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being sorted here, be at once forwarded
by our mail packet, cannot be carried
out, inasmuch as the Contractors for
the mail service between this and Mel-
bourne are under heavy penalties to
dispatch their vessels within six days
after their arrival at this port.

I beg at the same time to submit the
following proposals to your consider-
ation :

1. That the Wonga Wonga shall
   bring on your English mails from this
   port.

2. That, assuming the mail arrives at
   Melbourne on the 5th, and at Wel-
   lington on the 20th, of each month, the
   Wonga Wonga shall (after that day)
   leave here for Lyttelton within 24 or
   36 hours after the arrival of the mails—
   shall, after landing the mails at Lyttelton,
   proceed to Otago with its mails—re-
   main there 24 hours, and on her return
   call at Lyttelton for your return mails.

3. That for the performance of this
   service Canterbury shall pay a subsidy
   to Wellington at the rate of not less
   than £1000 a-year.

4. That in the event of Otago de-
   clining to pay a similar amount, the
   Wonga Wonga, instead of proceeding
   to Otago, instead of proceeding
   to Otago, shall remain 48 hours at
   Lyttelton.

With reference to the above pro-
posals you will perceive that it is im-
possible that we can guarantee that the
return mails (even from Wellington)
shall reach Melbourne in time for the
homeward bound steamer.

It is equally impossible that we
should engage that the Wonga Wonga
should at all times be ready in port to
sail within 24 or 36 hours after the
arrival of the mails, for it might happen
by some lucky accident that the mails
might arrive on the 15th of the month
—the shareholders of course would not
consent to provide for such an impro-
bable contingency, unless the subsidy
given to them was sufficient to enable
them to employ their vessel solely and
exclusively in carrying the mails. We
propose, however, that the vessel shall,
after the 20th or 21st of each month,
(being the time when the mails ought
to arrive) start within 24 or 36 hours
after their arrival, I say 24 or 36 hours,
because the very sorting of the mails
brought requires that time; but it
would be for the interest of the com-
pany that the vessel should start the
instant the mails were ready.

In making this offer I may observe

that this Province has for the last four
months brought on the mails of the
other southern settlements at an expense
at the rate of £1200 a-year, without any
one of them contributing a single
farthing; that it will in all probability
be obliged to raise the subsidy to
£1500 or £1800 a-year; that it has
engaged to give a subsidy to the Wonga
Wonga of £2,500 a-year; and further,
that by dispatching the Wonga Wonga
to Canterbury and Otago, the other
parts of the Province will not be visited
by her oftener than once a month. You
will perceive therefore that Canterbury
in giving £1,000 for the conveyance
of her mails from Wellington does not
contribute towards the expense of
carrying them from Melbourne, which I
submit she ought to do.

I shall feel obliged by your Honor
intimating your acceptance or other-
wise of this offer by the very first
opportunity.

In consequence of the June mail
coming by way of the Cape, it is not
expected that it will arrive here before
the last week of this month, or the
first week in September; but should
I not hear from your Honor before it
arrives, I shall endeavour to make
arrangements for forwarding it by the
Wonga Wonga.

May I therefore beg the favour of
your Honor, under any circumstances,
informing the agents of the vessel at
Lyttelton (Messrs. Cookson, Bowler &
Co.), whether you agree to my pro-
posals, for in the event of your accept-
ing them the vessel will probably proceed
to Otago for the purpose of making to
the Superintendent of that Province a
similar offer.

I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
J. E. FEATHERSTONE,
Superintendent.

To His Honor the
Superintendent of Canterbury,
&c., &c.

Superintendent's Office,
Christchurch, 22nd August, 1857.

SIR,—I have the honor to acknow-
ledge the receipt of your Honor's
letter of the 14th inst. on the subject of
the means of transmitting the English
mails from Melbourne to Lyttelton.

Your Honor has already received my
letter of the 30th ult., and has, no
doubt, had your attention called to the