A.—l.

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reply to him. "When Mr. Holt tendered the telegram, with instructions written on it to forward " via " Teheran," the telegram was not forwarded as so addressed in the first instance, but altered by Mr. Holt, at my request, for this reason : —At the time the telegram was tendered to be sent " via Teheran" I was not aware that the Java Cable Company undertook to forward telegrams by that route, and consequently did not feel myself justified in accepting telegrams so addressed. Mr. Knevitt, in first communicating with me when the cable route was about to be opened, simply sent me a tariff of charges for telegrams from New Zealand for England, and never mentioned anything as to any special route that could be selected by the sender of a telegram after its arrival in India. Mr. Andrews states that circulars were sent from his Company to the merchants in New Zealand, " drawing their attention, &c," and that telegrams " would traverse this Company's line if marked ' vid " Teheran,' or the Eastern Company's line if marked vid ' Malta,' thus giving the sender .... " the chance of two routes." I would remark that had the Company in question forwarded one of the circulars arbove alluded to to this office, that doubtless the telegram offered by Messrs. Brogden, marked " vid Teheran," would have been accepted as addressed, and forwarded accordingly. C. Lemon, New Zealand Telegraph, Head Office, "Wellington, General Manager. 21st February, 1874. Sub-Enclosure 2 to Enclosure in No. 28. Sib,— Adelaide, 23rd December, 1873. I have the honor to inform you that I have been instructed by telegram to the effect that the India Office complain of your Department having refused to forward European messages if marked by the sender " vid Teheran." By Articles 14 and 40 of the Home Telegraph Convention, the sender has the privilege, in the case of there being more than one route for the transmission of his message, of directing by which route his telegram is to be forwarded. There are three telegraph routes to Europe from India, and it is undoubtedly to the advantage of senders of messages to specify no particular route, but to leave his telegram to be dealt with as laid down in the first paragraph of Article 14 of the Eome Telegraph Convention, copy of which I had the honor to forward you some time since. Will you have the goodness to favour me with a reply as to the correctness of the remarks put forward by the India Office, that I may telegraph it to London. I have, &c, Samttel Rnevitt, C. Lemon, Esq., General Manager, Agent to the Company. New Zealand Telegraph Department. Sub-Enclosure 3 to Enclosure in No. 28. New Zealand Telegraph, Head Office, "Wellington, Sib,— 16th January, 1874. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd ultimo, and in reply beg to inform you that until recently I was not aware that your Company undertook to forward telegrams "vid Teheran," or any other route but the one employed by you. The only application ever made to this office to forward a telegram "vid Teheran" was from Messrs. Brogden and Sons, and on that occasion, being uncertain about the matter, the instruction given to forward "vid Teheran" was withdrawn. I would take this opportunity of asking you if, in the event of a telegram being directed to be forwarded by a special route, and which becomes interrupted prior to the arrival of the telegram with you, would it necessitate that telegram being held over until communication were restored, or would it be forwarded by some other ? I mention this, as the last portion of Article 14, "Eome Convention," does not appear to be very clear on the subject. While on this subject, I may inform you that an extra charge made by you for forwarding a telegram vid Siberia, in April last, when the cable between Penang and Madras was interrupted, amounting to £2 10s. 6d., from Messrs. Standish and Hammerton, of New Plymouth, remains uncollected, those gentlemen refusing to pay the extra charge. I would esteem it a favour if you would inform me if this amount will be refunded by you. I have, &c, C. Lemon, S. Knevitt, Esq., Adelaide. General Manager.

No. 29. Copy of DESPATCH from Governor the Right Hon. Sir J. Fergusson, Bart., ■to the Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. (No. 18.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord,— New Zealand, 12th March, 1874. I have the honor to acknowledge your Despatch No. 2, of the sth January, 1874, transmitting a copy of a letter from the Admiralty, intimating their Lord-