E.—No. 2

10

FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO

payable to the Company. lam further to observe, that all subsidies due to the P.N.Z. and A.R.M. Company having been paid up to the end of last month (November), no payments are at present due. I have, &c, A. Kerr, Esq., Manager, G. Eliott Eliott, Union Bank of Australia, Wellington. Secretary.

No. 24. Mr. A. Kere to the Hon. J. Hall. Union Bank of Australia, Sir, — Wellington, 17th December, 1868. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 14th instant, which owns receipt of my letter of 10th and its enclosures, viz., notice dated 26th November, 1868, from the Inspector and General Manager of this Bank, of a lien dated 15th June, 1868, granted in his favour by the General Manager of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limited), over all subsidies payable to that Company by the Government of New Zealand in respect of the Panama Mail Contract, until certain advances made by the Sydney Branch of this Bank have been paid off. Also, an order and authority from Captain Benson, the General Manager of the Company, addressed to the Colonial Treasurer, authorizing and empowering me to receive and give discharge for the moiety of the subsidies payable monthly in Wellington. I feel it necessary, from the tenor of your letter now under reply, to explain that I have in my possession the lien over all the subsidies referred to by the Inspector and General Manager of this Bank, but that by an arrangement between the Company and the Bank it was agreed that one moiety of the subsidy should be paid to this Bank in Wellington, and one moiety in Sydney —an arrangement which at the present time I have no wish to disturb; and further, that as soon as our claim shall have been satisfied, you shall be apprised of the fact without any delay. I have, &c, A. Keer, The Hon. Postmaster-General of New Zealand. Manager.

No. 25. Mr. A. Kere to the Hon. J. Hall. Union Bank of Australia, Sir, — Wellington, 21st December, 1868. With reference to my letters of 10th and 17th instant, I have now the honor to inform you that the General Manager of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limited), has satisfied the claims of this Bank in respect of sums due to it at Sydney and Wellington ; therefore the documents to which I referred, viz., lien over all subsidies payable to the Company by the Government under the Panama Mail Contract, and the order and authority from the General Manager of the Company, addressed to the Colonial Treasurer, empowering me to receive and give discharge for the moiety of the subsidy payable in Wellington, both dated 15th June, 1868,1 hereby beg to withdraw. I have, &c, A. Keee, The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington. Manager.

No. 26. Mr. G. Eliott Eliott to Mr. A. Kere. General Post Office, Sic,— Wellington, 23rd December, 1868. I am directed to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 21st instant, intimating that the General Manager of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limited), has satisfied the claims of your Bank, in respect of sums due to it at Sydney and Wellington, as referred to in your letters of the 10th and 17th instant, and withdrawing the lien held by the Bank on the subsidies payable to the Company. I have, &c., A. Kerr, Esq., Manager, G. Eliott Eliott, Union Bank of Australia, Wellington. Secretary.

No. 27. Mr. R. Marshall to the Hon. J. Hall. Sir, — Wellington, New Zealand, 21st January, 1869. I beg leave to forward for your inspection the under-mentioned documents :— Ist October, 1868.—(Original) Power of Attorney from the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, giving me full powers to act in relation to certain vessels the property of the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limited), mortgaged to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company. 14th January, 1869. —(Original) Assignment by the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limited), to the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, of a sum of four thousand five hundred pounds, to become due by way of subsidy from the New Zealand Government on arrival of the " Rakaia" from Panama ; and 24th July, 1868.-—(Attested copy) Joint and several Power of Attorney from the Panama, New Zealand, and Australian Royal Mail Company (Limited) to Captain Blanc and John Vine Hall, Esq., enabling the execution of the assignment above mentioned.