FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE

E.—No. 4

14

No. 19. The Hon. J. Vogel to the Hon. the Postmasteh-Geneeal, New South Wales. Sib,— • General Post Office, AVellington, 18th August, 1870. With reference to your letter of the 4th March last, in which you request that, on the return of the officer despatched by this Department to America with the first mails via San Francisco, you may be furnished with the necessary information respecting the transit of mails by this route through the United States territory,—that officer having now returned, I have the honor herewith to transmit for your information a statement of the arrangements made with the AVashington Department, for the exchange of international correspondence between the two countries, and for the transit of closed mails through the United States territory to destination, and the rates chargeable thereon. I have, A., . Julius Vogel, The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Sydney. Postmaster-General.

i Enclosure in No. 19. Arrangements. 1. Correspondence for the United States of America to be made up into mails addressed to San Francisco. 2. Correspondence for places other than the United States to be made up into closed mails, and addressed accordingly. 3. Correspondence for the Canadian Dominions, and other British North American Provinces in the east, to be charged transit rates as follows :— Letters, 6 cents per ounce; printed matter of all kinds, 16 cents per pound. 4. Correspondence for British Columbia, Mexico, Central and South America, and the West Indies, to be charged transit rates for land and sea carriage as follows : —Letters, 25 cents per ounce ; printed matter of all kinds, 20 cents per pound. 5. On the letter bills accompanying the mails for San Francisco will be rendered an account of the weight of the letters, and also of the printed matter, contained in such closed mails forwarded for transmission to either of the above-named countries and colonies; and the accounts arising between the two offices on this class of correspondence to be stated, adjusted, and settled quarterly. 6. Correspondence between the Colony and the United States to be prepaid. Insufficiently paid letters, on which a single rate or more has been prepaid, to be forwarded. Each Department to retain the prepaid postage on the outward correspondence, and the deficient postage on the inward. No accounts to be kept between the Departments of the two countries upon the international correspondence exchanged between them. 7. Mails for England to be conveyed from San Francisco to New York, and thence by steamer to Queenstown, or Liverpool, as the case may be, in terms of a Postal Convention between the United Kingdom and the United States Departments.

No. 20. The Hon. W. Milne to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet. Sic,— Chief Secretary's Office, Adelaide, 23rd August, 1870. Referring to a letter from this office of date 13th April last, stating that this Government could not at present enter into arrangements for subsidizing the Pacific Mail Service, as proposed in your communication of the 28th February last, I have the honor, by desire of His Excellency Sir James Fergusson, to inquire whether your Government will allow South Australian mails to be made up for transmission by that route, on payment of extra postage, to be accounted for in lieu of a subsidy ; aud if so, to request you to be so good as to furnish a scale of the extra rate required to be paid. I have, Ac, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, New Zealand. AVilliam Milne.

No. 21. The Hon. J. Vogel to the Hon. the Chief Seceetaet, South Australia. Sic, — - General Government Offices, Auckland, 3rd October, 1870. On behalf of the Colonial Secretary, I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd August. In reply thereto, I beg to refer you to a letter written by Mr. 11. S. Hurst, dated 12th July, 1870, and the answer by the Secretary to the New Zealand Postal Department, dated Ist August, 1870. The latter letter embodies the only terms upon which tho New Zealand Government are at present at liberty to enter into arrangements with your Government for the transmission of correspondence by the San Francisco Mail Route. I shall be glad to learn that your Government are disposed to make the contribution proposed in the letter of Ist August. I have, Ac, The Hon. the Chief Secretary, South Australia. Julius Vogel.