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No. 6. The Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Sib,— General Post Office, Sydney, 2nd September, 1880. I am directed to inform you that one part of the new contract agreement duly executed by the Pacific Mail Company, and one part of bond duly executed by their sureties, have recently been received from the acting Agent-General for this colony In accordance with the advice of Messrs, Mackrell and Co., a special form of indorsement has been placed upon these documents to meet the change that has taken place as regards the different gentlemen that now hold office as PostmastersGeneral from those who were in office when these documents were prepared. Mr. Suttor has already affixed his signature, and I am to request that you will be so good as to move the Postmaster-General of your colony to complete the documents, and return them to me at your early convenience. These will be retained as the property of this department. 2. You will also find enclosed two other parts of the contract agreement, together with an open letter concerning their execution, dated the 7th June, 1880, addressed to the Postmaster-General, New Zealand, by Messrs. Mackrell and Co. These documents have been forwarded hither by the acting Agent-General of New South Wales, and, in accordance with the advice given, Mr. Suttor has signed a special form of indorsement of the agreements in question. All that now remains to be done with these two documents is for the Postmaster-General of your colony to execute them, and to comply with Messrs. Mackrell and Co.'s request that these documents may be sent back to them for the purpose of being handed to the Pacific Mail Company and their sureties. I have, &c, S. H, Lambton, The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Secretary

Enclosure in No. 6. Messrs. Mackrell and Co. to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, New Zealand. 21, Cannon Street, London, 8.C., 7th June, 1880. Sir, — New Mail Contract. The new contract having been now executed by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company, and the bond having been executed by their sureties, we forwarded to the Postmaster-General for New South Wales for execution by him, and then to forward to you with this letter for execution by you, two parts of the contract printed on parchment. You will observe that the contract bears date the 29th November, 1878, being the date at which it was delivered to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company for execution, at which time the Hon. J Fitzgerald Burns was the Postmaster-General of New South Wales, and the Hon. J Temple Fisher was the Postmaster-General of New Zealand. We explained to the Postmaster-General for New South Wales that, if either of these gentlemen do not now hold office, the contract should be executed by the present Postmasters-General of the colonies respectively, with a memorandum underneath according to a form which we sent him and which you will find written at the foot of the contract. We have asked the Postmaster-General of New South Wales to forward the two parts to you for execution as soon as the same have been executed by him, and we shall be obliged by your sending us the two parts as soon as you have executed the same, that we may forward one part to the Pacific Mail Steamship Company and the other part to their sureties. We have, &c., The Postmaster-General for New Zealand. John Mackrell and Co.

No. 7 Mr. Gray to the Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney Sic, — General Post Office, "Wellington, 2nd November, 1880. I have now the honor to return to you, duly executed by the Postmaster-General of this colony, the part of contract and bond for the San Francisco mail service forwarded with your letter of the 2nd September last. The department is advised that the date of execution to be inserted should be that on which the documents were signed at your office. Instead, therefore, of returning the two parts of contract to Messrs. J Mackrell and Co., as requested in their letter, 1 now forward them to you, with a request that the date of execution may be filled in in each case, and the necessary documents sent home from your office to Messrs. Mackrell and Co. I have, &c, W Gray, The Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney Secretary

No, 8. Contract. Articles of Agreement made and entered into this twenty-ninth day of November, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight, between the Honorable John Fitzgerald Burns, the Postmaster-G-eneral of the Colony of New South Wales, as such Postmaster-General, and acting for and on behalf of the Government of the said colony, of the first part; the Honorable James Temple Fisher, the Postmaster-General of the Colony of New Zealand, as such Postmaster-General, and acting for and on behalf of the Government of the said colony, of the second part; and the Pacific Mail Steamship Company of New York, in the United States of America, hereinafter designated " the contractors," of the third part—-