AGREEMENT FOR AN EXCHANGE OF UNINSURED POSTAL PARCELS BETWEEN BRITISH SOLOMON ISLANDS AND THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

(Tulagi-Melbourne, 9 May-4 June 1929)

RETROSPECTIVE ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1 JANUARY 1929 

The undersigned, being duly authorised, have agreed, on behalf of their respective Governments, to the following Articles.

Article 1
There shall be a regular exchange of uninsured parcels between British Solomon Islands on the one hand, and the several States of the Commonwealth of Australia on the other hand, which exchange shall be effected by means of the ordinary postal service between those countries. 
Article 2
Offices of exchange 
The following are designated as the offices of exchange: 
For British Solomon Islands: 
General Post Office, Tulagi. 
Gizo. 
Shortlands. 
Vanikoro (via New Hebrides). 
For Australia: 
Sydney for both the despatch and receipt of parcel mails. 
Brisbane for the despatch of parcel mails only. 
Article 3
Limits of weight and size 
The maximum limit of weight of a parcel shall be 11 pounds, and no parcel shall exceed 3 feet 6 inches in length, or 6 feet in length and girth combined. 
Article 4
Postage
Prepayment of postage by means of postage stamps affixed to the parcels shall be compulsory. The postage rates and their apportionment shall be as follows: 
	Parcels not exceeding - lbs 	
	1 	2 	3 	4 	5 	6 	7 	8 	9 	10 	11 	
	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	s 	d 	
British Solomon Island's share for inland transit 	3 		5 		7 		9 		11 	1 	1 	1 	3 	1 	5 	1 	7 	1 	9 	1 	11 	
																						
Sea transit between Australia and British Solomon Islands	2 		4 		6 		8 		10 	1 	- 	1 	2 	1 	4 	1 	6 	1 	8 	1 	10 	
																						
Australia's share for inland transit 	3 		5 		7 		9 		11 	1 	1 	1 	3 	1 	5 	1 	7 	1 	9 	1 	11 	
TOTAL 	8 	1 	2 	1 	8 	2 	2 	2 	8 	3 	2 	3 	8 	4 	2 	4 	8 	5 	2 	5 	8 	

Article 5
Cost of receptacles 
The cost of receptacles required for the exchange of parcels under this Agreement, and of any repairs thereto, shall be shared equally between the Postal Departments of the Commonwealth of Australia and British Solomon Islands. 
Article 6
Sea conveyance 
Each office of exchange shall make its own arrangements for the conveyance of parcels by sea to the country of destination; and for the payment of the cost of such conveyance. 

Article 7
Transit parcels 
1. Subject to the general provisions of this Agreement, each of the two Administrations party thereto may utilise the services of the other for the transmission of parcels addressed to any place or country with which they respectively have parcel post communication. 
2. In the absence of any arrangement to the contrary, the exchange of transit parcels shall be effected à découvert. 
3. The sums to be credited to the retransmitting Administration in respect of its intermediary service shall be in accordance with the tables of rates to be mutually communicated. 
Article 8
Addressing and packing 
1. No parcel may be accepted for conveyance by parcel post unless it bears a full address. 
2. Every parcel must be packed in a manner adequate for the protection of the contents. 

Article 9
No parcel to contain enclosure for delivery to an address other than that borne by the parcel itself 
1. No parcel may contain a letter or other postal packet. If a parcel be posted with such an enclosure the parcel will be forwarded to its destination, charged with postage on the enclosure at the unpaid rate applicable to such enclosure if forwarded through the post separately, and such postage shall be in addition to any other charges to be paid on delivery of the parcel. 
2. No parcel may contain another parcel intended for delivery at an address other than that borne by the parcel itself. If such enclosed parcel be detected it will be withdrawn and sent forward charged with the unpaid postage from the country of origin to the place of destination. 

Article 10
Prohibited articles 
1. Substance of a dangerous, damaging or offensive nature, or contraband articles, or liquids (unless securely packed in proper cases) or current coin, diamonds, specie, bullion, or gold (in dust or nuggets) shall not be enclosed in a parcel. 
2. The respective Administrations shall communicate to each other a list of the articles which their laws and regulations prohibit being sent by parcel post. 
Article 11
Parcel bills 
For each mail there shall be prepared a parcel bill which shall be made out in triplicate, one copy to be retained by the despatching office of exchange and the other two copies to accompany the mail to the office of exchange of the Country or State of destination. The parcel bills shall be numbered serially, commencing with No. 1 for the first bill of each calendar year and each entry in a parcel bill shall be numbered serially, commencing with No. 1. On the first bill of each calendar year, the last serial number of the past year must be mentioned. 
Article 12
Customs declarations 
Every parcel shall be accompanied by a declaration of its contents and value, which must be signed by the sender (whose address should be stated) and be affixed to the parcel. The form of declaration shall have also marked thereon the number of the parcel, as shown on the parcel bill, and the name of the place to which the parcel is addressed. 

Article 13
Verification of parcel mails 
1. As soon as the parcel mail shall have reached the office of exchange of destination, that office shall check the contents of the mail. In the event of a parcel bill not having been received a substitute should at once be prepared. 
2. The non-receipt of a parcel advised as having been despatched, the receipt of a parcel in a damaged or imperfect condition, and every discrepancy between a parcel bill and the parcels entered therein, or other error in a parcel bill, observed by the receiving office of exchange, shall be recorded in a verification certificate, which certificate shall be forwarded by return mail to the despatching office of exchange. 
3. If no verification certificate is received, a parcel mail shall be considered as duly delivered, having been found on examination correct in all respects. 

Article 14
Delivery at a second address or abandonment of a parcel in certain cases
The sender of a parcel may request, at the time of posting that, if the parcel cannot be delivered as addressed, it may be either: 
(a) Treated as abandoned; 
(b) Tendered for delivery at a second address in the country of destination (no other alternative being admissible); 
(c) Returned to sender. 
If the sender avails himself of this facility his request must be written on the parcel, and must be in the following form: 
"If this parcel is undeliverable to the addressee, it should be- 
(a) Considered as abandoned; 
(b) Delivered to ........................ 
(c) Returned to sender." 
(The alternatives not required should be struck out). 

Article 15
Undeliverable and perishable parcels 
1. In the absence of a definite request for abandonment, a parcel which is undeliverable at the original address or at the alternative address, if one is furnished, shall be returned to the sender without previous notification at his expense, at the expiration of the period of detention prescribed by the internal regulations of the country of destination. 
2. Articles liable to deterioration or corruption, and these only, may, however, be sold immediately without previous notice or legal formality, for the benefit of the right party. An account of sale shall be drawn up. The sum realised by the sale shall be used in the first place to defray the charges upon the parcel. Any balance which there may be shall be remitted to the office of origin to be paid to the sender. 
3. A parcel becoming offensive, or worthless (if for any reason a sale is impossible) or injurious to any officer of the post office or any other person, may be dealt with or disposed of as the office of exchange in whose possession such parcel may be, shall determine. 

Article 16
Missent parcels
1. Missent parcels shall be forwarded to their destination by the most direct route at the disposal of the office retransmitting them. When this retransmission involves the return of the parcel to the office of origin, the amounts credited in the parcel bill of that office shall be cancelled, and the retransmitting office of exchange shall send back the parcels to the office from which it received them, simply recording them on the parcel bill. Attention shall be called to the error by means of a verification certificate. 
2. If, however, the amount credited to the retransmitting office be insufficient to cover the expenses of retransmission to a country other than the country of origin which it has to defray, it shall recover the difference by raising the amount entered to its credit in the parcel bill of the despatching office of exchange. The reason for this rectification shall be notified to the said office by means of a verification note. 

Article 17

Redirected parcels 

1. For the redirection of parcels from one address to another in the country of destination, supplementary charges may be levied as are prescribed by the domestic regulations. 
2. A parcel redirected in consequence of the removal of the addressee to another country with which arrangements for the exchange of parcels exist, is subject to a charge to be paid by the addressee, representing the ordinary rate of postage from the office of redirection to the place of delivery. 
3. Any parcel, the addressee of which has left for a country between which and the office of address no parcel post exists, shall be dealt with as "undeliverable". 
4. Each office forwarding a redirected parcel or returning a parcel to the country of origin (other than missent parcels) shall claim on the parcel bill the credit due for conveyance of the parcel. 
5. If the amount chargeable for the further conveyance of a redirected parcel be paid at the time of its redirection, the parcel shall be dealt with as if it had been addressed direct from the retransmitting country to the country of destination, and shall be delivered without any postal charge to the addressee. 

Article 18
Compensation 
Neither of the two countries party to this Agreement shall be responsible for the loss of or damage to any uninsured parcel, and no indemnity can consequently be claimed from either country by the sender or addressee of an uninsured parcel which may become lost or damaged in transmission through the post. 

Article 19
Accounts 
1. The Commonwealth of Australia shall prepare half-yearly accounts, based on the entries contained in the parcel bills corrected by verification certificates. 
2. Two copies of these accounts shall be forwarded to British Solomon Islands for examination, and return of one accepted copy to the office which furnished it. The balance found to be due shall be adjusted through the Money Order Account between the two Administrations, or by such other means as may be mutually agreed upon. 

Article 20
Where not provided for in this Agreement, the conditions as to posting, transmission and delivery of parcels (including the levy of Customs Duty and other charges) and redirection within the limits of the Country or State of destination, shall be governed by the regulations of that Country or State. 

Article 21
The two countries of exchange shall mutually decide upon all other measures of detail necessary for the carrying out of this Agreement, which shall be regarded as operating from 1 January 1929. It shall remain in force until one of the parties thereto shall have notified to the other party its intention to terminate such Agreement. 
DONE in duplicate and signed at Tulagi on the ninth day of May 1929 and at Melbourne on 4th June 1929.

[Signed:
Not decipherable

Postmaster General for the Commonwealth of Australia	[Signed:]
Not decipherable

The Acting Resident Commissioner British Solomon Islands Protectorate