* * * * * VIII. And in conformity to the agreement made as aforesaid between the Local Governments of the several Colonies of British North America, Be it enacted, That the Provincial Postage on letters and packets not being of Newspapers or Printed Pamphlets, Magazines or Books, entitled to pass at lower rate, shall not exceed the rate of three pence currency, per half ounce, for any distance whatsoever within this Province, any fraction of a half ounce being chargeable as a half ounce: that no transit postage shall be charged on any letter or packet passing through this Province or any part thereof to any other Colony in British North America, unless it be posted in this Province and the sender choose to pre-pay it; nor on any letter or packet from any such Colony if pre-paid there: that two pence sterling the half ounce shall remain as the rate in operation as regards letters by British Mails, to be extended to Countries having postal conventions with the United Kingdom, unless Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom shall see fit to allow this rate to be changed to three pence currency: That the pre-payment of Provincial Postage shall be optional: That all Provincial Postage received within the Province shall be retained as belonging to it, and that all Provincial Postage received within any other of the British North American Colonies, may be retained as belonging to such Colony: That the British Packet Postage and other British Postage collected in this Province shall be accounted for and paid over to the proper authorities in the United Kingdom; but the Colonial Postage on the same letters or packets shall belong to the Colony collecting it, or if pre-paid to the British Post Office, it may be credited to the Colony to which such letters or packets are addressed: That no privilege of franking shall be allowed as regards Provincial Postage: That Provincial Stamps for the pre-payment of postage may be prepared under the orders of the Governor in Council, which stamps shall be evidence of the pre-payment of Provincial Postage to the amount mentioned on such stamp, and that such stamps prepared under the direction of the proper authorities in the other British North American Colonies, shall be allowed in this Province as evidence of the pre-payment of Provincial Postage in such other Colonies respectively, on the letters or packets to which they are affixed, and which have been mailed there: