F.—6

8

ment: "If any other colony, not a party hereto, sends mail-matter by contracting steamers it shall be carried at the same rates as for contracting colonies, and on the same terms, including share of premiums and penalties." This distinctly recognises the duty of a non-contracting State using the service of a contracting State to pay in fair proportion. It is a significant fact that when the Canadian service began to run via Brisbane the Deputy Postmaster-General of New South Wales, under date the 12th April, 1899, advised New Zealand, in reply to inquiries, that the charges on New Zealand mail, sent via Sydney and Brisbane by the Vancouver service, would be —"Letters and post-cards, 12s. per pound; books and packets, Is. per pound; newspapers, 6d. per pound; and parcels, 2d. per pound." If these were recognised as the rates payable on New Zealand mails via Australia to Vancouver, surely the same rates on Australian mails via New Zealand to San Francisco could not be disputed. It is probably not generally known that the Oceanic Company's service is the swiftest that visits Australia, and although many people know that the expense of running steamers increases at an accelerating rate with the speed, it may be confidently stated that the amount of that extra cost is understood by very few. lam told that the expenditure in Australia alone of the Oceanic steamers averages £4,500 on each voyage to Australia, a considerable proportion of which is due to the extra cost of running at high speed as contracted with the Governments of the United States and New Zealand. Towards such expenditure £350 or £400 would be a useful contribution, but the payment of about £50 which is being made would be an insult if it were made with the approval of the Government and Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia. The company is entitled, as I have indicated, to further payments aggregating, approximately, £13,000, or about £3,700 per year for the last three years and a half, and when payment is made the company will be only very moderately remunerated. E. PULSFORD.

No. 9. Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, Auckland, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Oceanic Steamship Company (American and Australian Line), Sir, — Auckland, 21st June, 1904. The managing agents for Australia of the Oceanic Steamship Company, Messrs. Burns, Philp, and Company (Limited), in their favour of the 14th instant, write as under: " Referring to your favour of the 6th instant in connection with mail payments, we notice the telegram received from the Postmaster-General, Wellington, to you states that New Zealand has not collected anything from New Caledonia since the Oceanic Company took over this service, but that payments would be on Postal Union basis. We shall be obliged if you can ascertain if payments made by New Caledonia before the present service began were also at Postal Union rates, as we wish to know if any change w r as made at the time the present contract was arranged." The foregoing speaks for itself, and we shall be pleased to receive the desired information at your early convenience. We have, &c, Henderson and Macfarlane, General Agents for New Zealand. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington.

No. 10. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, Auckland. Gentlemen, — General Post Office, Wellington, 28th June, 1904. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, inquiring further as to payments by New Caledonia for the carriage of mails by the San Francisco mailsteamers. In reply, I beg to inform you that, under the contract previous to the present one, amounts were collected by this Administration from the Post Office of New Caledonia under the Postal Union system, and were based on the statistics of May, 1896. The latest annual payment thus received was for the year 1900. The amount, £2 12s. lOd. was handed over to the contractors. On the basis of this payment the sum due to the contractors for each of the years 1901 and 1902 would be £2 ss. 3d., whilst for the year 1903 and all subsequent years during which the Washington Convention may be in operation, the amount due would be £1 17s. 9d. per annum. I have, &c, Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, General Agents, W. Gray, Secretary. Oceanic Steamship Company, Auckland.

No. 11. Messrs. Burns, Philp, and Co., Sydney, to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington. Oceanic Steamship Company (American and Australian Line), Sib- Sydney, Bth July, 1904. We had the honour to address you on 6th June, but not having received any reply we take the liberty of sending you a copy of the letter and of its enclosures. We think it well to