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now under reply. My Board desire me to say that, in view of the letter of the Shaw-Savill and Albion Company, they do not feel able at present to enter into any arrangement with the Government of New Zealand for a general reduction of rates to such eligible settlers as may be recommended to them by the New Zealand Government. 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. (0. R. Strickland, Manager).

Sir,— 13, Victoria Street, London, S.W., 30th September, 1892. I am directed by the Agent-General to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 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, The Manager, New Zealand Shipping Company (Limited). Walter Kennaway.

Dear Mr. Potter, —• 13, Victoria Street, London, 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.

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. 1. Does your Government offer any advantages as to passage? 2. Or land (as a gift) when you arrive ? We are all workers—two boys and two girls—and don't keep any servant in the 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 from Auckland 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 a hundred miles from Auckland, it would mean £20. If you could show me some material advantage, no doubt I should be a pioneer for 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 I saw you in London, as I may be near there shortly ? Yours, &c., The Agent-General for New Zealand.

Shaw-Savill and Albion Company (Limited), 34, Leadenhall Street, London, E.C., Deae Sic,— 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 the 27th ultimo, the earnings of the passengersteamers, 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 appears 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 South 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 the earnings and place us in a worse position than we are now. I feel sure the service of fast steamers which has been carried on by this company and the New Zealand Shipping Company has been of immense benefit to the colony, but the time is certainly now rapidly approaching when we shall be compelled to consider whether it is possible for us any longer to continue it. I am, &c, J. W. Temple, The Agent-General for New Zealand. Managing Director,