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No. 16. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Secretary, Canterbury Chamber of Commerce, Christchurch. Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 4th March, 1898. I have the honour, by direction, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 26th ultimo, forwarding copy of a resolution passed by your Chamber reaffirming its opinion that the time has arrived to establish cable-communication with Great Britain and her Australasian dependencies vid Canada, which will be considered. I have, &c, The Secretary, Canterbury Chamber of W. Gray, Secretary. Commerce, Christchurch.

No. 17. The Secretary, Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, to the Hon. the Postmaster-General. Sir, — Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, Dunedin, 11th March, 1898. I have the honour, by direction of my committee, to address you on the subject of the establishment of cable-communication with Great Britain vid the Pacific and Canada. This Chamber has some time since expressed its opinion in favour of such a movement, and my committee desire now to reaffirm that opinion, and, further, that the time has now come for some definite action in the direction indicated. The reasons for the general desire for this cable on the part of the mercantile communities of the colonies have been so often stated that they need not be repeated, but the proposals for another cable service vid the Cape of Good Hope and Mauritius, which are now being made, render it important that action as to the Pacific route should be pressed forward. I have, &c, The Hon. the Postmaster-General, Wellington. S. C. Leary, Secretary.

No. 18. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to the Secretary, Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, Dunedin. Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 16th March, 1898. I have the honour, by direction of the Postmaster-General, to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th instant, urging, on behalf of your committee, that definite steps should be taken towards establishing cable-communication with Great Britain by way of the Pacific and Canada. In reply, I am to say that the Government of this colony is strongly in favour of a Pacific cable, and is keeping the subject steadily in view; but much depends upon the action of Great Britain and Canada in the matter. It is hoped that concerted action will shortly be taken by those Australasian Colonies favourable to the scheme. I have, &c, The Secretary, Dunedin Chamber of Commerce, Dunedin. W. Gray, Secretary.

No. 19. The Secretary, General Post Office, Wellington, to Sir Sandford Fleming, Ottawa. Sir,— General Post Office, Wellington, 16th March, 1898. Referring to my letter of the 12th ultimo, acknowledging the receipt of copy of your letter to Sir Wilfrid Laurier on the subject of the Pacific cable, the Right Hon. Mr. Seddon now directs me to say, in reply, that he hopes to hear that no efforts will be spared on the part of Canada to insure the accomplishment of the scheme for a cable from Australia to the United Kingdom by way of the Pacific. The New Zealand Government strongly favours the Pacific cable. I have, &c, Sir Sandford Fleming, Ottawa, Canada. W. Gray, Secretary.

No. 20. The Hon. the Premier, Adelaide, to the Hon. the Premier, Wellington. (Telegram.) Adelaide, 28th March, 1898. Have received the following cablegram from our Agent-General: "Have received official letter from Chairman of Cape Committee stating he authorised by Chancellor Exchequer to inform me it is not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to take any part in any scheme for laying a cable across the Pacific. After this clear intimation will Eastern colonies subsidise the Cape route, or must I inform Committee they still decline to co-operate in the Cape project, which strategic advocates of British Government consider of great importance for defence of Empire ? Reply as soon as you can.—Playford."