British Administration responsible for Correctness of International Messages and Adjustment of Accounts, and to collect Payments for Messages. ART. IX. The English Administration being responsible for the correct transmission of all international messages, and for the adjustment of the accounts, will collect the payments for these messages according to the rates of the prevailing International Telegraph Convention. Registration and Sealing by Persian Government of International Messages originating in Persia. All international messages originating in Persia shall, before transmission, be registered and sealed by officials appointed by the Persian Government. International Messages terminating in Persia to be delivered by Persian Officials. Receipts to be given to British Administration. International messages terminating in Persia shall be delivered to the addresses through the agency of the same officials, who shall be bound to give receipts for such messages to the English Administration. Access of Persian Administration to English Offices and Records. The Persian Administration shall at all times have free access to the English offices, and to all records connected with international traffic. Meaning of International Messages. International messages are those which pass over the wires of more than one State. Maintenance, &c., of Line, and appointment and payment of Guarils to remain in hands of English Director and Staff. ART. X. The maintenance of the line, including repairs, and the appointment, control, and payment of the line guards, shall remain in the hands of the English director and staff. Persia to contribute 1,000 tomans annually. As a contribution towards the expenditure under this head, the Persian Government will pay to the English director the sum of 1,000 tomans annually, this amount being deducted from the royalty due to Persia by the Indo-European Telegraph Company, as hereinbefore described in Article VIII. Duties of Inspectors and Line Guards. ART. XI. The duties of the telegraph inspectors and line guards are strictly confined to repairing and maintaining the line. Punishment of Offenders for wilful damage to Line. If the line be wilfully damaged, the Persian Government will take the most stringent measures to oblige the local authorities to apprehend and punish the offenders. Complaints, &c., by English Officers to be attended to by Governors of Districts. The Governors of districts will be accordingly instructed to pay prompt attention to all complaints and communications made to them by the English officers. Persian Government to pay for any wilful damage to Line. ART. XII. In case of any wilful damage to the line, the expense of repairing the same shall be defrayed by the Persian Government. Testing the Lines. Persian Officials to obey orders of English Director. ART. XIII. To enable the English director to have a perfect knowledge of the state of the wires and offices, and thereby to provide for their general efficiency and the rapid removal of any impediment to telegraphic communication, the orders and regulations issued by him regarding the connections within the offices, and the times and manner of testing the lines, shall be strictly obeyed by the Persian telegraph officers and signallers. Debt due by Persian Government to English Government on account of erection of First and Second Wires. How to be paid. ART. XIV. It having been ascertained that the debt owed by the Persian Government to the English Government on account of materials and erection of the second wire, together with some items connected with the erection of the first wire, and the payment of line guards, amounted on the 31st December, 1869, to 115,079 tomans 8 krans, or 47,2477. sterling, the English Government agrees to accept payment without interest, in the course of 24 years, in 24 equal instalments, of the same from the Indo-European Telegraph Company. Reservation in favour of Indo-European Telegraph Company. Should the aforesaid Indo-European Telegraph Company wish to pay the amount in question sooner, it is at liberty to do so. Punctual payment of Instalments by Indo-European Telegraph Company. The English Government shall notify without delay to the Persian Government any instance of failure on the part of the Indo-European Telegraph Company in paying the periodical instalments, and will then hold the Persian Government responsible for any portion of the debt remaining unpaid. Liabilities of Indo-European Telegraph Company towards Persia. Nothing in this Article is to be considered to invalidate any claim on the Indo-European Telegraph Company, which the Persian Government holds in virtue of the concessions granted to the said Company. Articles required by English Staff to be admitted into Persia free of Duty. ART. XV. All articles required by the English staff from abroad for the service of the line shall be exempt from Customs or other duties in Persia. Application of Convention to Tehran-Bushire and Tehran Khanekeen Lines. ART. XVI. This Convention applies specially to the TehranBushire section, but shall apply equally to the Tehran-Khanekeen section, should the English director at any time deem it expedient to resume charge of that portion of the Persian telegraph. In such a case the tariff of the Tehran-Khanekeen section, and the method of account, shall be settled by a special arrangement between the English and Persian Administrations. Settlement of Disagreements. ART. XVII. Any disagreement arising between the telegraph employés of the two Governments shall be referred for decision to the Persian Minister for Foreign Affairs and the British Representative at Tehran. Duration of Convention until 1st January, 1895, when the whole Line is to be handed over to Persian Government. ART. XVIII. This Convention shall take effect from the day on which its ratifications are exchanged, and shall remain in force until the 1st of January, 1895,* on which date the English staff shall make over the whole line, in whatever condition it may be at the time, including iron posts and third wire, to the Persian Government, and shall then cease to have any further connection with the Persian telegraph. Right of British Government to hand over the Line at an earlier date. ART. XIX. After the erection of the third wire, it shall be competent for the English Government, at any time before the expiry of this Convention, on giving six months' notice, to hand over the line in its existing condition to the Persian Government, and to withdraw its officers and employés from the country, ceasing from that date to have any further connection with the Persian telegraph. Ratifications. ART. XX. The ratifications of the present Convention shall be exchanged at Tehran within five months, or sooner if practicable. Done at Tehran, in quadruplicate, this 2nd day of the month of December, in the year of Our Lord, 1872. (L.S.) RONALD F. THOMSON. (No. 15.). CONVENTION between Great Britain and Persia, for the Suppression of the Traffic in Slaves.-Signed in the English and Persian languages, at Tehran, 2nd March, 1882.† [Ratifications exchanged at Tehran, 14th June, 1882.] Art. TABLE OF CONTENTS. I. Permission to British Cruizers to visit and detain Persian Merchant-vessels. Persons provided with Government passports not to be molested under certain circumstances. II. British Officer to be present at adjudication of Captured Vessels. Disposal of Condemned Vessels and Slaves found on board. III. Persians engaging in Slave Traffic by sea to be severely punished. Slaves imported to be manumitted and protected. IV. Agreement of August, 1851, cancelled. In the Name of God, the Almighty, all Merciful. HER Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, and His Majesty the *Prolonged until the 31st January, 1905, by an Agreement dated 3rd July, 1887, page 44. +From "State Papers," Vol. 73, page 31. This Convention was carried into effect by an Order in Council dated 18th August, 1982, page 42. Shah of Persia, being mutually animated by a sincere desire to co-operate for the extinction of the barbarous Traffic in Slaves, have resolved to conclude a Convention for the purpose of attaining this object, and have named as their Plenipotentiaries, that is to say : Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, Ronald Ferguson Thomson, Esquire, Her Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Persia; And His Majesty the Shah of Persia, his Excellency Mirza Saeed Khan, his Minister for Foreign Affairs; Who, after having communicated to each other their full powers, found in good and due formu, have agreed upon and concluded the following Articles : Permission to British Cruizers to visit and detain Persian Merchant-vessels. ART. I. In order to prevent the chance of negro slaves, male and female, being imported into Persia, British cruizers shall be permitted to visit and detain merchant-vessels under the Persian flag, or belonging to Persian subjects, which may be engaged in, or which there may be reasonable grounds for suspecting to be or to have been engaged during the voyage on which they are met, in carrying slaves; and if any such slaves are found on board such merchant-vessels, the vessel, with all on board, shall be taken before the nearest Persian authorities for trial. Persons provided with Government Passports not to be molested under certain circumstances. But no person whatsoever who, being furnished with a Government passport, countersigned by a British Resident or Consul, may have gone from Persia to visit the places of pilgrimage, shall, when returning, be interfered with, provided such person be not accompanied by more negroes, either male or female, than the number mentioned in his original pass. The presence of any such additional negro or negroes shall be prima facie evidence of an attempted Traffic in Slaves. British Officer to be present at adjudication of captured Vessels. ART. II. If any merchant-vessel under the Persian flag be captured by a British cruizer and taken into a Persian port for adjudication, it shall be the officer of the British cruizer making the capture, or some duly authorized officer of the British Government, who shall be present at such adjudication. Disposal of condemned Vessels and Slaves found on board. In the event of the captured merchant-vessel being condemned and sold, the proceeds of such sale shall go to the |