Southern shield., 1850-03-09
NO. 4.8.

will prevent its being considered in compe- tition with regular bid not set aside for extravaganza; and where a bid contains any of the above alterations, their disadvan. tages will be estimated in comparing it with other proposals.
 II. There should be but one route bid for in proposal.
 l5. The route, the service, the yearly pay, the bidders name and residence, an the name of each member of the finn, where a company offers, should be distinctly stat ed; also the mode of conveyance, if higher mode than on horseback is intended.
 Is. The bid should be sent under seal, addressed to the First Assistant Postmaster General, with ''Mail Proposals in [name the State and Territory, P written on the face of the letter; and should be dispatched in time to be received by or before the 10th April next. at 10 o'clock A. M It should be guaranted, and the sufliciency of the guarantors should be duly certified. (See forms.)
 IT. The contracts are to be executed by or before the lst July next.
 Is. Postmasters at offices situated upon or near railroads, but more than eighty rods from depot, will immediately after the llth May next, report that fact to the De- partment, stating their exact distance from the railroad depot, and how otherwise SUD- piled with the mail, to enable the Posmas- ter General to direct the proper supply 10 be made from the railroad by mail messen- gers, from and after the first July next
 l9. Undsr the act of March 3, IS45, the route is 10 be let to the lowest bidder, ten dering sufficient guaranties for faithful per- formance, without other reference to the mode of transportation than may be neces- sary to provide for the due celerity, certainty and security of such transportation.
 When the lowest bid proposes mode of conveyance that is inadequate for the route in respect 10 the certainty, security, and celerity of the mails, aside from any accom- modation for travel, it will not be entitled to the route.
 20. When the bid does not name mode of conveyance, it will be taken and under stood to be for the lowest mode of convey ance, to wit, on horseback When it pro- poses to carry according to the advertisement and no mode of conveyance is stated for the route in the advertisement, it will be con- sidered as offering only for horseback con- vevance.
 2l. Since the passage of the act of March }, lS45, new description of bid has been received. It specifics no mode of convey ance, but engages to carry the mail with certainty, ceierity, and security, using the terms of the law. These bids are called, from the manner in which they are desig- mated on the books of the Department, ''Star 6ids." It has been decided, after mature consideration, that bid proposing a specific mode of conveyance of as high grade as two-horse coach transportation is to be preferred to the star bid. The experi- ence of the Department enables it 10 lay down the following rules, viz:
 When the mail on the route is not so large as 10 require two horse coach convey ance, star bid, if the lowest, will be pre- teTed to the specific bid.
 p. When the mails are of such size and weight as to render it necessary or expedi- ent, interference to them alone, to provide two-horse coach conveyance, the specific bid, though the highest, will be preferred 10 the star bid, to the extent of a moderate difference in the compensation, in case the difference is not such as 10 interfere with the policy of the new law, which looks to a reduction in the cost of transportation.- Exceptions, however, may be allowed, where the star bid is made by the present owner of the stock on the route, and 1t IS manifest that the reasons for preferring the specific bid do not exist in his case.
 3. On routes of the highest class, where four-horse coach or steamboat transporta- ton is required by the size and importance of the mails, the preference for the specific bid will be, if necessary, carried to greater extent of difference than on the inferior coach routes, subject however, to the ex- captions above stated.
 24. A modification of bid, in any of its essential terms, is tantamount 10 new bid, and cannot be received, so as to interfere with regular competition, after the last hour set for receiving bids.
 J. COLLAMER, Postmaster Genera.
 PosT OFFICE DEPARTMENT,
 January, l650.-42-I2w.