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F.—3.

No. 29. The Hon. Mr. Dick to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, Sydney. (Telegram.) Wellington, 16th February, 1884. You no doubt have received from Agent-General correspondence from Frisco contractors, urging that mails leave London Tuesday, or Frisco Saturday. Am of opinion Saturday should be substituted forthwith for Friday as sailing-day from Frisco. Mails invariably late since commencement renewed service, and irregularities seriously prejudice the line. Anticipating you will consent alteration, beg that you cable Agents-General, and inform contractors. The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Sydney. Thomas Dick.

No. 30. The Hon. Mr. Trickett to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington. (Telegram.) Sydney, 18th February, 1884. No proposal alter Frisco table received. Present day from London little use here, as Orient, leaving day after, gets here first. If Frisco mail left London Tuesday previous, the service still less use here. No objection Saturday from Frisco, though Frisco day nominal, steamer leaving whenever mails aboard. Why not alter your public notice, making probable arrival Auckland day later than now ? Gilchrist says that suggestions made to Agent-General for Saturday from London. Matter hardly ripe for decision. W. J. Trickett. The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington.

No. 31. The Hon. Mr. Dick to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, Sydney. (Telegram.) Wellington, 21st February, 1884. Useless alter day arrival Auckland. Impossible London mails under present arrangements reach Frisco Friday. London Post Office considering abolishing Queenstown port call outward steamers, and sending mails by fastest vessels only. In meantime, Saturday should be Frisco sailing-day. The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Sydney. Thomas Dick.

No. 32. The Hon. Mr. Trickett to the Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington. (Telegram.) Sydney, 22nd February, 1884. Agree alter to Saturday, on understanding day only nominal as heretofore, steamer leaving Frisco soon as mails arrive, whether Friday, Saturday, or later or earlier. Agents-General and contractors' agents informed. W. J. Trickett. The Hon. the Postmastor-General, Wellington.

No. 33. The Hon. Mr. Oliver to Sir F. D. Bell, London. Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 26th February, 1884. I have received your letter* of the 21st December last, enclosing copy of one of the 27th November, together with its enclosures, from the Pacific Mail Company to yourself and Sir Saul Samuel, pointing out the serious delays at San Francisco which have followed the adoption of the new time-table fixing the despatch of the mails from London on Thursday and from San Francisco on Friday. The contractors have undoubted grounds for complaint, for since the commencement of the renewed service it has not been possible for the steamers to leave San Francisco on the contract day, owing to the fact that the London mails every month have been from one to three days late, the delays being due to the slow speed of steamers by which the mails were forwarded to New York. Eecognizing that a change was urgently demanded in the interest of the service, the New South Wales Post Office was, on receipt of your letter, immediately communicated with and asked to consent to Saturday being reverted to as the sailing-day from San Francisco, until other measures were considered for securing more regular connection between London and San Francisco. This was eventually agreed to, and at my request Sir Saul Samuel and yourself and the contractors were apprised by the New South Wales Post Office of the change. This alteration, while affording the contractors a measure of relief, will not disarrange the time-table, as mails reaching San Francisco on Friday will still, under the contract, be despatched on that day. Should the London Post Office decide—as I trust it may —to abandon Queenstown as a port of call for the steamers sailing from Liverpool for New York, and select only the swiftest vessels for the mails, the present serious delays would no doubt disappear. But, if this change is not to be brought about at once, it will be necessary for the colonies to make suitable representations to the London Post Office. Faster steamers should be selected for the transport of the colonial mails to New York, so that the punctuality of the service may be relied on, and its reputation for regularity maintained, on which its value to New Zealand so much depends. I shall therefore be glad if you will

• Vide No. 28.