Southern shield., 1851-02-22

To- fA pluueI may OUer, where tne NanSpOr- ton called for Tn the advertisement Is difficult or Impractlcable at certain seasons, to substitute an inferior mode of conveyance, or to intermit ser vice specified number of days, weeks, or months. lie may propose to omit an office that Ils inaccessible, or Is not on the stage road, the railway, or at a steamboat landing, as the case may be; or he may offer 10 substitute an ilnienor mode of supply in such cases. He may propose different days and hours of de- iparture and arrival, provided no more running ltlme IS asked and it is obvious that no mail con neXlon or other public accommodations is pre- lJudlced. lie may ask for more running time to the trip, during specified number of days, at certain seasons of peculiarly bad roads but beyond these changes, proposal for service different from the advertisement will prevent it's being considered in competition with regular bid not set aside for extravaganza and where a bid contains any of the above alterations, their disadvantages will be estimated in comparing 1t with other proposals.
 l IA There should be but one route bid for in a proposal.
 1 IS. The route, the service, the yearly pay, Ithe bidders name and residence, and the name of each member of the firm, where company offers, should be distinctly stated also the mode of conveyance, if higher mode than on horseback is intended
 Is. The bid should be sent under seal, ad- dressed to the First Assistant Postmaster Gen. Ieral, with ''Mail Proposals in the State or Ter lrltOry of --," written on the face of the letter and should be dispatched in time 10 be received by or before the lst of April next, at 10 o'clock, A. II. It should be guaranteed and the sufficiency of the guarantors be duly cer- flied. (See forms.)
 r. The contracts are to be executed by or before the lst of July next
 IS. Postmasters at offices situated upon or near railroads, but more than eighty rods from la depot, will immediately after the 18th April next report that fact to the Department, stating their exact distance from the railroad depot, and how otherwise supplied with the mail, to enable the Postmaster General to direct the proper supply to be made from the railroad by mail messengers, from and after the lst of July next. I9. Under the act of March 3, l845, the route is to be let to the lowest bidder rendering sufficient guaranties for faithful performance, without other reference to the mode of trans portation than may be necessary to provide for the due celerty, certainty, and security of such transportation.
 When the lowest bid proposes mode of con- veyance that is inadequate for the route in re- spect to the certainty, security, and celerity of the mails, aside from any accommodation for travel, it will not be entitled to the route. 20. When the bid does not name a mode of conveyance, 1t will be taken and understood to be for the lowest mode of conveyance, to
 wit, on horseback. When it proposes to car ry according to the advertisement and no mode of conveyance is stated for the route in the ad-
 vertisement, 1t will be considered as offering | for horseback CUuveyance-
 | 2l. Since the passage of the act of March B
 1845, new description of bid has been receiv-
 ed. Ii specifics no mode of conveyance, but engages to carry the mail with certainty celer
 ity, and security, using the terms of the law.
 These bids are called, from the manner in
 which they are des ignaed on the books of the
 Department, star bjdS." It has been decid-
 ed, after mature consideration, that bid pro- posing a specific mode of conveyance of as high a grade as two horse coach transportation
 Is to be preferred to the star bid. The eXpe-
 rience of the Department enables it to lay down the following rules, viz
 When the mail on the route is not so large as
 to require two-horse coach conveyances, star bid, if the lowest, will be preferred to the spe-
 cifc bid.
 p. When the mails are of such size and fweight as to render 1t necessary or eXpedIent m reference to them alone, to provide two horse Icoach conveyance the specific bid, though the highest, will be preferred to the star bid, to the
 extent of a moderate difference in the compen- |sation, in case the difference Is not such as to interfere with the policy of the new law, which
 looks to a reduction in the cost of transporta- lton. Exceptions, however, may be allowed, Iwhere the star bid is made by the present own Ter of the stock on the route, and 1t IS manifest
 that the reasons for preferring the specific bld Ido not exist in his case.
 23 On routes of the highest class, where -four horse coach or steamboat transportation IS
 required by the size and importance of the Imails, the preference for the specific bid Will be, If necessary, carried to a greater extent of dlt- ference than on the inferior coach routes, sub- fleet, however, to the exceptions above stated. 24 A modification of bid in any of It's Iessential terms, is tantamOunt to a new bld, and
 cannot be received, so as to interfere with reg
 ular competition, after the last hour set for re- Iceiving bids.
 25. Postmasters are required to be careful and not to certify the sufficiency of gnarantors
 or sureties without knowing that they are per
 sons of sufficient responsibility and all bid-
 ders, guarantors, and sureties are distinctly mo- ltified that on failure to enter into or perform
 the contracts for the service proposed for in the
 accepted bids, their legal liabilities will be enfor Iced against them.
 26' The contracts will be substantially in the
 forms heretofore used in this Department ex-
 ceptin the respects particularly mentioned in
 these instructions and conditions and on all Iralroad and steamboat routes the contractors
 will be required to deliver the mails into the post offices at the ends of the routes and into
 all the post offices not more than eighty rods from the railroad or landing.
 N. K. HALL, Postmaster General.