5

P.—6.

No. 7. The Secretary, General • Post Office, Wellington, to the Agent, Oceanic Steamship Company, Auckland. Sir, — General Post Office, Wellington, 17th December, 1907. I have the honour to refer to your letter of the 27th ultimo, with respect to the payment of moneys to the Oceanic Steamship Company for the conveyance of San Francisco and other mails, &c, up to the time of the cessation of the service. In reply, I have to inform you, — (1.) The Australian - New Zealand transit account for £126 18s. lOd. for the year 1906 was rendered on the 6th September last and acknowledged by you on the 9th idem. (2.) The account of £38 Os. lid. for the " Sierra's " voyage of the Ist April, 1907, was rendered as follows : (a) £24 14s. 4d. on the 12th April, and (6) the balance of £13 6s. 7d. on the 29th idem. The account of £163 17s. 7d. for the " Sonoma's " voyage of the 18th April last was rendered on the 29th idem. These accounts included all closed mails carried by those steamers. No mails were subsequently forwarded from New Zealand by the vessels of the Oceanic Company. (3.) The total amount paid at poundage rates by this Department to the Oceanic Company for the contract year ended November, 1906, was, as stated in the company's letter to you, £17,976 13s. 4d. The entry of £18,026 13s. 4d. in the departmental annual report was due to a clerical error in this office. (4.) As regards the conveyance of Fijian mails during 1907,1 beg to inform you that when inquiries now in hand about the routes by which certain mails were forwarded are completed, the account will be rendered. And, — • (5.) The parcel-post accounts for 1907 and the Australian - New Zealand transit account for the same year will be made out early in 1908, when the necessary data are available. I have, &c, D. Robertson, Secretary. J. C. Spedding, Esq., Post-office Box 462, Auckland. [S.F. Payts. 07/96.]

No. 8. The Agent, Oceanic Steamship Company, Auckland, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Sir, — Customs Street, Auckland, 18th December, 1907. We enclose herewith extract from letter received by us from Messrs. the Oceanic Steamship Company in reference to mail-money for the San Francisco service. Asking your kind attention to same. We have,\&c, The Australian Mail Line, (J. C. Spedding, Agent). The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. [S.F. Payts. 07/100.] 7

Enclosure in No. 8. Extract from Letter received from The Oceanic Steamship Company. Mail-money. We note that you have collected mail-money due for the period closing the 31st December, 1906, as follows : — £ s. d. Sydney to Auckland, foreign mails via Suez .. .. .. 126 18 10 Australia to Samoa and Hawaiian Islands .. .. .. 32 6 0 Fijian mails .. .. .. .. .. .. 38 18 2 While on the subject permit us to refer to a letter addressed to Messrs. Henderson and Macfarlane, by Mr. W. Gray, Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, under date of the 18th November, 1902 [No. 60, F.-6, 1903], with reference to settlement due this company for the conveyance of mails from New Caledonia. We do not appear to have ever received any remuneration for this service since the Ist January, 1901, unless the weight has been included in the settlements by the New Zealand Government. All mails from Auckland, as you are probably aware, have been carried on a poundage basis during the period from the Ist January, 1901, and up to the close of the service. The amount involved is perhaps trifling, but in order to clear up our records we would like to have an expression as to how the settlements have been made, and, if not, whether we may still expect payment from this quarter.