116
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

9. If the contractors shall fail in any
   month to deliver the homeward mails to the
   European mail contract steamship at Mel-
   bourne, before her departure from that port
   with her homeward mails, the contractors
   shall pay to the said Postmaster, or his suc-
   cessors in office, the sum of three hundred
   pounds, in addition to any other penalties
   which they may become liable to under these
   presents.

10. In the event of either of the said
    steamships becoming disabled, the contrac-
    tors shall immediately, at their own cost and
    charge, replace the same by another good
    and efficient vessel of similar tonnage and
    power, obtained by hire or otherwise.

11. If there be no Post-office agent or
    clerk on board, the masters of the said
    steamships shall, without charge to the Go-
    vernment, take care of, and the contractors
    shall be responsible for, the receipt, safe
    custody, and delivery of the mails, according
    to the terms of this contract.

12. The contractors, and all officers of
    their vessels when employed in the perform-
    ance of this contract, and all seamen and
    servants of the contractors, shall at all times
    punctually attend to the orders and direc-
    tions of the said Postmaster-General and of
    any of the officers or agents of the said Post-
    office, as to the receiving, landing, and deli-
    very of the mails.

13. All sums of money hereinbefore stipu-
    lated to be forfeited or paid by the contrac-
    tors, shall be considered as stipulated or
    ascertained damages, and may at the option
    of the said Postmaster-General, or his suc-
    cessors in office, be deducted and retained
    by him or them, out of any money payable
    to the contractors under this contract, or
    payment thereof may be entered as a debt
    due by the contractors to Her Majesty, with
    full costs of suit.

14. In case of habitual negligence or wil-
    ful default by the contractors in the per-
    formance of this contract, the said Post-
    master-General, or his successors in office,
    may, by writing under his or their hand or
    hands, give to the contractors one month's
    notice of an intention to determine this con-
    tract, and at the expiration of the said
    month this contract shall end and determine
    accordingly; but the contractors shall be
    and continue subject to any liability which
    they may have incurred previously to such
    determination, and as though this contract
    had not been determined.

15. Any notice, which the said Postmaster-
    General, or his successors, shall require to
    serve on the said contractors, shall be deemed
    to be duly served when the same is delivered
    to the master of either of the said steam-
    ships, the 'Aldinga' or 'Alhambra,' or of
    any ship which may be substituted for either
    of them.

16. For the faithful performance of all the
    covenants, stipulations, and agreements here-
    inbefore contained, the contractors bind
    themselves and himself respectively, in the
    sum of four thousand pounds sterling, to be
    paid to our Sovereign Lady the Queen, her
    heirs and successors, by way of stipulated or
    ascertained damages, in manner following,
    that is to say, the sum of two thousand
    pounds in case of wilful failure or default on
    the part of the contractors in the due per-
    formance of this contract, or any part thereof,
    in respect of each or either of the said mail
    services hereby contracted for, that is to say,
    the service from New Zealand to Melbourne
    and the service from Melbourne to New
    Zealand.

17. And in consideration of the due and
    faithful performance by the said contractors
    of all the services hereby contracted to be
    performed by them, the said Postmaster-
    General, on behalf of the colony of New
    Zealand, hereby covenants with the said
    contractors, their executors and administra-
    tors, to pay to them, or to their agent in
    New Zealand, for the said services, at the
    rate of seventeen thousand pounds per an-
    num, by equal monthly instalments, or pay-
    ments of one thousand four hundred and
    sixteen pounds thirteen shillings and four-
    pence, at the Sub-Treasury, in Dunedin, on
    the first day of each month; and, also, the
    further sum of two hundred pounds for each
    and every period of twenty-four hours dur-
    ing which either of the steamships employed
    under this contract shall have been detained
    at Melbourne by the said Postmaster-Gene-
    ral, or his agent, under the provisions of the
    second clause hereof.

18. And, further, that during the service
    hereby contracted for, all mails from New
    Zealand for Victoria, and for Europe, shall
    be delivered by and at the expense of the
    said Postmaster-General, or his successors
    in office, at Port Chalmers, aforesaid, on
    board the steamship which may be employed
    or used by the contractors, under this con-
    tract.

And, further, that all mails which by the
terms of this contract are to be taken by the
said contractors to the Bluff Harbour, or
received by them there, shall by and at the
expense of the said Postmaster-General, and
his successors in office, be there taken from,
or, as the case may require, delivered to the
contractors' steamship which may call at
Bluff Harbour to deliver or receive such
mails.

20. It is lastly agreed by and between the
    said parties hereto, that the service hereby
    contracted for shall commence on the
    eleventh day of January, one thousand
    eight hundred and sixty-four, and shall be
    carried on; and this contract shall continue
    in force until determined by notice, under
    the provisions of the fourteenth clause hereof,
    or until one of the said parties hereto shall
    have given to the other of them six months'
    notice of an intention to determine the same,
    and until the said six months shall have ex-
    pired; provided always that the said service
    and contract shall not be determined by such