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Present Contract Time — Brindisi to Adelaide ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 780 hours Time as per tender No. 2 ... ... ... ... ... ... ... CSG „ Saving in time via Brindisi ... ... ... ... 04 hours It will be seen that a saving of £50,000 a year (£20,000 difference in tender, and £30,000 the estimated payments for Italian transit) might be effected by adopting the Marseilles route for the P. and O. Company's service. This, however, would involve twenty-four hours loss of time, which the Imperial Post (Mike thinks would not be acceptable to the public in the United Kingdom, India, and tho Colonies. Tt is therefore proposed that the higher tender for the Brindisi route shall be accepted. In this wo quite concur. Orient Company's Tender — The Orient Company's tender (£85,000) is the same as present contract, but there will be CO hours' saving of time, viz. : — Present contract —Naples to Adelaide ... ... ... ... 7SO hours Specified in tender, „ „ ... ... ... ... 720 ~ Waving ... ... ... ... ... 00 hours "While the time specified by the P. and O. Company between Brindisi and Adelaide is 6SO hours (28 days 14 hours), the Orient Company require 720 hours between Naples and Adelaide. Tho time, in oar opinion, should be reduced to 072 hours, or 28 days by both routes. There can be no doubt the P. and 0. Company, with their new boats, could easily accomplish this. Possible Alteenatitks. We fake it for granted that there is no question as to the acceptance of the Orient Company's tender, and that the only thing desired is to ascertain whether there would be any means of arranging a satisfactory service other than the P. and 0., to alternate with the Orient Company. Table A. "We attach a statement, in which particulars are given of every other steam service now running which could possibly be made available for the conveyance of mails to Great Britain, and from Great Britain to the Colonies. Assuming that the Orient Company's day of departure from Sydney is altered, as it no doubt will bo under the proposed accelerated rate of sjeed, and that such day will be "Wednesday from Sydney and Friday from Adelaide, the first question is whether any other service can be utilised for tho despatch of mails on the alternate week and on the same day of the week, as it is obvious that any satisfactory weekly service should provide for each mail leaving Adelaide, and being due in London on the same day of the week. Unfortunately, none of the other lines would give a fortnightly service, all being either four-weekly, calendar monthly, or at irregular intervals, so that, even it'it were possible to provide a service to alternate weekly with tho Orient, it would be necessary to utilise two of the other lines of steamers for the purpose of maintaining the weekly service. Dealing first with tho Suez route, we will suppose that the Orient's day of departure from Adelaide be Friday, the 13th instant, the following will show how the steamers would leave Adelaide: — Messageries Maritiines on Monday, 9th. Orient on Friday, 13th. North German Lloyds on Saturday, 14th. The following week there would be no mail steamers. The third week the Orient would leave on the 27th. The fourth week there would be no mail steamers. The fifth week the Messageries Maritimes on Monday (December 7th). Orient on Friday, 11th. North German Lloyds on Saturday, 12th (December). The only other steamers, in addition to the above, would be an occasional one by Lund's Line. A mail will leave Sydney, via San Francisco, on Monday, November 23rd, tho dates for closing mails being:— Adelaide, Thursday, 19th. Melbourne, Friday, 20th. This service would, of course, be useless to AV'estern Australia. Further, the San Francisco Service as at present carried out would not alternate with the Orient even on its four-weekly date (Orient, say, Friday, 13th November, 'Frisco, Monday, 23rd November). Moreover, the time occupied from the Colonies would be longer even in the case of New South Wales and Queensland than by the Suez line, and still longer in the case of Victoria and the western colonies. With regard to the Vancouver line. If that were made four-weekly and to alternate fortnightly with the 'Frisco and Orient, a fairly good alternate service might be arranged ; but it is hardly necessary to point out that the Vancouver service, as now carried on —whatever its future may be —is not sufficiently satisfactory to rely upon as an important link in the regular weekly service with Great Britain. Supposing that tho Colonies should succeed in making satisfactory arrangements for a service alternating with the Orient Company, the London Post Office will have to make provision for the alternate weeks outwards. This they would probably do by agreement with the P. &O. Company, in which case that Company's steamers, which would be utilised as now for carrying the Indian and China mails between Aden and Brindisi. would leave Adelaide on the return voyage on the alternate mail day, and there is no doubt that the bulk of the correspondence for England would be marked by the public to be forwarded by those steamers, and th.c Colonies would be compelled to so forward the correspondence and

SO—B