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No. 14. The Acting General Manager, Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand (Limited), Sir,— Dunedin, 15th April, 1896. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your favour of the 2nd instant. The long voyage of the " Monowai " was a great disappointment to us, and we are taking such steps as we can against a repetition of it. The delay was caused by bad weather, and was to some extent in consequence of the firemen being unused to working in the hot weather met with in the tropics. The " Monowai," which is deservedly a very popular boat with passengers, has to be run at top speed to keep time. If the Government could see their way to fix a reasonable sum as subsidy, so that it would not be as now an uncertain amount, and also give some permanence to the line, we would gladly build a boat with plenty of reserve power that would give prestige to the service. I have, &c, E. P. Houghton, W. Gray, Esq., Acting General Manager. Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington.

No. 15. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Acting General Manager, Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin. Post and Telegraph Department, General Post Office, Sir,— Wellington, 30th April, 1896. I haye the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 15th instant, in reference to the late arrival at San Francisco and Auckland of the s.s. " Monowai" on her last voyage. The letter was duly laid before the Posmaster-General, who desires me to say that the question of further subsidising, and extending the contract term of, the San Francisco mail-service will be referred to Cabinet, and you will be informed of the result in due course. I have, &c, The Acting General Manager, Union Steam Ship Company W. Gray, Secretary, of New Zealand (Limited), Dunedin.

No. 16. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Managing Director, Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin. Post and Telegraph Department, General Post Office, Sir,— Wellington, 13th May, 1896. Since I wrote to you on the 2nd ultimo, the " Monowai" has again arrived two days late at San Francisco —on the 9th instant, instead of the 7th. I have no report of the causes of the late arrival, but there is no reason to suppose that they are other than those which have hitherto operated, of which the principal, no doubt, is that the vessel itself is not equal to the requirements of the service. It is incumbent upon your company to improve the regularity of the service, which has certainly suffered since the " Monowai" was re-employed, and I hope to have your assurance that steps will at once be taken in that direction. I have, &c, The Managing Director, Union Steam Ship Company W. Gray, Secretary, of New Zealand (Limited), Dunedin.

No, 17. The Acting Geneeal Manager, Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand (Limited), Sir,— Dunedin, 20th May, 1896. I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your favour of the 13th instant, and regret that you have again to call our attention to the long voyage of the " Monowai" to San Francisco. We are very much disappointed that she did not arrive at her destination up to time, and can only presume she again met with bad weather on the way. We gave special instructions to see that she should be supplied with the best quality of coals in Sydney, but unfortunately, owing to the strike at Newcastle, we were only able to get a second-class coal, the bulk of which was small, which does not possess such good steam-producing qualities. On the vessel's return, however, we shall make further inquiry into the matter, but regret that meantime this is the only explanation we can offer. I have, &c, E. P. Houghton, W. Gray, Esq., Acting General Manager. Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington.