Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 33 Part 2.djvu/981

 2276 Parcels-post convention between the United States of America and the empire of Japan.

For the purpose of making better postal arrangements between the United States of America and the Empire of Japan, the undersigned, Henry C. Payne, Postmaster-General of the United States of America, and Takahira Kogoro, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the Emperor of Japan at Washington, duly empowered thereto, have agreed upon the following articles for the establishment of a Parcels-Post System of exchanges between the two countries.

. The provisions of this Convention relate only to parcels of mail matter to be exchanged by the system herein provided for, and do not affect the arrangements now existing under the Universal Postal Convention, which will continue as heretofore; and all the agreements hereinafter contained apply exclusively to mails exchanged under these articles, directly between the offices of San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Honolulu, and such other offices in the United States as may be hereafter designated by the Postmaster-General of the United States, and the offices of Yokohama, Kobe and Nagasaki and such other offices in the Empire of Japan as may be hereafter designated by His Imperial Majesty’s Minister of State for Communications; such matter to be admitted to the mails under these articles as shall be sent through such exchange offices from any place in either country to any place in the other. . There shall be admitted to the mails exchanged under this Convention, articles of merchandise and mail matter—except letters, postcards and written matter of all kinds—that are admitted under any conditions to the domestic mails of the country of origin, except that no parcel must exceed fifty dollars ($50) or its equivalent in value, 4 pounds 6 ounces (525 momme) in weight, nor the following dimensions: Greatest length in any direction, three feet six inches [3 shaku 5 sun]; greatest length and girth combined, six feet [6 shaku]; and must be so wrapped or inclosed as to permit the contents to be easily examined by customs officers and by postmasters duly authorized to do so; and except that the following articles are prohibited: Publications which violate the copyright laws of the country of destination; poisons, and explosive or inflammable substances; fatty substances; liquids and those which easily liquefy; confections and pastes; live or dead animals, except dead insects and reptiles when thoroughly dried; fruits and vegetables which easily decompose, and substances which exhale a bad odor; lottery tickets, lottery advertisements, or lottery circulars; all obscene or immoral articles; articles which may in any way damage or destroy the mails, or injure the persons handling them.