XIV. The Administrations shall, whenever the internal legislation of both countries permits, arrange for the introduction of insurance and express delivery of parcels, and for enabling the sender to take upon himself liability for the Customs charges leviable in the country of destination. This Agreement shall come into operation on a day to be mutually settled between the postal Administrations of the two countries, and shall be terminable on a notice of one year by either party. Done in duplicate at London the 5th day of February, 1908, and at Madrid the 29th day of April, 1908. SYDNEY CHARLES BUXTON. Detailed Regulations for carrying out the Agreement concerning the Exchange of Parcels by Parcel Post between the British and Spanish Post Offices. ART. I.-1. The exchange of parcels between the United Kingdom and Spain (including the Balearic and Canary Islands) shall be carried on in closed mails viâ France. There shall also be an exchange of parcels between the United Kingdom and the Canary Islands by direct British packet. 2. The offices of exchange, subject to amendment from time to time, shall be : In the United Kingdom: London and Liverpool; In Spain: Irun and Port Bou; In the Canary Islands: Las Palmas and Santa Cruz de Tenerife. II.-1. The two Postal Administrations shall acquaint each other which of the regular sea services maintained by them may be employed for the conveyance of parcels. 2. The two Administrations, after a preliminary understanding has been arrived at with the countries concerned, shall communicate to each other: (a.) A list of the countries with regard to which they may respectively serve as medium for the conveyance of parcels. (b.) The routes available for the transmission of the said parcels, from the point of entry on their territories or into their services. (c.) The total amount of the charges to be paid to them under this head for each destination, by the office which consigns the parcels to them. 3. By means of this information the Administrations will determine the routes to be employed for the transmission of their parcels and the postage to be collected from the senders. III.-1. Parcels posted in Spain for the United Kingdom must not exceed 60 centim. in length nor 54 cubic decim. in volume, and parcels posted in the United Kingdom for Spain must not exceed 2 feet in length nor 2 cubic feet in volume. 2. Nevertheless, parcels containing umbrellas, sticks, maps, &c., are admitted up to 1 metre, or 3 ft. 6 in. in length, provided they do not exceed the volume limit specified above. IV.-1. No parcel must be accepted for conveyance by parcel post unless it bear the exact direction of the addressee. 2. Every parcel must be packed in a manner adequate for the length of the journey and for the protection of the contents. The packing must be such as to make it impossible to tamper with the contents without leaving an obvious trace of violation. 3. Every parcel must be sealed by means of sealing wax, lead or otherwise with some special impress or mark of the sender. V.-1. Each parcel must be accompanied by a dispatch note and by Customs declarations in conformity with, or analogous to, specimens A and B hereto appended. The Administrations shall inform each other of the numbers of Customs declarations to be furnished for each country of destination. 2. One dispatch note, and, if the Customs' laws permit, one Customs declaration, may be used for two or three (but not more) parcels sent from the same sender to the same addressee. 3. The amount of postage paid, when not indicated by postage stamps affixed to the dispatch note, shall be notified upon the dispatch note. 4. The Administrations decline all responsibility for the correctness of the Customs declarations. VI.-1. Each parcel, as well as the dispatch note relating to it, must bear a label in conformity with, or analogous to, specimen C hereto annexed,* indicating the registered number and the name of the office of origin. 2. The dispatch note shall, moreover, be impressed by the office of origin, on the address side, with a stamp indicating the place and date of posting. VII. The parcels shall be entered by the dispatching office of exchange on a parcel bill, in conformity with specimen D appended to the present Regulations, with all the details. required by this form. The dispatch notes, Customs declarations, and franking notes, if any, must be securely attached to the parcel bill. VIII.-1. On the receipt of a parcel bill the receiving officer of exchange shall proceed to verify the parcels and the various documents entered on the bill, and, if needful, shall report missing articles or any irregularities by means of a verification note, in conformity with the annexed specimen E.* 2. Any differences which may arise in the credits and accounting must be notified to the dispatching office by verification note. The verification notes must be attached to the *Not printed. parcel bills to which they relate. Corrections not supported by vouchers are not admitted by the auditors. IX.-1. Mis-sent parcels shall be forwarded to their destination by the most direct route at the disposal of the office retransmitting them. When this retransmission shall involve the return of the parcel to the office of origin, the amounts credited in the parcel bill of that office shall be cancelled, and the retransmitting office of exchange shall send back the parcels to the office from which it received them, simply recording them on the parcel bill. Attention shall be called to the error by means of a verification note. 2. In other cases, and if the amount credited to the retransmitting office shall be insufficient to cover the expenses of retransmission which it has to defray, it shall recover the difference by raising the amount entered to its credit in the parcel bill of the dispatching office of exchange. The reason for this rectification shall be notified to the said office by means of a verification note. 3. Parcels redirected to a country which participates in the parcel post between Spain and the United Kingdom will be subjected by the delivering office to a charge, to be paid by the addressees, representing the sums due to this latter oflice, to the redirecting oflice, and to each intermediate office, if there be any. 4. Each office which forwards a redirected parcel shall claim on the parcel bill the amount due for the conveyance of the parcel. 5. But, if the amount chargeable for the further conveyance of a redirected parcel shall be paid at the time of its redirection, the parcel shall be dealt with as if it had been addressed direct from the retransmitting country to the country of destination, and delivered without any postal charge to the addressee. 6. The senders of parcels which cannot be delivered shall be consulted as to the disposal of the parcels. 7. If the office of destination shall not have received instructions as to the disposal of an undeliverable parcel within two months of the dispatch of a letter of inquiry respecting it, the parcel shall be treated as abandoned. The interval shall be extended to six months in the case of countries beyond sea. 8. Articles liable to deterioration or corruption, and these only, may, however, be sold immediately, without previous notice or legal formality, for the benefit of the right party. An account of the sale shall be drawn up. The sum realized by the sale shall be used in the first place to defray the charges upon the parcel. Any balance which there may be shall be remitted to the office of origin to be paid to the sender. If for any reason a sale is impossible, the spoilt or worthless articles are destroyed or taken possession of by the Customs. 9. Parcels which have to be returned to the country of origin shall be entered on the parcel bill, with the addition of the [1914. CVII.] 20 word "Rebut" (undeliverable) in the column for observations. They shall be dealt with and charged as redirected parcels are. 10. Any parcel the addressee of which has left for a country not participating in the parcel post between Spain and the United Kingdom shail be dealt with as undeliverable, unless the office of the first destination be in a position to forward it to the addressee. X.-1. In the case of parcels exchanged viâ France, each Administration shall cause each of its exchanging offices to prepare monthly, for all the mails received from the exchanging offices of the other Administration, a statement in conformity with specimen F* appended to the present Regulations, of the sums entered in each parcel bill, whether to its credit or to its debit. 2. The statements F shall be afterwards recapitulated by the same Administration in an account conforming to specimen G,* also appended to the present Regulations. 3. This account accompanied by the monthly statements, the parcel bills, and, if any, the verification notes relating thereto, shall be submitted to the examination of the other Administration in the course of the month which follows that to which it relates. 4. The monthly accounts, after having been verified and accepted on both sides, shall be included in a general quarterly account by the Administration to which the balance is due. 5. The payment resulting from the balance of these accounts between the two Administrations shall be made by the indebted office in francs, in specie, or by means of bills drawn on Paris or on the capital or one of the commercial towns of the country to which the balance is due, or in any other manner which may be agreed upon mutually between the two Administrations, the expense attendant on the payment being at the charge of the indebted office. 6. The accounting in respect of parcels exchanged directly between the United Kingdom and the Canary Islands shall be as described above, except that forms F and G shall be prepared quarterly and shall be recapitulated in an annual general account. 7. The drawing up. transmission, and payment of the accounts must be effected as early as possible, at the latest before the expiration of the following quarter. After the expiration of this term, the sums due from one Administration to the other shall bear interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum, to be reckoned from the date of expiration of the said term. XI. The present detailed Regulations shall become operative on the day on which the Agreement comes into force, and shall have the same duration as the Agreement. The Adminis trations interested have, however, the power by common consent to modify the details from time to time. Done in duplicate at London the 5th day of February, 1908, and at Madrid the 29th day of April, 1908. SYDNEY CHARLES BUXTON. EXCHANGE OF NOTES between Great Britain and Spain Renewing for a further period of Fire Years the Arbitration Agreement, signed at London, February 27, 1904London, February 15, 1914.* (No. 1.)-The Spanish Ambassador to Sir Edward Grey. (Translation.) SIR, Spanish Embassy, London, February 15, 1914. I HAVE the honour to inform your Excellency that the Government of His Majesty the King, my august Sovereign, are disposed to renew for a further period of five years from the 27th instant, the date of its expiration, the Arbitration Agreement between Spain and Great Britain, signed at London on the 27th February, 1904,† for a period of five years, and renewed for a similar term on the 11th January, 1909, by an exchange of notes between your Excellency and my predecessor. As your Excellency has been pleased to inform me that Ilis Britannic Majesty's Government are equally disposed to renew the Agreement, the present note and your Excellency's reply may serve, if your Excellency has no objection, to give binding force to this understanding between the two Governments. I have, &c. ALFONSO MERRY DEL VAL. (No. 2.)-Sir Edward Grey to the Spanish Ambassador. YOUR EXCELLENCY, Foreign Office, February 15, 1914. I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your note of this day's date, informing me that the Spanish Government are prepared to renew, for a further period of five years from the 27th instant, the Arbitration Agreement between the Governments of Great Britain and Spain, signed at London on the 27th February, 1904, and renewed by exchange of notes on + Vol. XCVII, page 80. Vol. CII, page 134. |