PAPERS RELATIVE TO SUEZ MAILS

5

E.—No. 3.

No. 5, Copy of a Despatch from the Right Hon. Earl Granville to Governor Sir Or. F. Bowen. Sic, — Downing Street, 19th May, 1870. I transmit to you a copy of a Report which has been received through the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, from the Receiver and Accountant General of the Post Office, accompanied by a statement of the amounts chargeable to the several Australian Colonies and New Zealand, on account of the Mail Packet service for the year ending the 31st December, 1870, together with an account current showing the whole balance which will be due from each Colony on 31st December, next. Their Lordships are desirous that a remittance of one half of the amount due by the Colony under your Government up to the 31st of December next, may be made as soon after the 30th of June as possible, and that the balance then remaining due may be remitted immediately after the expiration of each subsequent quarter. I have, &c., Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G., Granville. &c, &c., &c.

Enclosure in No. 5. Repoet from the Receives and Accountant-Geneeal of the Post Office, explanatory of the Account against the Austealian Colonies and New Zealand, for Post Office Packet Service during the year ending 31st December, 1870. The Account of sums payable by the Australasian Colonies for the Mail Packet Service during the year 1870, is annexed. It will be observed that there is a considerable difference in the sums charged against the Colonies individually, as compared with those in the preceding account. This difference is attributable to the cessation, in January 1869, of the Mail Service via Panama, the effect of which has been to increase the amounts chargeable to New Zealand and New .South Wales, and to diminish the proportions to the other Colonies. In the " Account Current," under the head of " Amounts chargeable for the years 1868 and 1869," credit has been taken for the proportionate sums chargeable against the Australian Colonies on account of the additional subsidy claimed by the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company, in each of the years named, in virtue of Clause 38 of the contract of 19th November, 1867. The sums in question have been debited to the Colonies in proportion to the number of letters carried for each Colony during the years 1868 and 1869 respectively. The Balances due upon the previous accounts have been remitted in full by Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, and Western Australia. New Zealand owes a portion of its contribution for 1869, in addition to its contribntion for the current year. South Australia and Queensland still owe more than half of the Balances standing to their debit in the account for 1869. The respective Governments of these two last-named Colonies should be requested to remit the outstanding Balances without delay. Geo. Chetwynd, General Post Office, London, April, 1870. Receiver and Accountant-General.

A STATEMENT of CREDITS allowed to the AUSTRALIAN COLONIES in 1870, on account of the previous year. PENALTIES INFLICTED and PREMIUMS EARNED on the performance of the Mail Packet Service between Point de Galle and Sydney, from 1st January, to 31st December, 1869.

Penalties. Pee: ciums. Dates to Number. Amounts. Number. Amounts. £ £ 100 50 150 200 list March, 1869 10th June, 1869 iOth September, 1869 !lut December, 1869 "i 4 "i i 4 800 2 1 3 4 Excess of Penalties over Premiums L at 10 500 *300 !Half divisible between the Colonies 800 800 150