THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 339

POSTAL.

Contract for Mail Service between Melbourne and Dunedin.

General Post Office,
Wellington, 1st November, 1865.

THE following articles of agreement with "The
Otago Steam Ship Company, (Limited)," for con-
veyance of Mails between Melbourne and Port
Chalmers, are published for general information.

E. W. STAFFORD,
Postmaster-General.

ARTICLES OF AGREEMENT made this ninth day of
September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five, between "The Otago
Steam Ship Company, (Limited)," of Dunedin, in
the Colony of New Zealand, hereinafter styled "the
contractors," of the one part; and Her Majesty's
Postmaster-General of the Colony of New Zealand,
in pursuance of the provisions of "The New Zealand
Post Office Act, 1858," of the other part: Witness
that for the considerations hereinafter mentioned,
the said contractors, for themselves, their heirs,
executors and administrators, covenant, and each of
them for himself, his heirs, executors and adminis-
trators, covenants with the said Postmaster-General
and his successors in office as follows:—

1. The steam ships "Albion" and "Rangitoto"
   shall at the commencement of the contract service
   hereby provided for, and during the continuance of
   the same, be tight, staunch and strong, properly
   manned and equipped for sea, and shall be employed
   as hereinafter mentioned in the Mail Service between
   Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria, and Port
   Chalmers, in the Colony of New Zealand.

2. One of the said steam ships shall, within
   twenty-four hours after the arrival of the European
   Mail at the Port of Melbourne aforesaid in each
   month, leave that port for Port Chalmers aforesaid,
   and shall, unless prevented by tempestuous weather,
   call at the Bluff Harbour to land and receive Mails,
   and shall deliver the Mails at Port Chalmers within
   one hundred and fifty-six hours from the hour of
   departure from Melbourne: Provided that neither
   of the said steam ships shall be required to wait at
   Melbourne for the European Mail more than ninety-
   six hours after its due date for arrival there, and
   that one of the said steam ships shall leave
   Melbourne for Port Chalmers at the expiration of
   that time, unless detained at Melbourne by the said
   Postmaster-General or his agent to wait the arrival
   of the English Mail there for any time not exceeding
   a further period of ninety-six hours.

3. One of the said steam ships (the "Albion" if
   required by the said Postmaster-General) shall leave
   Port Chalmers on the eighteenth day of each month,
   except the month of February, not earlier than two
   p.m. in the day, and on the sixteenth day of the
   month of February, not earlier than two p.m. on that
   day.

4. All Post Office Mails from England for New
   Zealand, and from New Zealand for England, shall
   be respectively taken from and delivered on board
   of the European Mail ship in Hobson's Bay, at
   Melbourne, by and at the expense of the contractors,
   in a suitable and seaworthy boat for the purpose, to
   be furnished with effectual covering for the mails,
   and properly provided, manned, and equipped by the
   contractors to the satisfaction of the Post Office
   Agent hereinafter mentioned.

5. The Post Office Mails for the northern ports of
   New Zealand shall be delivered by and at the expense
   of the contractors on board a steam boat to be pro-
   vided by the said Postmaster-General or his successors
   in office, and to be kept waiting at Port Chalmers

for the arrival there of the steam ship which may be
employed in each month under this contract in con-
veying mails from Melbourne to New Zealand.

6. A chief cabin passage, free of cost either for
   passage or victualling, in each of the steam ships
   employed under this contract shall be provided on
   all occasions when required by the said Postmaster-
   General for an agent or a clerk of the New Zealand
   Post Office; and also a safe and proper place of
   deposit for the Mails, and proper accommodation for
   enabling the Mails to be sorted on board of the said
   steam ships.

7. The sum of one hundred pounds shall be paid
   by the contractors to the said Postmaster-General or
   his successors in office if on any occasion either of
   the said steam ships shall not sail at the appointed
   time, and an additional sum of one hundred pounds
   shall be in like manner paid for every delay of
   twenty-four hours in sailing after the appointed
   time, and the sum of two hundred pounds shall be in like
   manner paid whenever either of the said steam ships
   shall not call at the Bluff Harbour, unless prevented
   from doing so by tempestuous weather.

8. If the contractors shall fail in any month to
   deliver the homeward Mails to the European Mail
   Contract Steam Ship at Melbourne before her de-
   parture from that port with her homeward Mails, the
   contractors shall pay to the said Postmaster-General
   or his successors in office a sum of three hundred
   pounds, in addition to any other penalties which
   they may become liable to under these presents.

9. In the event of either of the said steam ships
   becoming disabled the contractors shall immediately
   at their own cost and charge replace the same by
   another good and efficient vessel to be approved of by
   the said Postmaster-General, of similar tonnage and
   power, obtained by hire or otherwise.

10. If there be no Post Office agent or clerk on
    board the masters of the said steam ships shall with-
    out charge to the Government 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.

11. The contractors and all officers of their vessels
    when employed in the performance of this contract,
    and all seamen and servants of the contractors, shall
    at all times punctually attend to the orders and
    directions of the said Postmaster-General, and of
    any of the officers or agents of the said Post Office,
    as to the receiving, landing, and delivery of the Mails.

12. All sums of money hereinbefore stipulated to
    be forfeited or paid by the contractors shall be con-
    sidered as stipulated or ascertained damages, and may
    at the option of the said Postmaster-General or his
    successors 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.

13. In case of habitual negligence or wilful default
    by the contractors in the performance of this con-
    tract the said Postmaster-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 contract, 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.

14. Any notice which the said Postmaster-General
    or his successors in office shall require to serve on
    the said contractors shall be deemed to be duly served
    when the same is delivered at the office of the said
    company in Dunedin, or to the master of either of
    the said steam ships employed or used by the con-
    tractors under this contract.