The postage on all Letters and Papers despatched from New Zealand to places beyond the seas shall be paid in this Colony.

All Letters and Papers having a Postage Stamp or Stamps affixed thereto or enclosed in covers having a Postage Stamp or Stamps affixed thereto of such form as may be prescribed by the Local Government, which shall not have been used before, and which shall be of the value or amount of the postage to which such Letters or Papers would be respectively liable, according to the scale hereinafter provided shall pass by the Post free of postage.

On all Letters sent by Post, on being re-directed and again forwarded by the Post, there shall be charged and paid a new and distinct rate of postage for the re-direction, in addition to all other rates of postage payable thereon, according to the scale and rate of postage hereinafter mentioned.

No Letter or Packet, exceeding sixteen ounces in weight, shall be forwarded by the Post, except Deeds, Law Proceedings, and Law Papers, and also except Letters to and from places beyond the seas and Letters to and from the Governor, Letters on the Public Service, or to and from any of the Government Offices or Departments.

On all Deeds, Law Proceedings, and Law Papers, on all Printed Votes and Proceedings of the Imperial Parliament and Periodical Publications despatched by the Post between places in New Zealand, or sent to or received from the United Kingdom or any of Her Majesty's Colonies, there shall be charged and paid the rates of New Zealand Postage following, that is to say:—If not exceeding four ounces in weight, a rate of Two Pence, and for every additional four ounces in weight above four ounces there shall be charged and paid an additional rate of Two Pence.

Printed Newspapers shall be conveyed by the Post free of postage, provided they be sent without a cover or in a cover open at the sides, and there be no writing thereon, or upon the cover of the same, except the name and address of the person to whom sent, and that no paper or thing be enclosed in or with any such paper. And every paper or packet which shall be contrary in any respect to the conditions hereby required to be observed, shall be charged with treble the duty of postage to which it would have been liable as a letter.

Printed Prices Current and Commercial Lists, not exceeding two ounces in weight, shall be forwarded through the Post under the same regulations and privileges as Newspapers.

Non-Commissioned Officers, Captains' Stewards, Seamen, and Soldiers, may send and receive Letters not exceeding half an ounce in weight by the Post on their own private concerns only, while they are employed in Her Majesty's service, at the rate of One Penny for each letter. And with respect to letters sent or received by any such privileged persons, the following conditions shall be observed, that is to say,—the postage of each letter (unless sent from parts beyond the seas) shall be paid on being put into the Post-office, and upon such Letter shall be subscribed the name of the writer, and his class or description in the vessel, regiment, corps, or detachment to which he belongs, and signed by the officer having at the time the command of the vessel or of the regiment, corps, or detachment to which the privileged person belongs.

Whenever the letters sent or received by any such privileged persona shall be sent from parts beyond the seas, without the said postage of one penny being prepaid, every such letter shall be charged to the party receiving the same with a rate of twopence, and any letters received by the Post, under this regulation, by any such privileged persons, which may have been re-directed, shall not be charged with any postage for such re-direction.

Given under my hand, and issued under the Public Seal of the Islands of New Zealand at Government-House at Wellington, (L. S.) in the Province of New Munster, in the Islands aforesaid, this thirty-first day of December, in the Year of Our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty.

G. Grey,
Governor-in-Chief.

By His Excellency's command,

Alfred Domett,
Colonial Secretary.

God Save The Queen!

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Wellington, 3d January, 1851.

HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR-IN-CHIEF has been pleased to direct the publication of the following Despatch, for general information.

By His Excellency's command,

Alfred Domett,
Colonial Secretary.

Downing Street, 9th July, 1850.

SIR,—It is with the greatest regret that I have to communicate to you the melancholy intelligence of the death of His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge.