3

F.—6

SAN FRANCISCO SERVICE.

INCIDENTS OF PACIFIC TRANSIT, ETC. No. 1. The Acting Second Assistant Postmaster-General, Washington, to the Hon. the PostmasterGeneral, Wellington. Post Office Department, Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General, Division Sir,— of Foreign Mails, Washington, D.C., 31st July, 1907. I have the honour, by direction of the Postmaster-General, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th May last [No. 4,.F.-6a, 1907], in which you suggest—on account of the interruption in the regular mail-service performed by steamers of the Oceanic Steamship Company plying between San Francisco and Auckland—that the transit from San Francisco to New York of the New Zealand closed mails for Great Britain despatched since the Ist March last bo settled for upon the basis of the actual net weights of said mails as furnished in the statements which accompanied the mails. In reply, I am to inform you that your suggestion is acceptable, to this Department, and that the adjustment of the transit charges will be made in accordance therewith. I have, &c, John W. Hollyday, Acting Second Assistant Postmaster-General. The Postmaster-General, Wellington. [Acknowledged .30th September, 1907.] [BJT. I'ayts. 07/80.]

No. 1. The Acting Second Assistant Postmaster-General, Washington, to the Hon. the PostmasterGeneral, Wellington. Post Office Department, Office of the Second Assistant Postmaster-General, Division Sir,— of Foreign Mails, Washington, D.C., 31st July, 1907. I have the honour, by direction of the Postmaster-General, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 10th May last [No. 4,.F.-6a, 1907], in which you suggest —on account of the interruption in the regular mail-service performed by steamers of the Oceanic Steamship Company plying between San Francisco and Auckland —that the transit from San Francisco to New York of the New Zealand closed mails for Great Britain despatched since the Ist March last bo settled for upon the basis of the actual net weights of said mails as furnished in the statements which accompanied the mails. In reply, I am to inform you that your suggestion is acceptable to this Department, and that the adjustment of the transit charges will be made in accordance therewith. I have, &c., John W. Hollyday, Acting Second Assistant Postmaster-General. The Postmaster-General, Wellington. [Acknowledged 30th September, 1907.] [SJ.. I'ayts. 07/80.]

[For letter of the 11th October, 1907, from the Chamber of Commerce, Auckland, urging acceleration of mail communication between the Dominion and the United Kingdom and Europe, see No. 106.] No. 2. The Agent, Oceanic Steamship Company, Auckland, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Sir, — Auckland, 27th November, 1907. We are in receipt of the following request from the Oceanic Steamship Company, San Francisco, and will be glad if you will kindly furnish us with the desired information at your convenience. " Mail-money. " In going over the statements furnished by the General Post Office at Wellington in connection with the above items, we find that no allowance appears to have been made for the conveyance from Sydney to Auckland of mails from the United Kingdom, foreign countries, &c, via Suez for the year ending 31st December, 1906, as well as for closed mails from New Zealand for Honolulu, Pago Pago, Apia, and Fiji, the last settlements having been made up to the 31st December, 1905, for £193 18s. 3d., and the 31st March, 1907, for £24 12s. 2d., respectively. By last mail from the colonies we received a copy of the annual report of the Post and Telegraph Department, New Zealand, for the year 1906, in which reference is made to the San Francisco service on page 19. The statement is made therein that the total amount paid at poundage rates to the contractors for the contract year ended November, 1906, was £18,026 13s. 4d. This does not quite agree with the amounts actually paid to this company, which are shown to be £17,976 13s. 4d., as per itemized statement [not received] enclosed herewith showing an apparent discrepancy of £50. Kindly have the account checked up and favour us with a report of same at your earliest convenience. "In connection with the closing of our service, there will also be other amounts accruing to the Oceanic Steamship Company, outstanding for the conveyance of Fiji mails, also for parcels to and from Australia, Samoa, and the United States, and for mails from Sydney to Auckland, via Suez, originating in the United Kingdom, foreign countries, &c, from the Ist January up to the time our service was discontinued. "We would thank you to kindly take up these questions and advise us at your earliest convenience how soon settlements may be expected." I have, &c, The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. J. C. Spedding. [B.F. Payte. 07/88.]