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Convention between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Kingdom of Tonga concerning the Exchange of Money Orders [1905] PITSE 1 (21 October 1905)

CONVENTION BETWEEN THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND THE KINGDOM OF TONGA CONCERNING THE EXCHANGE OF MONEY ORDERS

(Melbourne-Nuku’alofa, 21 October-7 December 1905)

ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1 JANUARY 1906

The Postmaster-General's Department of the Commonwealth of Australia and the Post Office Department of the Kingdom of Tonga being desirous of establishing a system of exchange of money orders between the two countries, the undersigned duly authorised for the purpose have agreed upon the following Articles.

Article 1

There shall be a regular exchange of money orders between the two countries.

The maximum amount for which a money order may be drawn in either country upon the other shall be forty pounds (£40) sterling.

No money order shall contain a fractional part of a penny. The amount of each order whether issued in the Commonwealth of Australia or the Kingdom of Tonga must be expressed in sterling.

Article 2

The amounts deposited by the remitters and paid to the payees of money orders, shall be in gold coin or any other legal money of the same current value.

Article 3

Each money order shall be delivered to the remitter thereof to be forwarded by him at his own expense to the payee.

Article 4

The Postmaster-General's Department of the Commonwealth of Australia shall have power to fix the rates of commission on all money orders issued within its jurisdiction, and the Post Office Department of Tonga shall have the same power in regard to all money orders issued in the Kingdom of Tonga.

Each Department shall communicate to the other its tariff of charges or rates of commission and these rates shall, in all cases, be payable in advance by the remitter and shall not be repayable. It is understood moreover, that each Department is authorised to suspend, temporarily, the exchange of money orders in case the course of exchange or any other circumstance should give rise to abuses or cause detriment to the postal revenue.

Article 5

Each country shall keep the commission charge on all money orders issued within its jurisdiction, but shall pay to the other country one half of one percent on the amount of such orders.

Article 6

Orders shall be drawn only on the authorised money order offices of the respective countries, and each postal administration shall furnish to the other a list of such offices and shall from time to time notify any addition to or change in such list.

Article 7

Every money order and advice must contain the name of the office at which it is intended that payment shall be made, and no order shall be issued unless the applicant furnishes the forename and surname of the person to whom the amount is to be paid and his own forename, surname and address, or the name of the firm or company who are the remitters or payees.

Article 8

The service of the money order system between the two countries shall be performed by the agency of offices of exchange.

On the part of the Kingdom of Tonga the office of exchange shall be Nuku’alofa, and on the part of the Commonwealth of Australia the office shall be the General Post Office, Sydney. Lists of money orders issued shall be despatched from each office of exchange accompanied by the advices each bearing an impression of the dated stamp of the office from which the list is despatched. The lists shall be numbered consecutively throughout the year, commencing with number one at the beginning of the month of January in each year, and ending with the last number included in the transactions of the year. Lists shall be despatched only when there are advices to be forwarded.

Article 9

Money orders issued either in Tonga or Australia in the month of December, the relative advices of which have failed to reach the respective offices of exchange until the month of January, shall be entered in supplementary lists of the year in which the orders were issued.

Article 10

The advices on their arrival at the exchange office in the country of payment shall be compared with the entries in the list and afterwards stamped and despatched to the office of payment.

Article 11

Each office of exchange shall promptly communicate to the other the correction of any simple error which it may discover in the verification of the lists.

When the lists shall show irregularities which the receiving office shall not be able to rectify, that office shall apply for an explanation to the despatching office and such explanation shall be afforded without delay.

Article 12

The orders drawn by each country on the other shall be subject as regards payment, to the regulations which govern the payment of inland orders of the country on which they were drawn.

The paid orders shall remain in the possession of the country of payment.

Article 13

At the close of each quarter, or as soon after as practicable, an account in duplicate showing in detail the totals of the lists containing the particulars of orders issued in either country during the quarter, and the totals of repaid and void orders shall be prepared at the Post Office at Nuku’alofa and forwarded to the Secretary, Postmaster-General's Department, Melbourne, Victoria. The balance due by either country shall be settled by a bill of exchange payable at sight or by such other means as may be mutually agreed upon. If pending the settlement of an account one of the two Postal Administrations shall ascertain that it owes the other a balance exceeding one hundred pounds (£100) sterling, the indebted administration shall promptly remit the approximate amount of such balance.

Article 14

Duplicate orders shall be issued and transfer of place of payment made only by the Postal Administration of the country on which the original orders were drawn and in conformity with the regulations established or to be established in that country.

Article 15

Repayments of the amounts of orders to remitters shall not be made until an authorisation of such repayment shall first have been obtained by the country of issue from the country where such orders are payable and the amounts of the repaid orders shall be duly credited to the former country in the quarterly account (Article 13).

It is the province of each Postal Administration to determine the manner in which repayment to the remitter is to be made.

Article 16

Orders which shall not have been paid within twelve months from the month of issue shall become void and the sums received shall accrue to, and be at the disposal of the country of issue. The Nuku’alofa office shall therefore enter to the credit of Australia in the quarterly account all money orders entered in the lists received from Australia which remain unpaid at the end of the period specified.

On the other hand the Postmaster-General's Department of the Commonwealth of Australia shall at the close of each month transmit to the Nuku’alofa office for entry in the quarterly account a detailed statement of all orders included in the lists despatched from the latter office which under this Article become void.

Article 17

The two Postal Administrations may by mutual agreement make modifications if found expedient in matters of detail connected with the execution of this Convention in order to provide for greater security against fraud, or for the better working of the system.

Article 18

This Convention shall take effect on 1 January 1906 and shall continue in force until twelve months after either of the contracting parties shall have notified to the other its intention to terminate it.

DONE in duplicate and signed in Melbourne on the 21st day of October in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and five and in Nuku’alofa on the seventh day of December in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and five.