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1884 NEW ZEALAND.

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE (FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO). [In continuation of Papers presented on the 29th June, 1883.]

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

No. 1. Mr. Gray to the Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney. S IE >— General Post Office, Wellington, 16th July, 1883. As your department has undertaken the preparation of the contract for the renewal of the San Francisco mail service, and will of course compile the new time-table as well, I beg to state that the Hon. the Postmaster-General of this colony will be glad to receive on an early date a copy of the table, for his approval. I h aye & Ci m 1 ~ „ W. Gray, lhe Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney. Secretary.

No. 2. Mr. Lambton to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Sib,— . . General Post Office, Sydney, 17th July, 1883. As the existing contract for the San Francisco mail service expires in November next, the matter of the time-table to be adopted under the renewed contract comes forward for attention. I am therefore directed to transmit copy of a letter received from Messrs; Gilchrist, Watt, and Co., Sydney agents for the contractors, as well as my reply thereto, and to state that the PostmasterGeneral would be glad to have the opinion of the Postmaster-General of New Zealand as to the most suitable time-table to meet all the interests concerned. I am to add that, all things considered, the present day of departure from Sydney, namely, every fourth Thursday, is as convenient as any other so far as this colony is affected. I have, &c, S. H. Lambton, The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Secretary.

Enclosure 1 in No. 2. Messrs. Gilchrist, Watt, and Co. to the Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney. SIE — _ , ■ ■■' Sydney, 12th July, 1883. We beg to hand you extract of letter received this mail from the President re service under' renewed contract: " Mr. Houston has succeeded in persuading the overland railroad companies to reduce their time twenty-four hours. This, with the reduction of our schedule, which we know we can make, and the possibility of improved connections with fast trans-Atlantic ships, which should be insisted on as a sine qua non in rearranging the schedule through the Agent-General in London with the London Post Office people, should settle the question as to our ability to make a satisfactory showing as to time hext year." With reference to the above, we should be glad to know if the new time-schedule on this basis will be settled in London or arranged here. We are of opinion that it should be so arranged as to allow ten days' detention in San Francisco and twenty days' in Sydney, thus giving time for coaling and docking to be performed here, and also to meet with fast steamers crossing the Atlantic. We have, &c, The Secretary, General Post Office, Sydney. Gilchrist, Watt, and Co.

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