7

D.—7

At the same time the New Zealand Shipping Company will be ready to consider, in any special case recommended by you, the possibility of some concession from their published rates. I am, &c, The New Zealand Shipping Company (Limited), The Agent-General for New Zealand. O. E. Strickland, Manager.

Enclosure 9 in No. 5. Mr. W. Kennaway to the Manager, New Zealand Shipping Company. Sir,— 13, Victoria Street, S.W., 30th September, 1892. I am directed by the Agent-General to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 29th instant, in which you state that your company does not feel able at present to enter into any arrangement with the New Zealand Government for a general reduction of passage-rates to such eligible settlers as may be recommended by the Government, and to express his regret at the decision arrived at. While thanking you for your company's offer to consider any special cases recommended by him, the Agent-General directs me to state that he does not consider that such a proposal would meet the objects he has in view, and that, therefore, he now feels himself free to approach other shipping companies on the subject. I am, &c, Walter Kennaway. The Manager, New Zealand Shipping Company (Limited).

Enclosure 10 in No. 5. The Agent-General to the Manager, Shaw-Savill and Albion Company. Dear Mr. Pptter,— 13, Victoria Street, S.W., 6th October, 1892. Perhaps the enclosed sample of letters we are constantly receiving may interest you, and help to convince you that the high passage-rates act as a deterrent to people thinking of going out. Yours, &c, J. A. Potter, Esq., Shaw-Savill and Albion Company. W. B. Perceval. Sub-enclosure to Enclosure 10 in No. 5. To the Agent-General for New Zealand. Dear Sir, — I contemplate moving my family, four sons and four daughters, to one of the colonies, having friends in both Canada and New Zealand ; they both think their own place the best. At third-class it would cost £160 to get to New Zealand, while the £60 would take us to Canada. I have a relative at Whangarei, Auckland, New Zealand, and he thinks that a good part to go to. Does your Government offer any advantages as to passage, or land (as a gift) when you arrive ? We are all workers, two boys and two girls, and clo not keep any servant in house, and, after paying £160 passage-money, should only have about £1,000 left on landing. Kindly give me any information useful as to above questions. I think your Government are all behind as to helping good colonists, for South Africa offers every inducement to single men now for gold, that few, I imagine, find their way to your colony. Could I get a free pass to Whangarei on landing, think you, as it costs something to be moving ten persons about in a colony where travelling doubtless is expensive; and, no doubt to that place, although only 100 miles from Auckland, it would mean £20. If you could show me some material advantage, no doubt I should be a pioneer; for there are other families I know about here who would follow, and form a community known to each other. But with most of them the expense seems so much that they fear to venture. Would it be any good if 1 saw you in London, as I may be near there shortly ? Yours, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand, London. _

Enclosure 11 in No. 5. Mr. J. W. Temple to the Agent-General. Shaw-Savill and Albion Company (Limited), 34, Leadenhall Street, E.C., Dear Sir,— 7th October, 1892. Your note of yesterday's date addressed to Mr. Potter has just been placed before me, he being at present absent on a holiday. I have read the enclosure with much interest and now return it to you. There is probably no doubt that a lower rate of passage-money would attract passengers to New Zealand, but as explained in our letter of 27th ultimo the earnings of the passenger steamers both out and home are now so curtailed that it is quite impossible for us to reduce the rates. The real gist of the matter seems to me to be in the paragraph in your correspondent's letter, in which he states that the New Zealand Government are all behind as to helping good colonists, and in which he contrasts the policy of that colony with that of Africa, &c. I may mention that our last steamer was quite full of second-class passengers, and that the present one seems likely to be full also ; you will thus see that if in the case of these steamers we had made the reductions suggested by you, the only effect would have been to reduce our earnings, and place us in a worse position than we are now.