9

E.—2

27. The Company shall at their own cost provide on each of the vessels to be employed under this Agreement a separate and convenient room for the convenient and secure deposit of the mails under lock and key, and shall also at the like cost (if and when they shall be required so to do by the said Postmaster-General) erect and provide on each of such vessels employed under this Agreement to the east of Suez a separate and convenient room for sorting and making up the said mails, and shall provide in such room all such furniture, lamps, fittings, and other conveniences as shall be necessary or convenient for the purpose of sorting and making up the said mails, and all such furniture, lamps, fittings, and other conveniences shall be from time to time cleansed and kept in repair, and the oil for the lamps supplied, by the servants and at the cost of the Company, and the services of the crew of every such vessel shall from time to time be given in the conveyance of the mails between the mailroom and the sorting-room. 28. At each port or place where the said mails are to be delivered and received, the officer having charge of the mails shall, whenever and as often as by him shall be deemed necessary for the public service, and either with or without his assistant or servant, be conveyed on shore and also from the shore to the vessel employed for the time being in the performance of this Agreement, together with or (if such officer shall consider it necessary for the purposes of this Agreement so to do) without mails, in a suitable and seaworthy boat of not less than four oars, to be furnished with effectual covering for the mails, and properly provided, manned, and equipped by the Company. 29. The master or commander of each of the said vessels employed in the performance of this Agreement to the west of Suez, and in all cases where the officer or other person appointed to have charge of the mails shall be absent the master or commander of each of the said vessels employed in the performance of this Agreement to the east of Suez, shall without any remuneration (other than the sum herein provided to be paid to the Company) take due care of, and the Company shall be responsible for the receipt and delivery of, the said mails, and each of such masters or commanders shall make the usual declaration or declarations required or which may hereafter be required by the Postmaster-General in such and similar cases, and furnish such journals, returns, and information to and perform such services as the Postmaster-General or his agents may require, and every such master or commander or officer duly authorized by him having the charge of mails shall himself, immediately on the arrival at any of the said ports or places of any such vessels, deliver all mails for such port or place into the hands of the Postmaster or other person at such port or place whom the PostmasterGeneral shall authorize to receive the same, receiving in like manner all the return or other mails to be forwarded in due course. 30. The Company shall not, nor shall any of the masters of any of the vessels employed or to be employed under this Agreement, receive or permit to be received on board any of the vessels employed under this Agreement any letters for conveyance other than those duly in charge of the said naval officer or other person authorized to have charge of the said mails, or which are or may be privileged by law, nor any mails for conveyance on behalf of any colony or foreign country, without the consent of the Postmaster-General; and in case of any such default respectively, the Company shall be liable to be proceeded against for breach of this Agreement. 31. The Company and all commanding and other officers of the vessels employed in the performance of this Agreement, and all agents, seamen, and servants of the Company, shall at all times punctually attend to the orders and directions of the Postmaster-General, his officers or agents, as to the mode, time, and place of landing, delivering, and receiving mails. 32. The Company shall and will, when and as often as in writing they or the masters of their respective vessels shall be required so to do by the said Postmaster-General or by any naval or other officers or agents acting under his authority (such writing to specify the rank or description of the person or persons to be conveyed and the accommodation to be provided for him or them), receive provide for, victual, and convey to and from and between any of the places to which any of the said vessels are to proceed in the performance of this contract (in addition to the naval officer authorized to have charge of the said mails, and to officers of the Post Office employed in connection with the mails conveyed by such vessel), any number of naval, military, and civil officers in the service of Her Majesty not exceeding eight in any one ship, with or without their wives and children, as chief cabin or first-class passengers, and any number of non-commissioned and warrant officers not exceeding four in any one ship, with or without their wives and children, as fore cabin or second class passengers, together with servants of both chief and fore cabin passengers, and any number of seamen, marines, soldiers, or artificers in Her Majesty's service, not exceeding ten in any one ship, with or without their wives and children, as deck or third-class passengers, to be always provided with effectual protection from rain, sun, and bad weather, and not exposed on deck without such competent shelter, and to have hammocks or bunks (subject to the approval of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty) placed between decks. 33. The passengers who shall be conveyed in pursuance of the last preceding clause (who are hereinafter designated Government passengers), with their families, shall be treated in no respect, whether as regards food, cabin, or other accommodation, or aught else, in a way inferior to that of ordinary passengers of the same class, or that required by the regulations of Her Majesty's Transport Service. The messing of the first and second class Government passengers shall include in each day an imperial pint of good sound bottled or draught ale or beer; and that of the first class, in addition, an imperial pint of good foreign wine, either port or white. The several classes of passengers shall mess in separate places, and medical attendance, medicine, and medical comforts, mess utensils and-fittings, cooking utensils, articles for table use and mess places, fuel, lights, requisite articles of bedding, and all other necessaries, shall be provided for them in like manner as for ordinary passengers of the like classes respectively. 34. The passage money for Government passengers and their families respectively shall be the same as that charged by the Company for ordinary passengers of a similar kind, and shall include all the particulars mentioned in the last preceding clause; and whenever any alterations of- rates for ordinary passengers may be made, the Postmaster-General and the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty shall be immediately apprised of such alterations. 2—P. 2.