Num. 131.

1709

SUPPLEMENT

TO THE

NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE

OF

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1884.

Published by Authority.

WELLINGTON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1884.

Direct Mail Steam Service Contract.

ARTICLES of AGREEMENT made and entered into this ninth day of December, 1884, between the Honourable Sir JULIUS VOGEL, the Postmaster-General of the Colony of New Zealand, appointed under the provisions of “The Post Office Act, 1881,” and acting for and on behalf of the Government of the said colony, of the one part, and THE NEW ZEALAND SHIPPING COMPANY (LIMITED), of Christchurch, in the said colony (hereinafter referred to as “the company”), of the other part: Witness that, for the considerations herein set forth, the company doth, for itself, its successors and assigns, hereby covenant with the said Postmaster-General and his successors; and the said Postmaster-General, on behalf of himself and his successors and of the Government of the said colony, doth hereby covenant with the company and its successors, in manner following, that is to say,——

1. In the construction of these presents the following words and expressions shall, unless inconsistent with the context, have the meanings hereby assigned to them:—

“Postmaster-General” means the Postmaster-General for the time being of the Colony of New Zealand, and includes also any member of the Executive Council of the colony acting for and on behalf of the Postmaster-General:

“Company” means the New Zealand Shipping Company (Limited), and includes its successors and assigns:

“Mails” include all boxes, bags, or packets of letters, newspapers, or printed papers, patterns, and all other articles transmissible by means of the Post Office, without regard either to the place to which they may be addressed or to that in which they may have originated, and also all empty bags, empty boxes, and other stores and articles used or to be used in carrying on the Post Office service:

“Mail” means the aggregate of mails transmitted at any one time by any of the vessels for the time being employed in the mail service under this contract:

“Hours” mean hours calculated according to Greenwich time:

“Master” includes any officer for the time being having command or charge of any steam-vessel employed in performing this contract.

2. The company shall from time to time, and at all times hereafter during a period of five years computed from the twentieth day of December, 1884 (unless previously terminated in pursuance of the provision for that purpose hereinafter contained), convey all Her Majesty’s mails, and all other mails of whatever country or place which the Postmaster-General shall at any time and from time to time require the company to convey, from and to the Port of Plymouth, in England, and either of the Ports of Auckland, Wellington, Lyttelton, Port Chalmers, or Bluff, in New Zealand, and any port or ports intermediate between Plymouth and New Zealand at which the steam-vessels hereinafter mentioned may call, as hereinafter provided, or any of such ports, within the times and in the manner provided for.

3. So long as the whole or any part of the services hereby agreed to be performed in pursuance of this contract ought to be performed, the company shall and will provide, and keep seaworthy and in complete repair and readiness for such a purpose, the steam-vessels now in the possession of the company,