use, such rates of postage adapted to their interior administration and to the cost of sea transportation as they shall deem advisable; which rates shall, in like manner, be in full of all charges whatever, to the place of destination in either country. But each office shall give notice to the other of the rates it adopts for such correspondence, and of any subsequent change thereof. The maximum weight of such correspondence is fixed at 4 pounds. Newspapers and other correspondence of the class referred to in the preceding paragraph shall be sent in narrow bands, or covers open at the sides or ends, so that they may be easily examined; and packages of such correspondence shall be subject to the laws and regulations of each country in regard to their liability to pay Customs duty, if containing dutiable goods; or to be rated with letter postage when containing written matter, or for any other cause specified in said laws and regulations. V. Prepayment of postage of every description of article can be effected only by means of postage stamps or stamped envelopes valid in the country of origin. The correspondence to be reciprocally exchanged shall be impressed on the upper part of the address with a stamp indicating the place of origin and date of posting. Unpaid or insufficiently paid letters, or manuscripts subject by law to letter rate of postage, shall, in addition, be impressed with the stamp T (tax to be paid), the application of which shall devolve upon the exchange office of the country of origin. Every international letter, or manuscript subject to letter postage, which does not bear the stamp T, shall be considered as fully paid to destination, and treated accordingly, unless there be an obvious error. When a letter, or any manuscript subject by law to letter postage, unpaid or insufficiently paid, shall be liable, by reason of its weight, to more than a single rate of postage, the despatching office shall indicate in the upper right-hand corner of the address, in ordinary figures, the number of rates to which it is liable. When a letter shall be insufficiently prepaid by means of postage stamps, the despatching office shall indicate, in figures in black ink, placed by the side of the postage stamps, their total value expressed in the currency of the country of destination. In case postage stamps may be used which are not of any in the country of origin, no account shall be taken of them. This fact shall be indicated by the figure "0," placed by the side of the postage stamps. value The office of the country of destination shall charge the insufficiently paid letters with the amount of the deficient postage calculated at the rate of an unpaid letter of the same weight. In case of need, fractions may be raised to the necessary unit of charge in force in the country of destination. VI. Letters, and other communications in manuscript, which, from any cause, cannot be delivered to their address, after the expiration of a proper period to effect their delivery, shall be reciprocally returned every month, unopened and without charge, to the Post Office Department of the despatching country; but newspapers and all other articles of printed matter shall not be returned, but remain at the disposal of the receiving office. Letters erroneously transmitted or wrongly addressed shall be promptly returned to the despatching office without charge. VII. To accommodate the Bermuda Government, and at the same time maintain the condition that postage accounts shall not be kept between the two countries, the Post Office Department of the United States will forward, without charge, to the Canada frontier and vice versa, such correspondence, in sealed bags of small weight and bulk, as the Bermuda Post Office may exchange directly with the Dominion of Canada, through the United States; but should the weight and bulk of such mails at any time be deemed too great to justify this concession, the Post Office Department of the United States reserves the right to withdraw it, upon giving notice to that effect. VIII. Letters originating in foreign countries and addressed to the United States or to Bermuda respectively, on which the foreign aud international postage charges are fully prepaid, shall, when for warded in the mails of either country to the other, be delivered in the country of destination free of charge. Official correspondence between the two Post Departments relating exclusively to the postal service shall be exempt from postage charges. IX. Neither Post Department shall be required to deliver any article received in the mails, the circulation of which shall be prohibited by the laws in force in the country of destination. And any article subject, by the laws of either country, to Customs duty or to confiscation, shall, when received in the mails from the other, be treated in accordance with the laws of the receiving country. X. The two Post Departments may provide for the transmission of registered articles in the mails exchanged between the two countries. The registration fee for each article shall be 10 cents in the United States and 6d. in Bermuda. XI. The two Post Departments shall settle, by agreement between them, all measures of detail and arrangement required to carry this Convention into execution, and may modify the same, in like manner, from time to time, as the exigencies of the service may require. XII. This Convention shall come into operation on the 1st day of October, and shall be terminable at any time on a notice, by either office, of six months. Done in duplicate, and signed in Washington on the 29th day of August, 1876, and in Hamilton on the 9th day of August, 1876. JAS. N. TYNER, Postmaster-General of the United States. J. H. LEFROY, Major-General, Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the Bermudas. I hereby approve the aforegoing Convention, and in testimony thereof I have caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. U. S. GRANT. By the President: W. HUNTER, Acting Secretary of State. Washington, September 4, 1876. CORRESPONDENCE between Great Britain and the United States, respecting the Imposition of Duty by the United States' Authorities upon Tin Cans containing Fish from Canada.-1875, 1876. No. 4.-Sir E. Thornton to the Earl of Derby.-(Received May 2.) I HAVE the honour to inclose copy of a despatch which I have received from the Governor-General of Canada, and in which his Excellency forwards me a Report of a Committee of the Privy Council of Canada, relative to the refusal of the Customs authorities to allow the import, free of duty, of some tin cans containing lobster, the produce of the Dominion of Canada, and to the collection of duties upon tin cans containing fish from Canada. I also inclose three printed copies of an Act of Congress passed during the last session of Congress, and approved on the 8th of February last, making certain alterations in the Customs and internal revenue laws. At the end of the 4th section of this Act is a proviso imposing a duty upon tin cans containing fish admitted free of duty. I at first thought that the refusal to admit the lobster in tins brought by the Lizzie Dakers to Philadelphia was in accordance with this proviso, for I cannot find that there is any such duty as that of 35 per cent. ad valorem upon lobster in tins; but as the arrival of the Lizzie Dakers was previous to the passing of the inclosed Act, I presume that the Customs authorities chose to consider the tin cans as coming under the head of "manufactures of tin," upon which there is a duty of 35 per cent. I thought it, however, expedient to address a note to Mr. Cadwalader, Acting Secretary of State in the absence of Mr. Fish, in which I have put it that an attempt was made to levy duty upon the fish, and that this was an infraction of Article XXI of the Treaty of May 8, 1871.* I also adverted to the proviso of the Act of February 8, 1875, levying a duty upon tin cans containing fish free of duty, which it appears to me is entirely opposed to the spirit of the Treaty of May 8, 1871, for it is of course impossible to import fish of that sort without the protection of these tin cans, which are themselves, when once broken open, of no use or value whatever. Your Lordship will observe that the Act imposes the duty upon cans or packages made of tin or other material," so that if this principle is admitted, there is no reason why such a duty should not be imposed upon tin cans, barrels, cases, or any other package containing fish as would prohibit entirely the importation of fish from Canada, and render the stipulation of the Treaty illusory. I have the honour to inclose a copy of my note above-mentioned. I have, &c., The Earl of Derby. EDWD. THORNTON. (Inclosure 2.)-Report of a Committee of the Honourable the Privy Council, approved by his Excellency the Governor-General on the 7th day of April, 1875. THE Committee of the Privy Council have had under consideration a Report dated 31st March, 1875, from the Honourable the Minister of Customs, submitting certain papers having reference to the collection of duty by the United States' Customs upon tin cans containing fish, being the produce of the Canadian fisheries. These papers consist of two letters from Mr. Thomas G. Bourne, of the city of St. John, New Brunswick, dated respectively 7th January and 18th February, 1875, stating that, having consigned 50 cases of canned lobsters to Philadelphia, accompanied by a United States' Consul's certificate that the fish was the produce of Canadian fisheries, the Collector of that port refused to accept entry without payment of duty, which letters are accompanied by an affidavit of Charles Buckard, master of the schooner Lizzie Dakers, in which vessel the fish was conveyed to Philadelphia, con--firmatory of Mr. Bourne's statements. * Vol. LXI. Page 40. In addition to the above the Minister also submits two telegrams from the Collector of Customs of Philadelphia, and one from the Collector of the Port of Boston, dated 13th and 15th March ultimo, to the Commissioner of Customs, from which it will be seen that, while they disclaim the collection of duty on the fish, they have charged a very onerous duty upon the cans in which it is contained, viz., 1 cents each upon quart cans, and 1 cents for each additional quart. In connection with these papers the Minister further invites the attention of your Excellency in Council to Article XXI of the Treaty of Washington, which is as follows: "It is agreed that for the term of years mentioned in Article XXXIII of this Treaty fish-oil and fish of all kinds (except fish of the inland lakes and of the rivers falling into them, and except fish preserved in oil), being the produce of the fisheries of the United States, or of the Dominion of Canada, or of Prince Edward Island, shall be admitted into each country respectively free of duty." The Minister submits that the language of this Article is very explicit, and that any measure which imposes a duty upon ordinary and usual packages which it is the custom of parties engaged in the trade to use, for the preservation and transportation of the fish, is, in effect, the imposition of a duty upon the fish itself, and cannot be regarded otherwise than as a violation of the Treaty; That the cans also upon which this duty is imposed are of no value whatever after the contents are removed, and are only used because of the perishable nature of the commodity, and are essential to its preservation in a fresh condition. The Minister further represents that all similar canned fish, the produce of the fisheries of the United States, is invariably admitted to entry in all ports of Canada free of duty upon both cans and their contents, that being in accordance with the letter and spirit of the Treaty; and he therefore recommends that the question be submitted to Her Majesty's Ambassador to the United States for such action as may be necessary to secure a strict observance of the Treaty obligations referred to. The Committee fully concur in the views and recommendation submitted in the said Report, and advise that a copy of this Minute, and of the papers therein referred to, be transmitted by your Excellency to Sir Edward Thornton. Certified: W. A. HIMSWORTH, Clerk Privy Council, Canada. (Inclosure 3.)-Act to amend existing Customs and Internal Revenue Laws, and for other purposes. (Extract.) 8th February, 1875. SECTION 4. That on and after the date of the passage of this |