17

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No. 47. The Hon. the Premier to the Agent-General. (Telegram.) Wellington, 12th December, 1896. Vancouver service and Huddart's letter of 13th October : Provisional agreement submitted to House, session 1895. Not persevered with. Not deemed advisable to bring forward last session. Intend to submit, with renewal of San Francisco service, to new House. Warn Huddart against commencing service as proposed in expectation of receiving subsidy from colony. Without authority of House to establish service Government will not allow colony to be committed in any way. This cannot be made too clear to Huddart.

No. 48. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Deputy Postmaster-General, Sydney. Sir, — General Post Office, Wellington, 16th December, 1896. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st ultimo, forwarding copy of a letter from Mr. Robert Grayson, representative of Mr. James Huddart, together with copies of two suggested time-tables in connection with the Canadian-Australian mail-service, one providing for the steamers of that line calling at Wellington and the other for their calling at Auckland. The matter has been laid before the Postmaster-General, who directs me to say, in reply, that, after careful consideration, he is unable to recognise the proposal to run the Sydney-Vancouver service, vid Wellington or Auckland, until the Parliament of this colony shall have dealt with the question, and authorised the Government to arrange for the service. The suggested time-table, therefore, could not be considered in the meantime. I am, however, to point out that the proposal pre-supposes the varying of the existing time-table of the Auckland-San Francisco mail-steamers, as well as the dates of despatch of the mails from London, and at the present moment it would not be convenient to discuss such a change. I have, &c, The Deputy Postmaster-General, Sydney. W. Gray, Secretary.

No. 49. Mr. Robert Grayson (representing Mr. James Huddart) to the Hon. the Premier. Canadian-Australian Steamship Line, Queen's Chambers, Sir,— Wellington, 19th October, 1896. Referring to the question of the establishment of the mail-service between New Zealand and Canada, and to the interviews which I have had the honour to have with you in connection therewith, I regret that the somewhat unusual pressure of more urgent parliamentary business has prevented the Customs Duties Reciprocity Bill from being dealt with this session, and has consequently necessitated the postponement of the consideration by Parliament of the Vancouver service mail contract, as entered into between the late Postmaster-General and Mr. James Huddart. Having in view the ratification of this contract by Parliament, we recently purchased from the New Zealand Shipping Company their s.s. " Aorangi," and at the present moment this steamship is being fitted with new triple-expansion engines, and, in addition, the whole of her saloon and cabin accommodation is being modernised, at an expenditure of some £40,000. I may say that, after having given the subject most careful consideration, we are at the moment inclined, on the arrival of the " Aorangi" in Australasia, to forthwith establish a four-weekly service between either Auckland or Wellington (which port can be decided later on) and Vancouver, B.C. This service cannot be carried on successfully without the assistance of the subsidy arranged for in the provisional contract; but it appears to us that it would be an indication of our faith in the ultimate success of the enterprise if we decided to establish the service before the question has been before Parliament or the contract ratified. In doing this we feel that we should not be prejudicing our present position so far as the provisional contract is concerned, but that our action would rather stimulate the interest and sympathy of the people of this colony, and it is not the first time in our experience that the bold course has proved to be the wise course. On the arrival of our first steamship in New Zealand (alternating with the San Francisco steamers) we should be able to offer you a quick and reliable mail route to London and all Canadian and American points. This should obviate the necessity of your utilising the Suez route for London correspondence, because, running alternately with the present San Francisco service, your colony would then have a regular fortnightly service to Europe. Pending the consideration of the question of granting a subsidy by Parliament next session, all we should ask would be that our mail-service should receive the fullest advertisement at the hands of your Postal Department, in order that full advantage may be taken of the service by the public, and, by way of remuneration for carrying the mails, we should only ask the ordinary poundage rates which you are at present paying to the other company —viz., 12s. per pound on the net weight of letters conveyed from New Zealand, and that the contributions from the Imperial Government on the return mails should be paid over to our company, after deducting any payments made or expenses incurred by the Postmaster-General, as usual. I need scarcely add that I hope that our action in deciding to initiate this service pending the consideration of the question by Parliament will be looked upon in a favourable light by your 3—F. 6.