BETWEEN THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT OF THE
The Government of the Republic of the United States of America and the Government of His Majesty the King of Hawaii, being desirous of facilitating the exchange of sums of
money between the two countries by making use of postal money orders, the undersigned, W. Q.
Gresham, Post Master General of the United States of America, in
virtue of the powers, vested in him by law, and H. A. P. Carter;
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of His Majesty the King of Hawaii, in, the name of
his Government, and by virtue of the powers which lie has formally presented to this effect, have
agreed upon the following Convention:
The maximum of each order is fixed at fifty dollars ($54.00. )
No money order shall include a fractional part of a cent.
The amount of each order, whether issued in the
ARTICLE II. The Hawaiian Post Office Department shall, have
power to fix the rates of commission on all money orders issued in the
Each Department shall communicate to the other its tariff of
charges, or rates of commission, which shall be established under this Convention, and these rates
shall, in all ,cases, be payable in advance by the remitters, and shall not be repayable.
It is understood, moreover, that. each Department is.
authorized to suspend, temporarily, the exchange of money orders in case the course of exchange, or
any other circumstance should give rise to abuses, or, cause detriment to the postal revenue.
ARTICLE III. Each country shall keep the commission charged on
all money orders within its jurisdiction, but shall pay to the other country three-fourths of one
per cent. on the amount of such orders.
ARTICLE IV. The service of the, postal money order system
between the two countries shall be performed exclusively by the agency of offices of exchange. On
the part of the United States the office of exchange shall be San Francisco, California, and on the
part of the Hawaiian Kingdom, Honolulu.
Orders shall be drawn only on the authorized, money order
offices of the respective countries; and each Postal Administration shall furnish to the other a
list of such offices, and shall, from time to time, notify any addition to, or change in such list.
Every order and advice must contain the name of the office and of the country of destination, and if
relating to an order payable in the
ARTICLE V. No money order shall be issued unless the applicant
furnish the name and address of the person to whom the amount is to be paid, and his own name and
.address; or, the name of the firm, or company who are the remitters or payees, together with the
addresses of each.
The money orders, issued in either country, shall be forwarded
by the remitters to the payees, at their own expense.
ARTICLE VI. The advises of all money orders issued upon the
Hawaiian Kingdom by the post, offices in the United States shall be sent to the office of exchange
at San Francisco, where they shall be examined, and, if found correct, impressed with the dated
stamp of that office, and transmitted, by the next direct mail, to the exchange office at Honolulu
accompanied by a list, in duplicate, drawn upon the model of Form “A”
The advices, on their arrival in
In like manner the advices of money orders, drawn on the
The advices, on their receipt at
The advices of orders issued in the United States in the month
of March, which may arrive at the office of exchange at San Francisco in the earlier days of the
following month, shall be entered on lists supplementary to that of the last day of the month of
March, and in like manner, the advices of orders issued in the Hawaiian Kingdom in the month of
June, which may arrive at the exchange office at Honolulu in the earlier days of the following
month, shall be entered on lists. supplementary to that of the last day of the month of June.
ARTICLE VII: The lists, dispatched from each office of
exchange, shall be numbered consecutively, commencing with , No. 1 at the beginning of the month of
July in each year; and the entries in these lists shall also have consecutive numbers.
Of each list dispatched a duplicate shall be sent, which
duplicate, after being verified by the receiving office of exchange, shall be returned to the
dispatching office of exchange.
Each office of exchange shall promptly communicate to the
other the correction of any simple error, which it may discover in the verification of the lists.
When the lists shall show irregularities, which the receiving
exchange office shall not be able to rectify, that office shall apply for an explanation which shall
be afforded without delay.
Should any lists fail to be received in due course, the
dispatching exchange office, on receiving information to that effect, shall transmit, without delay,
a duplicate of the list, duly certified as such.
ARTICLE VIII. Duplicate orders shall only be issued by the
Postal Administration of the country, on which the original orders were drawn, and in conformity
with the regulations established, or, to be established in that country.
ARTICLE IX. The orders issued by each country on the other
shall be subject, as regards payment, to the regulations which govern the payment of inland orders
of the country, on which they were drawn.
The paid orders shall remain in the possession of the country
of payment. .
ARTICLE X. Repayment of orders to remitters shall not be made
until an authorization for such repayment shall first have been obtained by the country of issue
from the country where such orders are payable;. and the amounts of the repaid orders shall; be duly
credited to the former country in the quarterly account. (Article XII.)
It is the province of each Postal Administration to determine
the manner in which repayment to the remitter is to be made.
ARTICLE XI. Orders which shall not have been paid within 12
calendar months from the month of issue, shall become void, and the sums received shall accrue to
and beat the disposal of the country of origin.
The Hawaiian Post Office Department shall, therefore, ,enter
to the credit of the United States, in the quarterly account, all money orders entered in the lists
received from the United States, which remain unpaid at the end of the period specified. (Article
XII.)
On the other hand the Post Office Department of the
ARTICLE XII. At the close of each quarter an account shall be
prepared at the Hawaiian Post Office Department, showing in detail the totals of the lists,
containing the particulars of orders issued in either country during the quarter, and the balance
resulting from such transactions..
Three copies of this account shall be transmitted to the Post
Office Department of the United States, at Washington, and the balance, after proper verification,
shall, if due by the Post Office Department of Hawaii, be paid at San Francisco, but, if due by the
Post Office Department of the
If pending the settlement of an account, one of the two Postal
Administrations shall ascertain that it owes the other :a balance exceeding two thousand five
hundred dollars .500), the indebted Administration shall prompty remit the approximate amount of
such balance to the credit of the other.
This account shall be in accordance with the forms "
C," `` D," `` E" and " F," annexed to this Convention.
ARTICLE XIII. In the exchange of money orders between the two
countries, one dollar in Hawaiian money shall be; taken as the equivalent of one dollar in
ARTICLE XIV. The United States Postal Administration
undertakes to serve as intermediary for the exchange of postal orders from the Hawaiian Kingdom to
be paid in any European country with which that Administration maintains an exchange of postal
orders, and with which the Postal Administration of the Hawaiian Kingdom does not have such
exchange, as well as for the exchange of orders from any such European country destined for payment
in the Hawaiian Kingdom, provided the European country interested consent to an arrangement of this
nature.
ARTICLE XV. The Postal Administration in each country shall be
authorized to adopt any additional rules, if not, repugnant to the foregoing, for the greater
security against fraud, or, for the better working of the system generally.
All such additional rules, however, must be promptly
communicated to the Post Office Department of the other country.
ARTICLE XVI. This present Convention shall take effect on the
first day of January, 1884, and shall continue in force until twelve months after either of the
contracting parties shall have notified to the other its intention to terminate it.
ARTICLE XVII. The ratifications of the present Convention
shall be changed prior to the first day of December, 1883.
In witness whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have,
signed the present Convention and have affixed thereto their seals.
Executed in duplicate and signed at AV,
[L, S. ]
WALTER Q. GRESHAM,
Postmaster General of the
[L. S. ]
H. A. P. CARTER,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of
I hereby approve the foregoing Convention, and in testimony
thereof, I have caused the seal of the United, States to be hereto affixed.
By the President:
[L. S.]
FRED'K T. FRELINGHUYSEN,
Secretary of State.
I hereby approve the foregoing Convention, and in testimony
thereof, I have caused the seal of the
KALAKAUA REX.
By the King:
[L. S. ]
WALTER M. GIBSON,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and
Premier.
We, H. A. P. Carter, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of Hawaii to the United States, and W. Q., Gresham, Postmaster General of the United
States, certify that on this date we have proceeded to perform the exchange of ratifications of the
Convention between the Post Office Department of the Kingdom of Hawaii and the Post Office
Department of the United States of America, concerning the exchange of money orders, which was
concluded at Washington, on the eleventh day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and eighty-three.
Done in duplicate, and signed at
[L. S. ]
H. A. P. CARTER,
Envoy Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary to the
[L. S. )
WALTER Q. GRESHAM,
Postmaster General of the
