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to its capacity, carry all the freight and passengers which may be reasonably offered or obtained, and at tariff rates, both as to passengers and freight, not exceeding those hereinafter set forth, that is to say,— [This article to be completed.] Provided that no discrimination shall be made as regards tariff rates for either freights or passengers in any manner directly or indirectly against any New Zealand port, or against the New Zealand Government railways, or against any New Zealand merchant or shipper. 4. The wages to be paid to seamen by the Company in respect of the vessels employed under this contract shall not be less than the current rate of wages payable for the time being in New South Wales for steamship seamen engaged or employed for voyages beyond the Australian Colonies. 5. The mails shall be safely conveyed from San Francisco to Auckland within four hundred and fifty-six hours, and to Sydney in five hundred and seventy-six hours, and from Sydney and from Auckland to San Francisco respectively within a like period, such times to be calculated as provided in the original contract. 6. The liability of the Postmaster-General under this contract shall only extend to outward mails from New Zealand, and in respect of such mails the Postmaster-General will pay the Company at the following rates : Letters at ten shillings and five-pence per pound ; books, packets, and printed matter other than newspapers at one shilling per pound ; and newspapers at sixpence per pound; such rates being calculated on the net weight of the respective mail-matter hereinbefore mentioned actually carried. But all letters, books, packets, printed matter other than newspapers, and newspapers sent from New Zealand to Australia shall not be deemed part of an outward mail: Provided that, if the sums to be paid to the Company under this contract shall not exceed the sum of seven thousand five hundred pounds per annum, the Postmaster-General shall pay to the Company such a sum as will make up the difference between the amounts actually so paid and the said sum of seven thousand five hundred pounds. 7. During the continuance of this contract and so long as the same shall be faithfully carried out by the contractors no charge for harbour dues, dock dues, or other rates shall be made or levied under " The Harbours Act, 1878," or any amendment thereof, or under any special Act in that behalf at the Port of Auckland for any of the steam-vessels employed in carrying out this contract, and all such vessels shall be exempt therefrom accordingly. 8. All the provisions of the original contract shall (except where altered, extended, or modified by the terms of these presents) extend and apply to this contract, and be deemed to be incorporated herewith, and shall take effect from time to time as occasion arises in respect of the services to be performed hereunder, and otherwise in relation thereto or in connection therewith, as if the provisions of the original contract (except as aforesaid) had been fully set forth herein and were still in full force. In witness whereof the Postmaster-General hath hereunto set his hand and seal, and the Company hath hereunto caused its common seal to be affixed, the day and year first above written. Signed, sealed, and delivered by the Eight Honourable Eichard\ John Seddon as Postmaster-General of New Zealand, in the The common seal of the Union Steam Ship Company of New\ Zealand (Limited) was hereunto affixed in the presence of— I Directors of the j said Company.

No. 84. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Supebintendent of Foreign Mails, Washington. Sib,— General Post Office, Wellington, 16th March, 1898. I have the honour, by direction, to refer to your letter of the 20th January last, acknowledging the receipt of two copies of the pro formd time-table of the ocean-mail services to and from this colony via San Francisco and Vancouver, and stating that due notice had been taken of the same. I note that the Oceanic Steamship Company is not under contract to your department on account of the mail-service between San Francisco and New Zealand, but that the amount which it receives from your Government is a special appropriation made by the United States Congress in the interests of the service, and requires to be renewed each year. The Postmaster-General is pleased to learn that there is no probability, however, of this special grant being discontinued. I have, &c, The Superintendent of Foreign Mails, W. Gray, Secretary, Office of Foreign Mails, Post Office Department, Washington, D.C.