E.—No. 2c,

48

SAN FRANCISCO MAIL SERVICE.

Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure in No. 45. Mr. Hall to the Under Secretary of tho Colonial Office. Sir,— Admiralty, 24th May, 1872. I have received and laid before my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty your letter of the 13th instant, enclosing one from the Agent-General for New Zealand, respecting the necessity for soundings being taken between New Zealand and Australia, in view of a general telegraphic communication between these places ; and also a survey being made of the route to be taken by steamers between Honolulu and New Zealand. 2. I am commanded by their Lordships to acquaint you, for the information of Lord Kimberley, that in regard to a line of deep soundings between Australia and New Zealand for submarine telegraphic purposes, there is at the present time no ship on the station fitted to carry out such an operation; but that when the opportunity occurs the question will not be lost sight of. 3. In regard to surveying the route between the Sandwich Islands and New Zealand, for the benefit of a line of packets, I am desired to state that there is no line in the Pacific so free from danger as the direct route between these two places ; and with the latest Admiralty charts, and the ordinary precautions practised by navigators, this line may be traversed with perfect safety. I have, &c, The Under Secretary of the Colonial Office. Bobert Hall.