D.-No. Ib.

I request that your Lordships will be good enough to cause these particulars to be communicated to the Governments of the several Colonies, with a view to their taking steps for remitting the amounts due, in each case, previous to the 31st December next. I have, &c, Stanley of Alderley. The Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. Enclosure 3 to No. 1. Copy of a report from the Eeceiver and Accountant-General of the General Post Office, London, dated the sth May, 1863. 1. I beg to render an account of the sums due from the Australian Colonies and New Zealand in aid of the cost of the Packet Service to 31st December next. The account is in continuation of that which I rendered on 19th August, 1861, and which ran to 31st December last. 2. Tables A and Bshow the sums chargeable on each of the Australian Colonies and New Zealand in the years 1862 and 1863, respectively, for a proportion of the cost of the service between Southampton and Port de Galle. The total sum chargeable for each year is £15,058. 3. In dividing this charge for the year 1862, I have used the data (as to proportion of correspondence) which were employed in raising the other charges against each Colony for the years 1860, 1861, and 1862, but for the purpose of raising and dividing this and other charges for the year 1863, Ihave in obedience to the Treasury Minute of 15th November, 1858, prepared a fresh estimate of the proportions of correspondence, which fresh estimate will continue to be employed for similar purposes until the close of the year 1865. 4. In table C, the charge for the year 1863, on account of the service between Point de Galle and King George's Sound, viz., £42,223 19s. 7d., is divided (upon the fresh estimate of correspondence) between all the Australian Colonies and New Zealand. In Table D, the charge on account of the service between King George's Sound and Melbourne, viz., £17,572 Os. 6d., is divided between A'ictoria, New South AVales, New Zealand, Tasmania, and Queensland. In Table E, the charge for the service between Melbourne and Sydney, viz., £7,539 19s. lid., is divided between New South AVales, New Zealand, and Queensland. These three charges, viz. £42,223 19s. 7d., £17,572 Os. 6d., and £7,539 19s. lid., make up £67,336 which is a moiety of the cost of the Packet Service between Point de Galle and Sydney. 5. In tables F and G, the charge for the cost of mail boxes and the charge for Egyptian transit rate are divided between all the Australian Colonies and New Zealand. The charge for mail boxes is a moiety of the cost of those boxes, and the charge for Egyptian transit rate is, as the Secretary will remember, in accordance with the Treasury Instructions of the 12th October, 1860, in Packet Minute, 1,166 L. 6. Table His an account of the sums to be allowed to each of the Australian Colonies and New Zealand in consideration of overcharges in previous accounts. 7. In Table lis charged against the Colonies a moiety of the sum awarded to the Eoyal Mail Steam Packet Company by the recent decision of the Court of Queen's Bench, with interest and costs. The division is made on the principle and on the data employed in raising the charge on the Colonies in the account rendered for the years 1857-1859, at which time it will be remembered that the expenses were divided between the Colonies in proportion to the number of letters, irrespective of distance. 8. Table Kis an abstract of all the preceding tables and gives the total of the charges raised on each Cokny in Tables A to G, and Table I, the allowances to each Colony on account of overcharged, specified in table H, and the net result or difference between the charges on, and allowances to, each Colony. 0. In Table L the charges raised against each Colony in previous accounts, extending from Ist January, 1867, f o 31st December. 1 S(',2, and in the account now rendered up to 31st <jDecember, .1 SO';?, are recapitulated and aggregated; credit is given to each Colony for the remittances made by it up to the present time, and for any counter-claims which have been allowed ; and the net balance payable by each Colony before 31st December next is shown. 10. I think the account is very satisfactory. The total sum to be paid by all the Colonies before 31st December next is £241,056 18s. 3d., and the charges raised in the account now submitted make up £109,939 12s. 3d., so that the amount standing over from previous accounts is only £13,1117 (is., whereas, when the last account was rendered by me in 1861, the Colonies were in arrear to the extent of nearly £400,000. 11. It will be observed that New South AVales, South Australia, and Queensland have cleared off' all the charges raised againsl them in previous accounts, but that A'ictoria, Tasmania, New Zealand, and Western Australia are still in arrear in those accounts. The arrear due from Victoria on those accounts amounts to nearly £100,000, the arrear due from New Zealand is about £20,000, and the arrear due from Tasmania is about £12,000. The arrear due from Western Australia is inconsiderable.

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