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No. 21. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Secretary, Pacific Cable Board, London. Sm _ General Post Office, Wellington, 29th July, 1903. I have the honour, by direction of the Postmaster-General, to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 28th February last, requesting that a certified statement of this Government s expenditure in connection with the Doubtless Bay Cable-station be sent you as soon as possible after the 31st March, and that such statement be forwarded to your Superintendent at Doubtless Bay for the purpose of his certifying that the buildings and accessories supplied to that station were in accordance with the plans and specifications, and accurately described in the accounts. _ A statement furnished by the Public Works Department, of which the accompanying is a copy, has been forwarded to Mr. Hertslet for the purposes indicated in your letter Should he require further data or vouchers, I have no doubt that these will be supplied by the Public Works you a statement of payments made by this Department on behalf of your Board, in connection with the items set out in the statement. A copy of the statement has also been forwarded to Mr. Hertslet, to enable him to deal with such of the items as may affect his 1 Under cover of a letter [No. 63] addressed to the Chairman of your Board by the PostmasterGeneral, a statement of the expenses connected with the canvassing for cable business has been forwarded by the present mail. , I think I should mention that I have received a counter-claim from Mr. Hertslet for £298 Is. sd. in respect of proportion of salary due by this Department for staff at Doubtless Bay up to the 31st March last. This will be duly credited the Board. I have, &c. The Secretary, Pacific Cable Board, London. . W. Gray, Secretary.

No. 22. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Superintendent, Pacific Cable Station, Doubtless Bay. s _ General Post Office, Wellington, 29th July, 1903. In a letter to the Postmaster-General from the Secretary, Pacific Cable Board, dated 28th February last, this Department was requested to send you a statement of the Government expenditure m connection with the Doubtless Bay cable-station, in order that you might have an opportunity of certifying that the buildings and accessories supplied to that station were in accordance with the plans and specifications, and accurately described in the accounts I accordingly send you copy of the statement furnished by the Public Works Department, and have informed the Board that this has been done. . , , „ ~v I also forward you copy of statement of expenditure by this Department on behalf of the Board, so that you may verify such of the items as affect your own office ~..,, For your own information I attach copy of statement of payments made on behalf of he Board in connection with the recent canvassing. The original has already gone forward to the "_. a separate letter I have acknowledged receipt of your claim for salaries of staff up to the 31st March last, amounting to £298 Is. sd. This will be paid to the Board m due course. I have, &c, W. Gray, Secretary. The Superintendent, Pacific Cable Station, Doubtless Bay.

No. 23. The Under-Secretary, Public Works Department, Wellington, to the Superintendent of Electric Lines, Wellington. (Memorandum.) Public Works Department, Wellington, 7th August, 1903. Re Cottage at Gable Station, Doubtless Bay. In reply to your memorandum of the 4th instant [not printed] relative to the above, I have to state that the District Engineer at Auckland-was authorised, on the 27th v timo, to accept Messrs. T M Lane and Sons' offer of £500 for the erection of the building, and the contract was signed yesterday, 6th instant. m „. H. J. H. Blow, Under-Secretary. The Superintendent of Electric Lines, Wellington.

No. 24. The Superintendent, Pacific Cable Station, Doubtless Bay, to the Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington. s _ Pacific Cable Board, Doubtless Bay Station, 11th August, 1903. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 29th July; and, in reply I beg to inform you that future claims for recovery of salaries for your Department will show the annual salary and foreign allowance paid to each officer. I am, &c, C. L. Hertslet, Superintendent. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington.