31

E.—4,

Enclosure 5 in No. 67. Mr. Tilley to the Agents-General. Sir, — General Post Office, London, 28th December, 1877. I beg leave to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th instant, in which you inform me that, according to a telegram just received, an alteration has been made in the dates appointed for despatching from San Francisco the colonial mail packet conveying the mails for New South Wales and New Zealand, and that, to meet this alteration, the next mail from London must be despatched on the 3rd January, instead of on the 10th as previously arranged, the subsequent mails being also despatched a week in advance of the dates previously fixed. The Postmaster-General will at once take the necessary measures for notifying this change to the public, and will make arrangements for despatching the mails in accordance with your request; but His Lordship desires me to point out that the time-tables of the Australian mail services for the year 1878 had already, before the receipt of your letter, been published, and widely circulated, and that this sudden alteration is likely to give rise to considerable inconvenience to the public in the United Kingdom. The British Postal Guide also, for the first quarter of the year 1878, is just issuing from the press, and will now be incorrect as regards the mails for New South Wales and New Zealand, thus misleading many persons. I have, &c, The Agents-General for New South Wales, &c, &c. John Tilley.

Enclosure 6 in No. 67. The Agents-General to the Pacific Mail Steamsiiip Company, New York. (Telegram.) London, 28th December, 1877. The New South Wales and New Zealand mails will be despatched from London to New York on 3rd January instead of on 10th. W. Forster, The Pacific Mail Company, New York. Julius Vogel.

No. 68. The A gent-General to the Hon. the Postmaster-General. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S,W., 14th January, 1878. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 17th November,* forwarding for my information a copy of a time-table submitted by the Postmaster-General of New South Wales for the regulation of the San Francisco Mail Service for the present year. My letter of the 21st December will have already informed you how I have dealt with the question. I have, &c, Julitis Vogel, The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington. Agent-General.

No. 69. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Postmaster-General. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 31st January, 1878. In continuation of my letter of the 3rd instant, on the subject of the legal and other arrangements necessary in connection with the time-table for the San Francisco Mail Service during the present year, I have the honor to inform you that, having been apprised by Mr. Mackrell that he had received a telegram notifying that the sureties had signed the deed, after a conference with that gentleman on the Bth instant, it was decided by the Agent-General for New South Wales and myself to issue the various notices to the Pacific Mail Steamship Compan}-, the Postmaster-General of the United States, and the Postmaster, San Francisco, of which I enclose copies. I have also to enclose a letter from Mr. Mackrell, written subsequently to our conference, on the 9th instant, and beg to draw your attention, according to his suggestion, to the opinion he expresses respecting your relation to the Pacific Company in paragraph 3 of his letter. On the 9th instant Mr. Forster and I officially communicated the new time-table for the year to the Secretary of the General Post Office. I am glad again to acknowledge the promptitude and care with which the Postmaster-General at once directed the correction, as far as possible, of the timetable of the year, and issued a further special notice to all Post Offices in the United Kingdom on the subject. On the loth instant we addressed the telegram of which I subjoin a copy to the Colonial Secretary at Sydney, desiring that you should be duly informed of its contents. On the 11th instant I received the letter of Messrs. Mackrell and Co., of which I enclose a copy, with an attested copy of the deed, which I also forward herewith. Since its execution, 1 regret to state that Mr. Macgregor, M.P., one of the sureties, has suspended payment. I enclose copy of Messrs. Mackrell's letter on the subject, and of a letter stating the course which Mr. Forster and I have authorized him to pursue in consequence. I have further to enclose you a copy of a letter which I have received from Messrs. Charles Clark and Co., enclosing extract of a cablegram addressed to them by the the Pacific Mail Steamship * P.-4b., 1877, No. 9.