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Article 30. Use of Postage Stamps presumed to be fraudulent for the prepayment of Postage, XXXI. Nil. Article 31. Transit Charges, XXIII. The statistics taken in the month of May, 1896, on account of transit charges will be maintained as the basis for such accounts until the expiration of the Convention of the 15th June, 1897, and of the present Regulations, subject to the reserves stipulated in Sections 2 and 3 following:— (2.) In the event of the accession to the Union of a country having important relations, the countries of the Union of which the situation may, as a result of this circumstance, find themselves modified in connection with the payment of transit charges, have the option of claiming special statistics dealing exclusively with the country which has lately entered. (3.) When an important alteration in the movement of correspondence arises, and provided that this alteration affects a period of at least Six months, the offices interested determine between them according to the new statistics the division of the transit charges in proportion to the part taken by the said offices in the conveyance of correspondence to which the charges relate. (4.) The simple storing in a port of closed mails conveyed by a packet and intended to be again conveyed by another packet does not give rise to the payment of territorial transit charges to the profit of the Post Office storing such mails. Article 32. Note.—Article 24, Vienna Convention has been divided into two parts; the present article deals with the preparation of Accounts, and the following Article (33) with the settlement of Accounts. With a view to enforcing the stipulations of Sub-sections 1, 2, of Section 5, Article 4, of the principal Convention— (a) Each Administration of the Union transmits to the International Bureau, upon a form ad hoc, that the latter will have supplied a statement of the sums to be paid or received, calculated upon the basis of the statistics for 1896, by each of the corresponding Administrations, on account of territorial transit, excluding the extraordinary transit charges provided by Section 4, Article 4, of the Convention, and not including the reductions provided by Section 5, Sub-section 1, of the same Article 4. (b) In case of difference between the corresponding indications of two Administrations, the International Bureau invites them to agree, and to communicate to it the sums definitely fixed. (c) If one of the corresponding Administrations has not furnished the statement within the period determined by the International Bureau, the statement of the other Administration is accepted. (d) No objections are admitted on the part of Administrations which have not furnished the statement above required within the period determined by the International Bureau. (c) The International Bureau designates, upon the basis of the statistics of 1896, the countries to be exonerated from all payments on account of land transit until the expiration of the Washington Convention and of the present regulations; states the total of the sums that these countries would have to pay, and makes the proportional deduction from the total of gross credits of the other countries relating to this transit. It effects, in the second place, the reduction determined, Sect. 5, Sub-sect. 1, of Article 4 of the Convention, and transmits the actual results to all the Administrations, indicating for each of them the amount of its debit or credit with regard to each of the other Administrations interested. (2.) The duty of preparing the accounts for sea transit, upon the basis of Articles 4 and 17 of the principal Convention, and with the reductions provided by Sub-section 3 of Sect. 5 of the first of these Articles, devolves upon the office to which payment is due, which transmits them to the indebted office. The latter office returns them accepted or with its remarks with the least possible delay. If the accounts be not returned within a period of six months they will be settled in accordance with the statements of the crediting office. Article 33. Settlement of Transit Charges. (1.) The annual balance, which results from balancing the reciprocal accounts between two offices, is made in hard cash (francs) by the indebted office to the office to which payment is due by means of bills drawn upon a place in the creditor country, at the option of the indebted office. The

.Article amended to conform to Sec. 3, Article 4, of the principal Convention.