Southern shield., 1851-03-08

considered III competition with the regular pro- Iposal not adJudged 10 be eXtravagant.
 IS. bidder may offer, where the transpor-
 ton called tor III the advertisement Is difficult or
 mpractlcabe at certain seasons, to substitute an inferior mode of conveyance, or to intermit ser
 wee specified number of days, weeks, or
 months. He may propose to omit an office that IS inaccessible, or is not on the stage road,
 the railway, or at a steamboat landing, as the
 case may be; or he may offer to substitute an Inferior mode of supply in such cases. He
 may propose different days and hours of de-
 parure and arrival, provided no more running
 time is asked, and it is obvious that no mail con- nexion or other public accommodations is pre- Judlced. He 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 its 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 it wit other proposals.
 | 14. There s.tnld be but one route bid for in la proposal. sih
 | Is. The route, the service, the yearly pay, tiC DlNNNA fldulC dHu lCoiuCHCC. lllV of each member of the firm, where a company offers, should be distinctly stated also the mode of conveyance, if higher mode than on horseback Is intended.
 | l6. The bid should be sent under seal, ad- dressed to the First Assistant Postmaster Gen eral, with "Ma Proposals in the State or Ter ritorv of - written on the face of the letter; and should be dispatched in time to be received by or before the lst of April next, at 10 o'clock, A. NJ. It should be guarantied, and the sufficiency of the guarantors be duly certi. fled. (See forms.)
 F. 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 Ia depot, will imm mediately 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 10 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 10 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 celerity, 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 celerlty of the mails, aside from any accommodation for travel, it will not be entitled to tile route.
 20. When the bid does not name mode of conveyance, it will be taken and understood to be for the lowest mode of conveyance, to wit, on horseback. When 1t proposes to car Try according to the advertisement, and no mode of conveyance is stated for the route in the ad- vertisement, it will be considered as offering for horseback conveyance
 2l. Since the passage of the act of March 3, lS45, new description of bid has 5een receiv- led. It specifies no mode of conveyance. but engages to carry the mai with certainty, celer- lty, and security, Esing the terms of the law. These bids are called, from the manner in which they are designated on the books of the Department, Star bids" It has been decid- led, after mature consideration, that bid pro- posing a specific mode of conveyance of as Ihigh a grade as two horse coach transportation is to be preferred to the star bid. The eXpe rlence of the Department enables it to lay down the following rules, viz
 
 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 weight as to render it necessary or expedient in reference to them alone, to provide two horse coach conveyance, the specific bid, though the highest, will be preferred to the star bd to the lextent of moderate difference in the compen .. i- fo interfere with the policy of the new law, which looks to reduction in the cost ot transporta- ton. Exceptions, however. may be allowed, where the star bid is made by the present own- CT of the stock on the route, and 1t IS manifest that the reasons for preferring the specific bid do 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 mails, 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 ject, however, to the exceptions above stated. 24 A modification of bid, in any of its essential terms, is tantamount to 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 De carelul and not to certify the suficiency of gnarantors or sureties without knowing that they are per- sons of sufficient responsibility; and all bid ders. guarantors and suretes are distinctly mo- tifed that on a failure to enter into or perform the contracts for the service proposed for in the accepted bids, their legal liabilities will be enfor- ced against them.
 26+ The contracts will be substantially in the forms hel etofore used in this Department, ex- Icept in the respects particularly mentioned in these instructions and conditions ; and on all railroad and steamboat routes the contractors Twill be required to deliver the mails into the meet of4;aoc nt inc ends nf the rnutes and into