F.—6

6

No. 24. The Seceetaey, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Managing Dieectoe, Union Steam Ship Company Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 30th April, 1895. I have the honour to confirm my telegram to you yesterday [not printed] approving of the substitution of the " Monowai" for the " Arawa " in the San Francisco service for two voyages, commencing with the departure from Sydney on the 13th proximo. The Managing Director, Union Steam Ship Company I have, &c, of New Zealand (Limited), Dunedin. W Geay, Secretary

No 25 The Managing Dieectoe, Union Steam Ship Company, to the Seceetaey, General Post Office, Wellington. Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand (Limited), Sic,— Dunedin, 3rd May, 1895. I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your favour of 30th ultimo, and have to thank you for the permission given us to substitute the " Monowai " for the " Arawa " in the San Francisco service for two voyages. I have, &c, W Gray, Esq., Secretary, General Post Office, T W Whitson, Wellington. For Managing Director

No. 26. The Seceetaey, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Managing Directoe, Union Steam Ship Company Sic,— General Post Office, Wellington, Bth June, 1895. Herewith I have the honour to send you a revise of the San Francisco contract. The last paragraph of section 5 in the first proof has been excised, and I direct your attention to the alteration in the two last lines of the second paragraph of clause 13, where the word " direct " before the word ' liability " has been struck out. In the same paragraph the words " the mails from New Zealand" appear in the place of "its outward mails." I have not thought it desirable, in the absence of the Postmaster-General, to leave out the reference to spar-deck accommodation, particularly as this will only have to be provided in case of its being applied for by the Postmaster-General. You will perhaps say whether the alteration in clause 39, giving the company as well as the Postmaster-General the right to determine the contract, meets your views. The Managing Director Union Steam Ship Company I have, &c, of New Zealand (Limited), Dunedin. ' W Gray, Secretary

No. 27 Agreement between The Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand (Limited) and the Postmaster-General of New Zealand. Articles of agreement made and entered into this fourteenth day of August, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, between the Honourable Joseph Geoege Waed, the Post-master-General of the Colony of New Zealand, appointed as such Postmaster-General under "The Post Office Act, 1881," and acting for and on behalf of the Government of the said colony, of the one part, and The Union Steam Ship Company op New Zealand (Limited), carrying on business at Dunedin, in the Colony of New Zealand, hereinafter designated " the Company," of the other part ■ Witness that the Company doth for itself, its successors and assigns (so far as the covenants and agreements hereinafter contained are to be observed and performed by the Company), hereby covenant with the Postmaster-General of the Colony of New Zealand and. his successors in office And the said Postmaster-General doth, for and on behalf of himself as such Postmaster-General, and his successors in office respectively and the Government of the colony for which he is such Postmaster-General, hereby covenant with the Company and its successors in manner following, that is to say, — 1. In the construction of these presents the following words and expressions shall mean and include (unless such meaning shall be inconsistent with the context) as follows : — " Postmaster-General " means the Postmaster-General for the time being of New Zealand " Company " includes the successors and assigns of the Company : "Mails" includes all boxes, bags, or packets of letters, newspapers, books, or printed papers, patterns, and all other articles transmissible by post, without regard either to the place to which they may be addressed or to that in which they may have originated , also all empty bags, empty boxes, and other stores and articles used or to be used in carrying on the Post Office service " Mail" means the aggregate of mails transmitted at any one time by any of the vessels for the time being employed in the mail-service under this contract and " Hours " means hours calculated according to Greenwich time.