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No. 39. The General Manager, Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand (Limited), Sir,— Dunedin, 29th September, 1911. I have to thank you for your letter of 13th instant ... We have not, in the meantime, written to our San Francisco agents on the subject, so they will continue to receive whatever remittances Washington may make to them on our account, although our contract with New Zealand provides for payment to you. We, of course, advise you as soon as any remittances come to hand of the particulars we receive. Would you prefer that our agents should ask Washington to send the payments to you direct? I have, &c, R. McK. McLennan, for General Manager. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. [Wn.-S.F. 11/277.] "

No. 40. The General Manager, Union Steam Ship Company, Dunedin, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand (Limited), Sir, — Dunedin, 29th September, 1911. Be the extension of the San Francisco service as provided for in paragraph 31 of the contract, the extension was probably sufficiently confirmed by your letter of 13th July approving of the time-table for the year from 25th August. Is it necessary to have a formal supplement to the contract extending it for two years from 19th October, 1911? The question occurs to us from an inquiry made by the Government of Tahiti as to whether our agents there would guarantee the continuance of the service until October or November, 1913. I have, &c, R. McK. McLennan, for General Manager. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. [Wn.-S.F. 11/248.]

No. 41. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Secretary, Postmaster-General's Department, Melbourne. Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 3rd October, 1911. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 12th ultimo, in reply to mine of the 10th August last, proposing that your Department pay for the conveyance of Australian mails by the New Zealand-San Francisco contract steamers on the basis of the matter forwarded for despatch by the steamer which left Wellington on the 22nd ultimo. It is the case that under the provisions of the Postal Union Convention no Administration is bound to pay on fresh statistics taken at intermediate periods between the regular statistics on account of increased correspondence. It is thought, however, that you might be disposed to treat the service as a special one, for the reason that when the original statistics were taken in May, 1909, the service controlled by New Zealand ran as far as Tahiti only, the balance of the conveyance being by steamers subsidized by the United States of America. Moreover, the service running in 1909 was a five-weekly one only, while the existing service is a four-weekly one. It is considered that the increased frequency and the general convenience of the through service might fairly be regarded as an important modification in the flow of correspondence, and I should be glad to hear that you are prepared to regard the question in this light. I may explain that, under arrangements with the contractors, payments by the Commonwealth Government will be handed over to them in addition to the subsidy of .£21,666 paid for the conveyance of New Zealand mail-matter. I have, &c, D. Robertson, Secretary. The Secretary, Postmaster-General's Department, Melbourne. LWn.-S.F. 11/284.]

No. 42. The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington, to the Secretary, General Post Office, London. Sir, — General Post Office, Wellington, 6th October, 1911. In reply to your letter of the 19th August last, I have the honour to inform you that the arrangements made for the port of departure for the San Francisco mail-steamer to be Wellington instead of Auckland are permanent. The time between Wellington and San Francisco is twenty days and a half (492 hours), and reversely twenty-one days (505 hours); but in practice the time is twenty days. The steamer is now due to arrive at San Francisco on Thursday night, instead of Friday morning as under the old time-table. I have, &c, D. Kobertson, for the Postmaster-General, The Secretary, General Post Office, London. | Wn.-S.F. 11/258.]'