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posed the desire to obtain full payment here arose from the wish to save interest on money, and for the sake of general convenience ; but when you claimed repayment of half the " Cospatrick " passage money you were met by the assertion that " your object in having the whole of the passage money payable here, instead of one-half here and one-half in the colony," did not contemplate cases of total loss, and now a troublesome lawsuit is forced on us. I observe that the Minister for Immigration has informed you that you are not to allow paying passengers to be taken in emigrant vessels, unless I expressly reverse that instruction. lam not disposed to reverse it, except to the extent of allowing paying passengers with your written consent. There are obvious cases in which you should give your consent. Besides special and exceptional cases in which you may think it desirable to consent, cases may not arise, such as —1. Where you have refused to accept a family because of too many children, but where you would allow the whole family to proceed if the extra children were paid for. 2. Where emigrants have paid their own passages, and have obtained certificates from you under the Immigrants Land Act, they might be admitted on board, provided they undertook to conform to the regulations applicable to ordinary emigrants. In very few cases should you allow paying passengers to proceed in your chartered vessels unless they were content to abide by the regulations and discipline provided for those vessels. 20. The charter-party should contain a clause enabling the shipowner, or whoever stands in the place of the shipowner, to be sued in the colony for breach of contract. The objections raised to this really mean that the contractors desire to throw on the ship their own responsibility. There should be a clause making recoverable out of the half-passage money payable in the colony allowances on account of the emigrants who have died during the voyage. The scale of provisions last ordered by the Minister for Immigration should be a condition of the charter-party. I understand that that scale increases very much the cost of the maintenance of children, and that some plan has been adopted of averaging such increased cost over the whole cost of the adults on board any particular ship. I fail to see the justice of this. If it is reasonable that the passage money for a child should be more than half of that for an adult, the fact should be recognized. We should then know what we pay for. But when extra cost in providing for children is averaged over a number of statute adults, the Government gains or loses, or the shipowner gains or loses, just as the average number of children is more or less than a certain proportion of the number of adults on board the ship. In fact, we may pay for what we do not get. lam of opinion that the amount by which it is said the new scale increases the cost of the passage is very much exaggerated. A great deal of what has to be provided under that scale will often not be consumed during the voyage. The calculations seem to assume that all that is provided for each voyage will be consumed before the ship's arrival at her destination; whereas such will be very far from the case whenever a vessel makes a tolerably successful run. 21. I shall be happy to meet you, Mr. Smith, and Mr. Mackrell, at your earliest convenience, to settle the terms of the contract we will require ship charterers to enter into. Xlll.—SHippiifa Akeangements. 22. I send you herewith, to be acted upon, subject only to any alteration!.' which may be ordered from the colony, a table of the number of statute adults to be shipped to the several ports during the twelve months beginning Ist May, 1875, and ending 30th April, 1876.* It is my instruction to you to as nearly as possible comply with the arrangements thus indicated. If it be not possible for you to despatch the numbers set down for May and June, you will be at liberty to add any such deficiency to the number stated for the following two months. I instruct you not to send more than 300 statute adults by any one ship. You will observe that the numbers set down vary from 200 to 900. Where the number is 200, 250, or 300, I desire that they should be sent by one ship ; where 400, 450, or 500 occurs, it is desired that you should employ two ships in each case for their conveyance ; where 600, you should employ either two or three ships ; and where the number is 750, or 900, it is desirable that not less than three ships be employed in each case. 23. Possibly these instructions may not accord with your contract for the conveyance of Germans and Scandinavians. If it be so, your contract must be complied with, until it is possible to modify it in accordance with the remarks 1 have made under the head " German Contracts." 24. I attach great importance to your carrying out the instructions which have been given to you respecting emigrants to Timaru. As to Napier, Nelson, the Bluff, and Taranaki, I have simply to say that the Government insist upon the stipulated number of vessels going direct to those places. If the firms with whom you ordinarily deal refuse to supply vessels, you must otherwise obtain them. 25. The table I give you comprises emigrants nominated and selected, not only from London, but from all ports; The number of ships from Glasgow will, of course, depend upon whether or not lam able to carry out the proposed arrangement, already described, as to the Scotch agency. If it be carried out, I should like ships from Glasgow to proceed not only to Otago, but to other parts of the colony. I should like, also, some vessels to be despatched from Belfast. I shall be glad —assuming that the proposal as to the Scotch agency be carried into effect, as no doubt it will —if, at your earliest convenience, you will sketch out for me your views as to the vessels that should be despatched from Glasgow', the months for their sailing, and their ports of destination. 26. I should like the new arrangements with shipowners to be come to whilst I am in England. I would suggest to you to cause the revised charter-party to be prepared within the next few days, and afterwards to invite representatives of the shipping companies and firms to meet yourself and me. We should meet them separately, and you can personally arrange with me the order in which we shall ask them to be so kind as to wait on us. 27. As the new arrangements may involve some little delay, you must send your May vessels, and as many June vessels as you find necessary, under such arrangements as you think best. * Enclosure No. 4.