless this damage be caused by the fault or by the negligence of the sender, or be due to the nature of the parcel itself; but this indemnity shall not exceed 25 francs for ordinary parcels and the declared value for parcels of declared value.

Besides, the sender of a lost parcel shall be entitled to refund of the postage on the parcel and also to the postage expenses connected with making the inquiries when the cause of the claim is due to the fault of the Post Office. However, the insurance fee shall be retained by the Postal Administrations.

2. The obligation to pay the indemnity shall be incumbent upon the Administration of the Office of origin; it shall then rest with this Administration to prefer a claim against the responsible Administration, that is to say, against the Administration upon whose territory or in whose services the loss, spoliation, or damage shall have taken place.

3.—Until proved to the contrary, the responsibility shall remain with the Administration which, having received the parcel without making any remark, can establish neither its delivery at its destination nor, as may happen, its regular transmission to the next Administration.

4. The payment of the indemnity by the Office of origin shall be made as soon as possible, and not later than one year after the date of the claim. The responsible Office shall refund without delay to the Office of origin the amount of the indemnity paid by the latter.

The Office of origin shall be authorised to indemnify the sender on behalf of the intermediary Office or of the Office of destination which, having been regularly notified, shall have allowed one year to elapse without having settled the claim. Moreover, in the case of an Office, whose responsibility shall be duly established, which shall decline altogether to pay the indemnity, it shall undertake to pay, besides the indemnity, the necessary expenses resulting from undue delay in making the payment.

5. It is understood that a claim shall be admitted only if made within one year from the date of posting the parcel; after this limit the claimant shall not be entitled to any indemnity.

6. If the loss or damage happen during transmission between the Offices of exchange of the two Administrations, thus rendering it impossible to decide upon which of the two territories the act took place, the two Administrations concerned shall share the loss equally.

7. The Administrations shall cease to be responsible for postal parcels delivery of which shall have been taken by the persons entitled to receive them.

8. The Administration of Posts of Hongkong shall not be liable for loss or damage to contents of parcels exchanged in closed mails between two Chinese Post Offices through the intermediary of the Hongkong Administration.

ARTICLE XII.-OFFICES AUTHORISED TO EXCHANGE PARCELS.-The Postal Administrations of Hongkong and of China shall designate the Offices or the localities at which the exchange of postal parcels is to be allowed.

They shall supply each other with a list of the places open to this service.

ARTICLE XIII.-ARTICLES PROHIBITED.-Parcels shall not contain any letter or note, either sealed or open, that might establish a correspondence between the sender and the addressee. Exception may be made only in the case of invoices, price lists, and other open documents that relate exclusively to the contents of the parcel.

The sender shall also be forbidden to enclose in a parcel any explosive or inflammable material and generally all articles the transmission of which presents any danger whatsoever, or the importation of which shall be contrary to the laws or to Customs regulations or otherwise not authorised.

Parcels containing money, articles made of gold or of silver, and other precious articles must have their value declared.

In case of infraction of these above rules the parcel shall simply be returned to the place of origin.

The two Administrations shall communicate to each other a list of things and products forbidden importation into their territories.

ARTICLE XIV.-SUSPENSION OF THE SERVICE.—In extraordinary circumstances, of a nature to justify the measure, each Administration may temporarily suspend the parcel post service, either entirely or partially, on condition that immediate notice be given, if need be by telegraph, to the other Administration concerned.

ARTICLE XV.-FULFILMENT OF THE CONVENTION.-The Postal Administrations of Hongkong and of China shall settle all matters of detail and of disposition, in order to ensure the fulfilment of the present Convention.

They shall supply to each other a list of the countries with which they may respectively serve as intermediaries.

ARTICLE XVI.-GENERAL PROVISION.-The internal legislation of each of the contracting countries, as well as the dispositions of the International Convention of Washington and of the "Règlement de détail" thereto annexed, shall remain applicable to all points not herein provided for or not contrary to the present Convention.

ARTICLE XVII.-DURATION OF THE PRESENT CONVENTION.-The present Arrangement shall be put into operation from a day mutually to be agreed upon by both Administrations, and it shall remain in force for an indefinite period. However, the contracting parties reserve to themselves the right to make at any time such modifications therein as they may by mutual agreement judge necessary, or to terminate the Arrangement by giving at least six months notice in advance.