Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 16.djvu/1065

 POSTAL CONVENTION WITH SWITZERLAND. OCT. 11, 1867. 1031 Convention for the Amelioratzhn of the Postal bztercourse between the (batted States of America and the Swiss Confederation. Tm: post department of the United States, by its special commissioner, October 11, 1867. John A. Kass0n, esq., and the federal council of the Swiss Confederation, contracting by Dr. Jaques Dubs, vice-president of the federal council and chief of P¤”l°°· the- federal post department, have agreed upon the following articles, subject to ratification by the respective authorities of the two countries : ARTICLE I. There shall be an exchange of correspondence between Correspondthe United States of America and the Swiss Confederation by means of °"°° l°dY° °" their respective post departments, and this correspondence shall em- °h€,n€;,i§m,, brace: what. 1. Letters, ordinary and registered. 2. Newspapers, book-packets, prints of all kinds (comprising maps, plans, engravings, drawings, photographs, lithographs, and all other like productions of mechanical processes), sheets of music, &c., and patterns or samples of merchandise, including grains and seeds. Such correspondence may be exchanged, whether originating in either of said countries and destined for the other, or originating in or destined Spr foreign countries, to which these may respectively serve as intermearies. Anrrom: II. The offices for exchange of mails shall be, on the part of Omces for exthe United States: New York. °h¤¤S° °f ¤¤°·il¤~ On the part of the Swiss Confederation: (et.) Basle. (6.) Geneva (when the Swiss Confederation shall find it expedient). The two offices, by agreement, may at any time establish additional adices of exchange. Anrxcnn III. The principle is agreed, that each office shall make its Arrangements own arrangements for the despatch of its mails to the other office by Q;,?:"§;°f’h °‘ regular lines of communication, and shall at its own cost pay the expense ’ of such intermediate transportation. It is also agreed that the cost of in- Cost of transternational ocean and territorial transit of the closed mails between the P°"°‘°‘°“‘ frontiers of the two countries shall be first defrayed by that one of the two departments which shall have obtained from the intermediaries the most favorable pecuniary terms for such conveyance, and which shall effect such transport in that case in both directions; and any amount so advanced by one for account of the other shall be promptly reimbursed. ARTICLE IV. The standard weight for the single rate of international _ Weight for _ postage, and rule of progression, shall be: ;';§;Qi;‘;”:,°;0;'; 1. For letters, fifteen grammes. ag.), 2. For all other correspondence, mentioned in the second paragraph of the first article, that which the despatching office shall adopt for the mails which it despatches to the other, adapted to the convenience and habits of the interior administration. But each office shall give notice to the other of the standard weight it adopts, and of any subsequent change thereof The rule of progression shall always be an additional single rate for each additional standard weight, or fraction thereotl The weight stated by the despatching office shall always be accepted except in case of manifest mistake. Anrxcu: V. The single rate of postage on the direct correspondence Rm, Oypost. exchanged between the two administrations, subject to the reserve men- ¤K°· tioned in Article VII., shall be as follows: 1. On letters from the United States, 15 cents.