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Enclosure in No. 18. The Commander, R.M.S "Ventura," to Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, Auckland. Dear Sirs,— Auckland, 20th May, 1904. Your letter of the 19th instant, requesting report of voyage 18 of my steamer to San Francisco received; and I trust the following facts will meet your requirements: — The "Ventura" left the Queen Street Wharf, Auckland, at 6.58 p.m. on the 18th March; dropped the pilot off the beacon at 7.36 p.m., and took the San Francisco pilot at 10.46 p.m. on the sth April. A gale was raging at time of departure from Auckland, and after passing Tiri Tiri I would have returned to port, but thick weather prevented my doing so without danger, consequently I deemed it better to slow down and ride it out. On Saturday, 19th March, at 1.20 a.m., I was compelled to slow down to half-speed, and still further reduce to dead slow at 3.10 a.m. At midnight, same day, increased speed to "half," and called for full speed at 2.5 a.m. on the 20th March. Then again, off Fanning Island, owing to the shore lights not being set on the night of the 26th March, I had to keep the steamer off shore till 5.40 next morning, at which time I tied to the buoy. This lost me about six hours. Altogether, the steamer lost about twenty-four hours on the trip from Auckland to San Francisco, exclusive of the four hours detention at Auckland loading cargo and waiting for mails. Yours, &c, H. M. Hayward, Commander, R.M.S. "Ventura." Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, General Agents, Oceanic Steamship Company, Auckland.

No. 19. Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, Auckland, to the Seceetary, General Post Office, Wellington. Oceanic Steamship Company (American and Australian Line), Sir,— Auckland, 16th June, 1904. Referring to the claim which, by instructions from San Francisco, we made in April last [No. 54, F.-6, 1904] for "demurrage" due the s.s. "Ventura," subsequently paid by your Department, we have the honour to enclose copy of a letter, dated the 19th May, received by us from the head office of the Oceanic Company. From this you will observe that the attention of the president of the company was not called to the matter at the time, it having passed through the regular channels in ordinary course; but that the claim, having now been reviewed, does not meet with his approval, and we are empowered to refund the amount received. You will note the reference in the copy enclosed to the claim which your Department has against the "Ventura " for demurrage in January, 1903 [No. 55, F.-6, 1904], and will observe that, at least in part, the delay was caused by a " peril of the sea " —viz., breakage of machinery. We respectfully submit that your Department might be willing, on our refund of the amount mentioned, to withdraw your claim and let the one demurrage offset the other, and thus give effect to the give-and-take spirit enunciated by Mr. Samuels. We have, &c, Henderson and Macfarlane, General Agents for New Zealand. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington.

Enclosure in No. 19. The Oceanic Steamship Company, San Francisco, to Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, Auckland. Oceanic Steamship Company, 329, Market Street, Gentlemen, — San Francisco, 19th May, 1904. We have before us your favour of the 25th April, and note your remarks regarding our demurrage claim for "Ventura," voyage 18. lam glad that my attention has been called to this. The claim passed through the regular channel in the ordinary course, and did not have consideration from the point of view which you have suggested. We quite agree with you that a give-and-take spirit should dominate our relations with your Government under our mail-contract, and herewith authorise you to refund the payment made to us, and at the same time to express our appreciation of the fact that your Post Office Department has not scrutinised our delinquencies very closely. We wish, however, to inform you that in the case of the " Ventura " which you refer to, in January, 1903, when she was over contract time, the loss of time on that voyage was largely caused by a breakage of machinery, her port high-pressure cylinder having burst. The schedule time of 396 hours from Auckland to San Francisco is more than a close fit for us; nevertheless, it was agreed to, and we have no com-