41

F.—6

Enclosure 2 in No. 140. The Manager, American and Australian Line, London, to the Agent-General. 122, Pall Mall, S.W., 21st February, 1901. Dear Sir, — New Zealand Mails. In reply to your favour of the 19th instant, we have to inform you that a delay occurred in the carriage of through mails New Zealand to London vid San Francisco and New York in connection with the Pacific voyage between Auckland and San Francisco. This was due to a slight break-down on our s.s. "Sierra," with regard to the exact nature of which we are not informed. The mails in question were expeditiously handled in crossing the United States, and are on board the Cunard liner " Umbria," due to arrive on Saturday next. Yours, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand. T. V. Wilson.

No. 141. The Hon. the Premier to the Agent-General. (Telegram.) Wellington, 7th March, 1901. Frisco service : Referring to my letter twenty-seventh October [No. 29], and your cable fourteenth February, United States refuses agree New Zealand receiving sea-transit rates, claims payment under Postal Union. Useless our objecting.

No. 142. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Premier. Westminster Chambers, 13, Victoria Street, London, S.W., Sir,— 13th March, 1901. Referring to your letter of the 20th December last, I beg to transmit copy of correspondence, by which it will be seen that the Imperial Postmaster-General requires further complete details of the comparative working of the new service vid San Francisco and the service via Suez before making the alteration desired by you. It is stated in the letter which I have received from the Imperial Post Office that the New Zealand Post Office furnishes such returns from time to time ; and I would venture to suggest that copies of these be forwarded also to myself, so that I may be able to refer to them when communicating with the Imperial authorities on the subject. It will be seen that the Imperial Post Office refers not only to the time at which the mails arrive at Wellington, but also to that at which they arrive at the other principal places of the colony. You are no doubt aware, as I have pointed out in previous communications, that the Imperial Post Office authorities will always, if possible, send letters, &c, by the route vid Italy and Suez in preference to that via San Francisco, and that therefore it is necessary to furnish clear proof of the superiority of the latter service before they will consent to avail themselves of it for the despatch of their mails to New Zealand. Unfortunately, the present time is not altogether opportune for advocating the claims of the San Francisco service, inasmuch as the mails have not lately been delivered in London at their due date. In no case since the time of arrival in London has been altered from Wednesday to Friday have the letters been available for business purposes until the following Monday morning at the earliest, and in one case the delivery was, as I have already advised you by cable, ten days late. I need not point out that such delays cause special loss and inconvenience. Take, for instance, the case of remittances : if the drafts do not come to hand before 1 o'clock on Saturday, a loss of two days' interest is sustained by the recipients. I venture, therefore, to suggest that in any future revision of the time-table the time of arrival in London should revert back to Wednesdays, or at the latest to Thursdays. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. W. P. Reeves.

Enclosure 1 in No. 142. The Secretary to the Agent-General to the Secretary, General Post Office, London. Sir,— 13, Victoria Street, S.W., 26th February, 1901. I am directed by the Agent-General to inform you that he has been instructed by his Government to draw the attention of the Postmaster-General to the notice which he has issued, to the effect that correspondence for New Zealand posted up to the evening of the first or second Friday following a despatch vid San Francisco will be forwarded via Italy, thus giving preference to the Suez route for two weeks out of the three; and, in reference thereto, I am to request the favour of your laying before the Postmaster-General the table which is sent herewith, and which the Agent-General received from the Postmaster-General in New Zealand, showing that, now that the new boats are running on the Pacific, there will be no gain, but rather delay, in using the Eastern route for correspondence for New Zealand posted during the week preceding that in which the San Francisco mails are despatched from London.

6—F. 6,