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Agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and the Condominium of the New Hebrides for the Exchange of Money Orders [1957] PITSE 1 (21 June 1957)

AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA AND THE CONDOMINIUM OF THE NEW HEBRIDES FOR THE EXCHANGE OF MONEY ORDERS

(Vila-Canberra, 21 June-17 July 1957)

RETROSPECTIVE ENTRY INTO FORCE: 1 JULY 1957

The undersigned, being duly authorised, have agreed on behalf of their respective Governments to the exchange of Money Orders between the Condominium of the New Hebrides and the Commonwealth of Australia, in accordance with the following provisions:

Article 1

There shall be a regular exchange of Money Orders between the Condominium of the New Hebrides and the Commonwealth of Australia.

Article 2

Offices of Exchange

1. The service shall be performed exclusively by the agency of offices of exchange.

2. On the part of the Postal Administration of the New Hebrides the office of exchange shall be Vila, and on the part of the Postal Administration of the Commonwealth of Australia, the offices of exchange shall be Sydney, for the States of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Western Australia and Tasmania and Brisbane for the State of Queensland.

3. Additional offices of exchange may be established from time to time as may be arranged between the Postal Administrations of the two contracting countries.

Article 3

Maximum Amount

1. The maximum amount of each Money Order shall be forty pounds ([sterling]40) in Australian currency.

2. No Money Order shall contain a fractional part of a penny.

Article 4

Currency

The amount of each Money Order, whether issued in the New Hebrides or in the Commonwealth of Australia, shall be expressed in Australian currency. The amounts of Money Orders deposited by the remitters and paid to the payees shall be in legal currency of the respective Administrations.

Article 5

Conversion

Money Orders issued by the Commonwealth of Australia for payment in the New Hebrides shall be converted by the exchange office of the paying administration from Australian currency to the currency of the New Hebrides at the appropriate official exchange rate operating at the time of receipt of the relative advices from the issuing administrations.

Article 6

Treatment of Orders and Advices

1. Each Money Order shall be delivered to the remitter thereof, to be forwarded by him at his own expense to the payee, except in the case of "through" orders (Article 10) which shall be re-advised by the intermediary office of exchange.

2. The advice form of each Money Order shall be despatched by the exchange office of the issuing administration to the exchange office of the paying administration together with the lists upon which the relative orders are advised (Article 11).

Article 7

Charges

1. The Postal Administrations of the respective countries have the power to fix, from time to time, the rates of commission to be charged on all Money Orders which they may respectively issue.

2. Each office shall notify to the other its tariff of charges or rates of commission which shall be established under this agreement, and those rates shall be in all cases payable in advance by the remitters and shall not be repayable.

3. The commission so charged shall belong to the country of issue; but that country shall credit to the paying country one half of one per cent on the total value of the orders issued in its jurisdiction and advised to the country of payment.

Article 8

Office and State of Payment

Every Money Order and advice must contain the name of the office at which it is intended payment shall be made, and in the case of orders payable in the Commonwealth, the State in which such office is situated.

Article 9

Particulars to be shown

The applicant for a Money Order shall be required to furnish, if possible, the full surname and Christian name (or at least the initial of one Christian name) both of the remitter and of the payee, or the name of the firm or company who are the remitters or payees, and the address of the remitter. If, however, a Christian name cannot be given, an order may nevertheless be issued at the remitter's risk.

Article 10

"Through" Money Orders

1. Each of the two contracting countries may forward, through the services of the other, money orders for payment in other countries with which the contracting intermediary administration transacts money order business.

2. "Through" money orders accepted for transmission under the provision of the immediately preceding paragraph shall be subject to the following conditions-

(a) the value of an order shall not exceed the maximum amount specified in Article 3 nor the prescribed maximum amount in respect of money orders exchanged between the intermediary country and the country of destination.

(b) the orders shall be advised by the issuing to the intermediary country and the latter shall readvise them to the country of payment.

(c) the particulars of "through" orders shall be entered separately on the ordinary advice lists under the heading "Through Orders" and the total amount of the "through" orders shall be included in the total of such lists.

(d) the name and address of the payee of each "through" order and the names of the office and country of payment shall be shown on the advice lists as fully as possible.

(e) the issuing country shall allow to the intermediary country the same percentage (see Article 7(3)) on "through" orders as on orders issued by one contracting country for payment in the other.

(f) the intermediary country shall be entitled to deduct from the amount of each "through" order a "through" commission calculated in accordance with the scale of "through" commission charges fixed by such intermediary country. Each administration shall advise the other of the scale of charges which it has fixed for this purpose.

(g) in the event of a "through" order being repaid to the remitter the commission charged for the intermediary service shall not be refunded.

Article 11

Lists of Money Orders issued

1. Particulars of money orders issued by one country for payment in or through the other shall be prepared by the exchange offices of the issuing country on a list statement conforming to a design mutually agreed upon by the Postal Administrations of the two contracting countries, and the list statements shall be despatched by the first available mail (after the date of issue of the orders) to the relative exchange offices of the country of payment.

2. The lists shall be numbered consecutively throughout the year commencing with No. 1 at the beginning of the month of January in each year and ending with the number of the last list despatched in the month of December in the same year.

3. The money orders shown in the lists shall also be numbered consecutively (these numbers to be called "International Numbers") commencing with No. 1 (one) at the beginning of each calendar year.

Article 12

Examination and Rectification of Lists

1. 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.

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

3. Pending the receipt of the explanation, the payment of orders found to be erroneous in the lists may be suspended at the discretion of the paying administration.

Article 13

1. The orders issued by each country on the other shall be subject, as regards payment, to the regulations which govern inland orders in the country of payment.

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

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

1. The remitter of a Money Order may before payment of such order, demand repayment of the amount thereof or the rectification of the name or address of the payee.

2. Repayments of the amounts of orders to remitters shall not be made until an authorisation for such repayment shall 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 on the quarterly account (Article 19).

Article 16

Advice of Payment

1. The remitter of a Money Order may obtain an Advice of Payment of the order by paying in advance to the exclusive profit of the Administration of the country of issue a charge to be fixed by such Administration.

2. If application for an Advice of Payment be made at the time of the issue of the order, the words "Advise Payment" shall be written on the order and on the advice in the space for the date stamp of the office of payment, and the full address of the remitter shall be written after the name on the advice and in the list. The letters "AP" shall also be written against the entry in the list.

3. After paying the amount of the order, the paying office shall forward an Advice of Payment by first post as an ordinary letter, direct to the remitter.

4. In the case of "through" orders (Article 10) all completed forms of Advice of Payment shall be sent to the exchange office of the intermediary country which shall arrange for their despatch to the remitters.

5. If application for an Advice of Payment be made subsequent to the issue of an order, a form of Advice of Payment, giving full particulars of the order and of the advising, and fully addressed to the remitter, shall be sent to the exchange office of the country of payment (or in the case of "through" orders to the exchange office of the intermediary country) which shall arrange for its completion and despatch to the remitter.

Article 17

Period of Validity

Money Orders which shall not have been paid within twelve calendar months after the month of issue shall become void and the sums received therefore shall be credited to and be at the disposal of the country of origin.

Article 18

Statements of void Orders

At the end of every month each office or exchange shall prepare and forward to the other office a statement (conforming to a design mutually agreed upon by the two contracting administrations) showing particulars of all orders issued by the other office which have remained unpaid at the end of the period specified in Article 17.

Article 19

Accounts

At the close of each quarter, or as soon thereafter as practicable, an account, in duplicate, shall be prepared and forwarded by the Postal Administration of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Postal Administration of the New Hebrides. Such account shall include particulars of the Money Order business transacted between the two Administrations during the immediately preceding three monthly period and shall comprise-

(1) statement showing particulars of orders authorised during the quarter, to be repaid to the remitters;

(2) statement showing particulars of void orders brought to account during the quarter;

(3) statement showing amount of each list; and

(4) general account statement of Money Order transactions based on particulars contained in Statements (1), (2) and (3).

The account statements shall conform to designs mutually agreed upon by the two administrations.

Article 20

Settlement of Account Balances

1. If the balance of the quarterly account be in favour of the Commonwealth of Australia, the amount due shall, unless otherwise mutually arranged, be paid by the Postal Administration of the New Hebrides, by draft in Australian currency to the Director-General of Posts and Telegraphs, Melbourne, Victoria.

2. On the other hand, should the balance be in favour of the Postal Administration of the New Hebrides, the amount due shall be paid by the Postmaster-General's Department of the Commonwealth of Australia by draft in Australian currency to the New Hebrides.

3. The expenses attending all remittances made under the provisions of this Agreement shall invariably be borne by the Postal Administration by which payment is made.

Article 21

Additional Rules

The Postal Administration of each country shall be authorised to adopt any additional rules, if not repugnant to the foregoing, for greater security against fraud, or for the better working of the system generally. All such additional rules, however, shall be communicated to the Postal Administration of the other country concerned.

Article 22

Suspension of Service

1. Each Postal Administration shall have the power, under extraordinary circumstances which may warrant it, temporarily to suspend the exchange of Money Orders with the other.

2. Notice of such suspension shall be given to the other Administration, if necessary, by telegram, if such means of communication is available.

Article 23

1. This Agreement shall take effect on the first day of July one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven, and shall continue in force until twelve months after either of the contracting countries shall have notified the other of its intention to terminate it, unless it shall be mutually agreed that the circumstances warrant an earlier termination.

2. DONE in duplicate in Canberra on the seventeenth day of July one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven and in Vila on the 21st day of June one thousand nine hundred and fifty-seven.