NEW ZEALAND POSTAL CONTRACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume I, Issue 268, 21 September 1864, Page 6

NEW ZEALAND POSTAL CONTRACT.

Tin; following relates to the disavowal bv New ZrnI:ind ol lilt! postal contract recently entered into with un English company by their own accredited odicer: " .I lino, 18(il. " Sir, —Mr. Crosbie Ward, tin- Postmaster-General, and at. that time a member of the Government of New Zealand, was sent liome instructed to negotiate for the conveyanee ol' the mails from Kngland to New Zealand and Australia, via l'anama. " Willi the legal aid and under the wing of the Postmaster-General ol' Groat, Britain, he made an agreement, exact, and well-considered, in which 110 legal formality seems to have been omitted. u The Panama Steamship Company, with which Mr. Ward contracted, invited and received applications for shares, and entered into arrangements (which must he fulfilled) to build fitting steamers to carry the contract out cllicicntly. " T subscribed .CiOOO to 1110 capital, not for a moment doubting the good faith of the New Zealand Government ; but to my surprise I learn that Mr. Ward and bis contract, are repudiated bv his employers, and that the Ministry of which ho was a member had been outvoted ami turned out. " British Colonial Governments, above all others, must, keep faith if they wisli for credit. In mv judgment, it will be well to defer passing till next session the New Zealand Loan Bill, by which our Government is to guarantee interest, on one million, and iu the meanwhile colonial integrity may find its level, f, for one, am not content to pay out of Imperial taxes the interest 011 this loan, nor hold my tongue while the public is invited to uibserine for three millions, and become hereafter, as I am now, "A ])isAi'i'iiiNTEU SuiisL'iiiam:." The following with regard to the New Zealand Government and the proponed Panama Postal .-ervice, is from the Finance Minister of New Zealand, who is at present iu this country : — " Westminster Palace Hotel, London, July 5. " Sir, —A letter appears in your city article of the •till accusing the New Zealand* Government of breaking I'aith with the Panama Company by repudiating a contract made with them by Mr. Crosbie Ward. " Permit me to assure your correspondent that the New Zealand Government, has done 110 such tiling. All the correspondence upon the subject by the Government is in my possession. If A Disappointed Subscriber' will do me the favour of calling 011 me [ will show it to him, and 110 will then see that, as the contract is, in many important points, in direct opposition to the will of the Legislature, and as the amount is greatly in excess of the sum authorised, the Government had adopted the only courso open

to them—that of leaving tho whole question for the decision of the Legislature when it meets. He will also find that, with certain modifications which thejsuggest, the Government are willing to recommend tho Assembly to adopt the contract. " Your obedient servant, " RF.ADr.tt WOOD."