A.—2;

British and French packets between France and the Australian Colonies, New Zealand, and Tasmania. I am to request that the proposed agreement (ten copies of which are enclosed herewith) may be submitted, if the Secretary of State sees no objection, for the approval of the Colonies concerned. I have, &c, The Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office. E. E. W. Lingen.

Enclosure 2. The Post Office to the Treasury. My Lords, — General Post Office, 18th August, 1882. The arrangements under which mails are exchanged by British packet between France and the Australian Colonies, New Zealand, and Tasmania, are regulated by articles to the Postal Convention between this country and France, which were concluded so long ago as the year 1862. By that agreement the French Post Office has to pay to the British Post Office for the seaconveyance of letters the sum of 1 franc 20 centimes per thirty grammes net weight, or about 40 francs per kilogramme, which, contrasted with the sea-rate of 15 francs per kilogramme fixed by the Universal Postal Union, is, of course very high, and necessitates the postage on letters between France and the Australian Colonies being maintained at Is. the half-ounce, while letters between the United Kingdom and those Colonies are charged only 6d. This difference of charge has not unnaturally excited some discontent in France, particularly as the French correspondence, while subject to a double charge, is actually carried a shorter distance; the English mails by the Brindisi route having, in fact, to pass through France on their way to and f rom Australia. The French Minister of Posts and Telegraphs has repeatedly applied to this office for a modification of the terms on which the mails are now exchanged, so as to admit of a reduction of postage such as would at least equalize the charges between France and Australia with those between England and Australia; and, feeling that these applications were well founded, I have more than once brought them under the consideration of the Australian Colonies through the medium of the Colonial Office; but the Colonies have hitherto declined to agree to any reduction, on account of the fiscal sacrifice they would have to make in lowering the charge for sea-conveyance ; for, as your Lordships are aware, the sea-postage has for many years been made over to the Australian Colonies in aid of their packet services maintained in connection with the English lines. Eecently, however, the Postmaster-General of Victoria, in answer to an appeal addressed to him directly from the French Post Office, has expressed his willingness to enter into an agreement based on the terms of the " Arrangement concerning the entry into the General Postal Union of British India and the French Colonies," signed at Berne, January 27th, 1876; and upon this the French Minister of Posts and Telegraphs founds new proposals. M. Cochery takes advantage of the intended establishment in the autumn of this year of a new line of French contract mail packets to the East, which will touch at some of the principal ports in Australia, to propose a fresh scheme, which he thinks will be mutually advantageous to France and the Australian Colonies; besides giving this country the opportunity of sending and receiving mails by the new French line at a moderate charge for sea-conveyance. As the basis of his arrangement, whether for mails carried by the British packets between Brindisi and Australia, or for those carried by the French packets between Marseilles and Australia, M. Cochery proposes to adopt the sea-rates which were originally fixed for mails carried to and from British India and the French Colonies when they first joined the Postal Union in 1876, namely, 25 francs per kilogramme net weight for letters and post-cards, and 1 franc per kilogramme for other articles. It is on this basis that the Postmaster-General of Victoria has signified his readiness to treat with the French Post Office, and, so far, the acquiescence of one of the principal Colonies is assured. But M. Cochery is naturally desirous of making the arrangement applicable not to one Colony only, but to the Australian Colonies and New Zealand uniformly. The proposed agreement, of which some copies are enclosed, appears to me to be a fair one, and indirectly this country would benefit by it in the event of our employing the new French line for the conveyance of mails from England to Australia. I recommend that it may be sent to the Colonial Office with a request that the Earl of Kimberley will submit it for the consideration and approval of each of the Colonial Governments. Table A annexed to the articles shows the rates of postage which will be chargeable both in France and in the Australian Colonies upon letters in either direction, as well as upon other descriptions of correspondence. Another Table (F) shows the rates to be paid to France by the Australian Colonies for correspondence delivered over to the French Post Office, whether addressed to France or other countries to which France serves as the intermediary of communication, and whether conveyed by the English or the French mail lines. Eegistered letters are to be subject to a registration fee, to be fixed by the postal administration of the country sending such letters. The agreement provides that each country should retain the postage it collects, and that the despatching country should take into its charge the payment for all intermediate transport, such, for instance, as the conveyance of the mails through Italy when they use the Brindisi route. Thus, the Australian Colonies will take upon themselves the charges of sea and land transport for their own mails up to the French frontier of ingress; France, in like manner, being responsible for the transit charges on mails sent from France to Australia ; the settlement of the transit charges being effected in either case directly between the countries interested. This arrangement will greatly simplify matters of account ; and I would propose, as a movement in the same direction, that the Australian Colonies should settle with the Italian Post Office

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