PARCEL POST AGREEMENT between Great Britain and Panamá.-Signed at Panamá, April 13, 1908.*

THE Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Government of the Republic of Panamá agree to effect a regular direct exchange of parcels between the United Kingdom and Panamá, on the basis of the Parcel Post Convention of Washington, of the 15th June, 1897.†

The following Regulations shall be generally applicable, not only to parcels exchanged direct between the United Kingdom and the Republic of Panamá, but also to parcels sent in transit to or from one of the two countries through the other. They shall not, however, apply to closed parcel mails for or from the United Kingdom in respect of which the British Post Office makes direct arrangements with the Panamá Railroad Company for conveyance across the isthmus, without the intervention of the Post Office of Panamá.

ART. I. Parcels may be forwarded by Parcel Post from the United Kingdom to the Republic of Panamá up to the weight of 11 lb. English, and from the Republic of Panamá to the United Kingdom up to the weight of 5 kilog.

II.-1. The two Administrations guarantee the right of transit for parcels over their territory to or from any country with which they respectively have parcel post communication; and they undertake responsibility for transit parcels within the limits determined by Article X below.

2. In the absence of any arrangement to the contrary between the two Administrations concerned, the conveyance of parcels thus exchanged will be effected "à découvert."

III. The prepayment of the postage on parcels shall be compulsory, except in the case of re-directed parcels.

IV.-1. The Post Office of the country of origin shall pay to the Post Office of the country of destination the territorial postage due to that Office and also the sea postage if the Post Office of the country of destination provides for the sea service. The payments shall be calculated in accordance with the following table:

2. The totals thus arrived at shall form the basis for determining the sums to be collected from the senders; but in fixing the rates of postage either Administration shall be at liberty to adopt such approximate amounts as may be convenient in its own currency.

3. As postal parcels dispatched through the territory of the Republic of Panamá, whether from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland addressed to Panamá or from Panamá for the United Kingdom are subject to the payment of charges for their conveyance on the Panamá Railway, it rests with the Postal Administration of Panamá to pay these charges and to obtain repayment from the addressees in the case of parcels destined for the Republic of Panamá and from the senders in the case of parcels originating in the Republic.

V. In the case of parcels originating in or forwarded by one of the two contracting countries and sent in transit through the other, the Post Office of the intermediate country shall be credited by the other Post Office with the sums due to the former for the conveyance of such parcels, in accordance with tables to be mutually communicated."

VI. The Post Office of the country of destination may levy from the addressees, for the delivery of the parcels and for the fulfilment of Custom House formalities, a charge not exceeding 25 centimes for each parcel.

VII. The parcels to which the present Agreement applies cannot be subjected to any postal charge other than those contemplated by the different articles of this Agreement.

VIII. For the re-direction of parcels from one country to the other, as well as for the return of undelivered parcels, a supplementary charge on the basis of the rates fixed by Articles IV and V shall be collected from the addressees or the senders, as the case may be.

IX.-1. It is forbidden to send by parcel post

(a.) Parcels containing letters, or communications of the nature of a letter, live animals, except bees, in properly constructed boxes, or articles the admission of which is not authorized by the Customs or other laws or regulations of either country (a parcel may, however, contain an open invoice in its simplest form);

(b.) Parcels containing explosive or inflammable articles, and in general articles the conveyance of which is dangerous.

2. No parcel may contain packages intended for delivery at an address other than that borne by the parcel itself.

3. If a parcel contravening any of these prohibitions shall be handed over by one Administration to the other, the latter shall proceed in the manner and with the formalities prescribed by its laws or inland regulations.

4. The two Administrations shall furnish each other with a list of prohibited articles; but they will not thereby undertake any responsibility whatever towards the police, the Customis authorities, or the senders of parcels.

X.-1. In all cases of loss, abstraction, or damage, except such as are beyond control, the sender, or, in default or at the request of the sender, the addressee, shall be entitled to an indemnity corresponding with the actual amount of the loss, abstraction, or damage, unless the damage has arisen from the fault or negligence of the sender or from the nature of the article, and provided always that the indemnity does not exceed 25 fr. The sender of a parcel which has been lost, or of which the contents have been completely destroyed in the post, shall also be entitled to the return of the postage.

2. The obligation of paying the indemnity shall rest with the Administration to which the dispatching office is subordinate. To that Administration is reserved a remedy against the Administration responsible, that is to say, against the Administration on the territory or in the service of which the loss or the damage took place.

3. Until the contrary is shown, the responsibility shall rest with the Administration which, having received the parcel without making any observation, cannot prove its delivery to the addressee, or, in the case of a transit parcel, its regular transfer to the following Administration.

4. The payment of the indemnity to the sender or addressee ought to take place as soon as possible, and at the latest within a year of the date of the application. The Administration responsible will be bound to make good, without delay, the amount of the indemnity paid.

5. It is understood that no application for an indemnity will be entertained unless made within a year of the posting of the parcel; after this term the applicant will have no right to any indemnity.

6. If the loss, abstraction, or damage shall have occurred in course of conveyance between the exchanging offices of the two countries, and it shall not be possible to ascertain on the territory or in the service of which the loss, abstraction, or damage took place, each Administration shall pay half of the indemnity.

7. The Administrations will cease to be responsible for parcels of which the owners have accepted delivery.

XI. The cost of the receptacles in which parcel mails are exchanged between the two countries shall be shared equally between the two Administrations.

XII-1. The internal legislation of both the United Kingdom and the Republic of Panamá shall remain applicable as regards everything not provided for by the stipulations contained in the present Agreement.

2. The Administrations shall communicate to each other from time to time the provisions of their laws or regulations applicable to the conveyance of parcels by Parcel Post.

XIII. The two Postal Administrations shall indicate the offices or localities which they admit to the international exchange of parcels; they shall regulate the mode of transmission of these parcels, and fix all other measures of detail and order

necessary for ensuring the performance of the present Agree

ment.

XIV. To the Postal Administrations is reserved the right to arrange by mutual consent, as soon as their respective laws and regulations permit, for the introduction of the systems of insurance, of express delivery, of the issue of acknowledgments of delivery, of the acceptance by the sender of responsibility for customs and other charges, and of the collection of trade charges on delivery.

XV. This Agreement shall come into operation on a date to be fixed for that purpose by the two Postal Administrations, and shall be terminable on a notice, by either party, of one year.

In witness whereof the Undersigned, duly authorized for that purpose by their respective Governments, have signed this Agreement and have affixed thereto their seals.

Done in duplicate at Panamá on the 13th day of April, 1908. (L.S.) C. MALLET.

(L.S.) RICARDO ARIAS.

DECLARATION between Great Britain and Paraguay amending the Treaty of Commerce of October 16, 1884.Signed at Asuncion, March 14, 1908.*

WHEREAS the Treaty of Commerce between His Majesty the King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, Emperor of India, and the Republic of Paraguay, of 1884,† is terminable by twelve months' notice given by either of the High Contracting Parties, and whereas it is desirable that liberty should be reserved to any of His Majesty's Colonies, possessions, or Protectorates to withdraw from the Treaty without impairing the validity of the Treaty as between the United Kingdom and those other parts of His Majesty's dominions which may desire to remain bound by the said Treaty the Government of His Britannic Majesty and the Government of Paraguay hereby agree that any of His Majesty's Colonies. possessions, or Protectorates may withdraw from the Treaty separately at any time on giving twelve months' notice to that effect, but that nevertheless the goods produced or manufactured in any of His Britannic Majesty's Colonies, possessions, and Protectorates shall enjoy in Paraguay complete and unconditional most-favoured-nation treatment, so long as such Colony, possession, or Protectorate shall accord to goods the produce or manufacture of Paraguay treatment as favourable as it gives to the produce or manufacture of any other country.

*Signed also in the Spanish language.
+ Vol. LXXV, page 929.

In witness whereof the Undersigned have signed the present Declaration and have affixed thereto their seals.

Done at Asuncion, in duplicate, the 14th March, 1908.

(L.S.) CECIL GOSLING. (L.S.) CECILIO BAEZ.

ACCESSIONS of British Colonies to the Treaty of Commerce beteren Great Britain and Roumania.-Signed at Bucharest, October 31, 1905.*

The following British Colonies, &c., have acceded :

NOTES exchanged between Great Britain and Russia respecting Protection of Trade-marks and Patents in Morocco,-February, 1907 to October, 1908.

No. 1.—The British Minister at Tangier to the Russian Chargé

d'Affaires.

M. LE CHARGÉ D'AFFAIRES, Tanger, le 14 février, 1907. J'AI l'honneur de vous informer qu'un accord existe entre cette légation et d'autres légations à Tanger pour la protection réciproque au Maroc des marques de fabrique de leurs nationaux respectifs.

En vertu de l'article 112 du Morocco Order in Council "† les tribunaux consulaires britanniques au Maroc sont autorisés à appliquer la législation anglaise pour la protection des marques de fabrique et des brevets d'invention russes à la condition (1) que le dépôt de la marque de fabrique ou du brevet d'invention auraient été effectué en Angleterre conformément aux Patents, Designs, and Trade-marks Acts"; (2) que la + Vol. LXXXI, page 381.

* Vol. XCVIII, page 86.