APRIL 27.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 489

despatch of the “Ionic” from a New Zealand port
on the eleventh day of December, 1890.

12. Any of the vessels employed under this con-
    tract may on the route from Plymouth to a New
    Zealand port, or on the route from a New Zealand
    port to Plymouth, call at any port or ports for coal-
    ing or other purposes.

13. For the conveyance of mails under this con-
    tract the Postmaster-General will pay to the com-
    pany at the following rates: Letters, 12s. per lb.;
    packets, 9d. per lb.; newspapers, 3d. per lb. And
    all moneys payable hereunder shall be paid quar-
    terly, at Christchurch, in the said colony, or at such
    other place as may from time to time be agreed
    upon; the first quarter’s payment to commence on
    the first day of April, 1891, subject to the pro-
    visions of this contract:

Provided that all moneys received by the Post-
master-General of New Zealand from the Post-
master-General of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, or from the Government of
any other country, in respect of the conveyance of
mails by the company over the routes hereinbefore
mentioned, shall be paid by the Postmaster-General
of New Zealand to the company, after deducting
any payments made or expenses incurred by such
Postmaster-General in respect of such conveyance;
but the direct liability of the Postmaster-General
is hereby expressly limited to payment for the out-
ward mails sent by the company’s vessels from New
Zealand.

14. All mail-matter posted in New Zealand
    between the date of despatch of the San Fran-
    cisco mail, or of any mail by any substitute
    service as aforesaid, and the departure of the
    vessels under this contract, shall, unless specially
    addressed to be forwarded by another route, be sent
    by such contract vessels. This shall also apply to
    correspondence posted in the United Kingdom and
    Ireland, so far as the Postmaster-General of New
    Zealand may be able to influence the Imperial Post
    Office authorities: Provided that nothing in this
    clause shall be deemed to give the company any
    claim against the Postmaster-General in the event
    of the postal authorities in Great Britain sending
    any such mail-matter by a different route.

15. The mails shall be safely conveyed from Ply-
    mouth to a New Zealand port in 1,080 hours, and
    from a New Zealand port to Plymouth in 1,008
    hours, such respective periods to be calculated from
    the times appointed for the departure of the mail
    respectively from Plymouth or the final port of
    departure in New Zealand.

16. If, during the continuance of this contract,
    the time occupied in conveying the mails is in ex-
    cess of the said number of hours, then the moneys
    hereby made payable shall be reduced by four
    pounds (£4) for every hour so in excess: Provided
    that no penalty shall be enforced or reduction made
    in the moneys payable to the company until a
    period of forty-eight hours has elapsed after the
    period when the mails ought to be delivered by the
    company, and in any case the Postmaster-General
    shall have power to remit all or any part of such
    reduction if he shall be satisfied that the delay in
    conveying the mail was attributable to causes over
    which the company had no control:

Provided also that no penalty whatever for late
arrival at or departure from any port shall be en-
forced against the company for delay in conveying
the mails within the said specified periods in any
case where the same is due to any general labour-
strike or dispute in respect thereof tending to pre-
vent the due despatch or arrival of any vessel em-
ployed under these presents; but nothing herein

shall be deemed to extend to any strike, labour or
other dispute, among or in respect of the crew of
any such vessel or any other employés of the com-
pany.

17. If, from any cause whatever, at any time or
    times during the continuance of this contract, one
    of the said steam-vessels shall not be at Plymouth
    and at a New Zealand port respectively ready to
    put to sea in due time to perform the services
    hereby contracted to be performed, the company
    shall pay, as and by way of liquidated damages, to
    the Postmaster-General, for the use of the Govern-
    ment of the colony, in respect of every mail that
    shall be delayed by reason of such default, a sum
    of two hundred pounds (£200), and the further sum
    of fifty pounds (£50) for every successive twenty-
    four hours which shall elapse between the time at
    which the mail shall be appointed to leave the port
    and the time at which the vessel conveying the
    same shall actually leave the port; whether the
    vessel shall be one of those hereinbefore specially
    named, or any other vessel which the Postmaster-
    General may employ, or sanction being employed,
    for the purpose: Provided that the Postmaster-
    General shall have the same power of remission or
    reduction of any such sum hereby made payable as
    under like circumstances those mentioned in the
    last preceding clause hereof: Provided also that
    the maximum penalty for any one month shall not
    exceed one thousand pounds (£1,000).

18. So long as the efficient performance of the
    services hereby contracted for are not interfered
    with, the company may carry mails for any other
    country or colony at rates not less than those
    payable by the Postmaster-General hereunder, or
    such other rates as may from time to time be
    approved by the Postmaster-General; but the com-
    pany shall have no claim against the Postmaster-
    General or the Government of New Zealand to any
    postage, nor to any money on account thereof, for
    mails carried in any vessel employed under this
    contract, or on account of any services rendered,
    except as herein specially agreed to be paid.

19. This contract or any part thereof shall not be
    assigned, underlet, or disposed of by the company
    without the consent in writing of the Postmaster-
    General first obtained for that purpose.

20. In case this contract or any part thereof shall
    be assigned, or underlet, or otherwise disposed of
    by the company, otherwise than with such consent
    as last aforesaid, or in case of any great or habitual
    non-performance or non-observance of this contract,
    or of any of the covenants, matters, or things herein
    contained, and on the part of the company, their
    officers, agents, or servants, or any of them, to be
    observed and performed, and whether there be or
    be not any penalty or sum of money payable by
    the company for any such non-observance or non-
    performance, it shall be lawful for the Postmaster-
    General, if he shall be of opinion that the company
    is not bonâ fide carrying out the provisions herein
    contained, by writing under his hand, to determine
    this contract without any previous notice to the
    company or their agents.

The company shall not be entitled to any com-
pensation in respect of such determination, nor
shall such determination deprive the Postmaster-
General of any right or remedy to which he would
be otherwise entitled by reason of any non-observ-
ance or non-performance of any of the provisions
herein contained.

21. If, within but not after twenty-eight days
    after any notice of the determination of this con-
    tract shall have been given to the company, the
    company shall give notice in writing to the Post-