Southern shield., 1853-02-26

I
 Embracing conditions 10 De incorporated 20 tue contracts 70 the ertent the Depa men may deem proper.
 l 1. Seven minutes are allowed to each inter-
 mediate office when not otherwise specified, | for asserting the mas; but on railroad and
 steamboat routes there is to be no more delay | than is sufficient for an exchange of the mail bags.
 ?. On routes where the mode of convey
 ance admits of it, the special agents of the De-
 pertinent, also post office blanks, mail bags.
 locks and keys, are to be conveyed without ex-
 tra charge.
 3. No pay will be made for trips not per-
 formed; and tor each of such commissions not
 satisfactorily explained, three times the pay
 of the trip may be deducted, For arrivals so l far behind time as to break come xion with de- pending mails, and not sufficiently excused, one- fourth of the compensation for the trip IS sub ject to forfeiture. Deduction may also be or dered for grade of performance inferior to that specified in the contract. For repeated delln- quences of the kind herein specified, enlarged penalties proportioned to the nature thereof and 1 the importance of the mail, may be made. f. For leaving behind or throwing off the
 mails, or any portion of them, for the admls- sion of passengers, or for being concerned i'll setting up or running an express conveying
 commercial intelligence ahead of the mail, a quarters pay may be deducted
 5. Fines will be imposed, unless the delin- quency be promptly and satisfactorily explain ed by certificates of postmasters, or the affida-
 wits of other creditabe persons, for failing to arrive in contract time; for neglecting to take oAI
 for suffering it lowing either to the unsuitable ness of the place or manner of carrying lD toI
 be injured, destroyed, robbed, or lost; and for re fusing, after demand, to convey the mail as ire lquently as the contractor runs, or IS concerned in running, coach, car, or steamboat, on a! route.
 G. The Postmaster General may annul the contract for repeated failures to run agreeably to contract for disobeying the post office laws. or instructions of the Department; for reiuslngI to discharge a carrier when required by Depart ment to do so for assigning the contract with out the assent of the Postmaster General; for
 running an express as aforesaid; or for trans porting persons or packages conveying mailablel matter out of the mail. /. The Postmaster General may order anI increase of service on a route by allowing therefor a pro lata increase on the contract pay. He may also order an increase of speed, he allowing, within the restrictions of the law Ia pro rata increase of pay for the additional stock or carriers, if any. The contractor may, howe ver in case of increase of speed, relin- |quish the contract by giving prompt notice to the Department that he prefers doing so 10 car rving the order into effect. The Postmaster
 General may also curtal or discontinue the service, at pro rata decrease of pay, if he al- low one months extra compensation on the amount dispensed with,whenever in his opinion, the public interes do not require the same, or in case he desires to supersede l: by different grade of transportation,
 8. Payments will be made for the service by collections or drafts on postmas ters or oth- erwise, after the expiration of each quarter say in February, May, August, and Novem- Der.
 9. The distance are given according to the best information; but no increased pay will be allowed, should they be greater than advertis- ed if the points to be supplied be correctly stated.
 10. The Postmaster General IS prohibited by law from knowingly making a contract for the transportation of the mails with any person who shall have entered into. or proposed to enter into any combination to prevent the making of any bid for mail contract tract by any other person or persons, or who shall have made any agreement, or shall have given or performed or promised to give or per- form, any consideration whatever, or to do, or
 not to do, any thing whatever, in order to in-
 duce any other person or persons not to bid for Ia mail contract, Particular attention is called to the 28th section of the act of 1886, prohib- | ting combinations to prevent bidding. II. A bid received after time, viz. the 4th | lof April, l653, at 9 m, or without the guaran- Ity required by law, or that combines several routes in one sum of compensation, cannot be l |considered in competition with regular pro-
 posal reasonable in amount. 12. bidder may offer, where the transpor- tation called for by the advertisement is diff Icult or impractcable at certain seasons, to sub- |stitute an inferior mode of conveyance, or to | intermit service a specified number of days weeks, or months. He may propose to omit| an inaccessible office, or one not on the stage or railroad, or at steamboat landing, as the case may be; or he may offer to substitute an infe- rior mode of supply in such cases. He may propose different times of arrival and departure, Pio'iu0d Ho iHoiO iuiliiu tliiioo 10 dohSu' anu o
 mail connexion prejudiced. He may ask ad- |ditional running time for the trip, during specified number of days, in seasons of very bad roads; but beyond these changes, propo- sal for service differing from that called for by the advertisement will not be considered in com petition with regular bid reasonable in amount. Where bid contains any such al-l
 terations, their disadvantages will be estimated in comparing 1t with other proposals.
 l3 There shonld hn hut nne rnnfe hid fnr |