Convention between the Post-Office Department of the United States of America and the Post and Telegraph Department of the Colony of Queensland, Australia, concerning the exchange of money-orders.

The Post-Office Department of the United States of America and the Post and Telegraph Department of the Colony of Queensland, Australia, being desirous of establishing a system of exchange of Money-Orders between the two countries, the undersigned, duly authorized for that purpose, have agreed upon the following Articles:

ARTICLE 1.

There shall be a regular exchange of money-orders between the two countries. The maximum of each order is fixed at £10 sterling, when issued in Queensland, and when issued in the United States, at the equivalent in sterling money, of $50 in the money of the latter country, converted at the rate fixed by Article 13 of the present Convention.

No money-order shall include the fractional part of a penny or of a cent.

The amount of each order whether issued in the United States or in Queensland must be expressed in letters in British money and the equivalent in the money of the United States must also be shown in figures.

ARTICLE 2.

The Queensland Post-Office shall have power to fix the rates of commission on all money orders issued in Queensland and the PostOffice Department of the United States shall have the same power in regard to all money-orders issued in the United States.

Each office shall communicate to the other its tariff of charges, or rates of commission which shall be established under this convention, and these rates shall, in all cases, be payable in advance by the remitters, and shall not be repayable.

It is understood, moreover, that each office is authorized to suspend, temporarily, the exchange of money-orders, in case the course of exchange, or any other circumstance, should give rise to abuses, or cause detriment to the postal revenue.

ARTICLE 3.

Payment of commission.

Service.

Orders.

Each country shall keep the commission charged on all money-orders within its jurisdiction, but shall pay to the other country three-fourths of one per cent on the amount of such orders.

ARTICLE 4.

The service of the postal money-order system between the two countries shall be performed, exclusively, by the agency of offices of exchange. On the part of the United States, the office of exchange shall be San Francisco, California, and on the part of Queensland, Brisbane. Orders shall be drawn only on the authorized money-order offices of the respective countries; and each Postal Administration shall furnish to the other, a list of such offices, and shall, from time to time, notify any addition to or change in such list. Every order and advice

must contain the name of the office and of the country of destination, and if relating to an order payable in the United States, the name of the State in which such office is situated.

ARTICLE 5.

No money-order shall be issued unless the applicant furnish the name and address of the person to whom the amount is to be paid, and his own name and address; or the name of the firm or company who are the remitters or payees, together with the address of each.

The money-orders issued in either country, shall be forwarded by the remitters to the payees at their own expense.

ARTICLE 6.

Form "A."

The advices of all money-orders issued upon Queensland by the post Advices. Offices in the United States shall be sent to the office of exchange at San Francisco, where they shall be impressed with a dated stamp (Form 'A') showing the amount to be paid in sterling money, and transmitted by the next direct mail, to the exchange office at Brisbane, accompanied by a list, in duplicate, drawn upon the model of Form 'B.' The advices on their arrival in Brisbane shall be compared with the entries in the list, and afterwards despatched to the paying offices.

In like manner, the advices of money-orders drawn on the United States by postmasters in Queensland shall be sent to the exchange office at Brisbane, shall there be impressed with a dated stamp Form 'A' showing the amount to be paid in United States money, and be despatched, accompanied by a list, in duplicate, (Form 'C') to the office of exchange at San Francisco by the next direct mail.

The advices on their receipt at San Francisco shall be compared with the entries in the list, and afterwards despatched to the paying offices. The advices of orders issued in the United States in the month of June which may arrive at the office of exchange at San Francisco, in the earlier days of the following month, shall be entered on lists supplementary to that of the last day of the month of June, and in like manner, the advices of orders issued in Queensland in the month of June which may arrive at the exchange office at Brisbane, in the earlier days of the following month, shall be entered on lists supplementary to that of the last day of the month of June.

Each exchange office shall certify its orders to the other in amounts designated in the denominations of the money both of the despatching and receiving country at the rate of conversion established by Article 13 of this Convention. The amounts, so converted, shall be checked at the receiving office of exchange.

Each Administration hereby undertakes and agrees to suspend the issue of money orders a sufficient length of time before the sailing of each steamer which carries the exchange lists and advices, at those post-offices in its own territory where such suspension may be necessary, in order to prevent the issue of orders which could be despatched by the outgoing mail while the corresponding advices could not be certified by the exchange office in time to be conveyed by that mail.

Form "B."

Temporary suspension of issue for closing accounts.

The exchange lists and the accompanying advices shall invariably Lists and adbe sent by such steamers as carry the mails directly from San Fran- vices, how forcisco to Brisbane or from Brisbane to San Francisco, as the case may be, and not viâ London in any event.

warded.

ARTICLE 7.

The lists despatched from each office of exchange, shall be numbered Lists to be numconsecutively, commencing with No. 1, at the beginning of the month bered consecuof July in each year; and the entries in these lists shall also have consecutive numbers.

tively.

Of each list despatched, a duplicate shall be sent, which duplicate, after being verified by the receiving office of exchange shall be returned to the despatching office of exchange.

Each office of exchange shall promptly communicate to the other, the correction of any simple error which it may discover in the verifi cation of the lists.

When the lists shall shew irregularities which the receiving exchange office shall not be able to rectify, that office shall apply for an explanation to the despatching exchange office, and such explanation shall be afforded without delay.

Should any list fail to be received in due course, the despatching exchange office on receiving information to that effect shall transmit without delay, a duplicate of the list, duly certified as such.

ARTICLE 8.

Duplicate orders shall only be issued by the Postal Administration of the country on which the original orders were drawn and in conformity with the regulations established, or to be established in that country.

ARTICLE 9.

The orders issued by each country on the other, shall be subject, as Payment of or regards payment, to the regulations which govern the payment of inland orders of the country on which they were drawn. The paid orders shall remain in the possession of the country of payment.

ders.

Repayment to remitters.

Void orders.

ARTICLE 10.

Repayment of orders to remitters shall not be made until an authoriza tion for such repayment shall first have been obtained by the country of issue from the country where such orders are pay able, and the amounts of the repaid orders shall be duly credited to the former country in the quarterly account (Article 12). It is the province of each Postal Adminis tion to determine the manner in which repayment to the remitters is to be made.

ARTICLE 11.

Orders which shall not have been paid within twelve calendar months from the month of issue shall become void and the sums received shall accrue to and be at the disposal of the country of origin. The Queensland office shall, therefore, enter to the credit of the United States in the quar terly account, all money-orders entered in the lists received from the United States, which remain unpaid at the end of the period specified. (Article 12.) On the other hand, the Post-Office Department of the United Monthly state- States shall, at the close of each month, transmit to the Queensland office ment of void or- for entry in the quarterly account, a detailed statement of all orders inders. cluded in the lists despatched from the latter office which, under this article become void.

Quarterly counts.

ARTICLE 12.

At the close of each quarter an account shall be prepared at the General Post-Office of Queensland, showing in detail the totals of the lists ac- containing the particulars of orders issued in either country during the quarter, and the balance resulting from such transactions.

Three copies of this account shall be transmitted to the Post-Office Department of the United States at Washington, and the balance, after proper verification, shall, if due by the Post and Telegraph Department of Queensland, be paid to the General Post-Office at London to the credit of the Post Office Department of the United States on account