Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 3rd May, 1855.

48

HIS Excellency the Officer administering
the Government has been pleased to
direct the publication, for general informa-
tion, of the following Despatch, with its en-
closure, which has been received from Her
Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the
Colonies.

By His Excellency's command,
ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

Downing-street,
1st December, 1854.

Sir,-

I transmit to you, enclosed, an extract
of a letter which has been received from the!
Post Office, by which you will perceive that
the exigencies of the war have rendered it un-
avoidably necessary to interrupt for the pre-
sent the regular transmission of the Mails
from hence to the Australian Colonies.

I have, &c., &c

G. GREY.
The Officer administering the Government,
New Zealand.

EXTRACT OF A LETTER
From F. Hill, Esq., to H. Merivale, Esq., dated
General Post Office, 28th November, 1854.

"I am directed by the Postmaster-General
to state to you, for the information of Sir
George Grey, that in consequence of Her Ma-
jesty's Government requiring the services of
so many of the contract Mail Packets for the
conveyance of troops and for other purposes
of the War, the following temporary changes
will be made in the Packet Service to the Co-
lonies and Foreign Countries:-

"AUSTRALIA.

"The Mail which should be despatched
via the Cape of Good Hope on the 4th De-
cember next, will not be made up in London
until the evening of the 8th December.

"The Peninsular and Oriental Steam Na-
vigation Company have recently given notice
that they will be unable for the present to
continue the Mail Service to and from Aus-
tralia, which they have hitherto-performed
once in two months, in connection with the
Overland Indian Mail. Consequently there
will be no Mail for Australia despatched via
Egypt on the 4th January next, nor on the
4th of each alternate month until further no-
tice...

"In the meantime, the Postmaster General
will make the best arrangements in his pow-
for forwarding Mails to Australia in the
months in which the service is thus left un-
provided, and his Lordship will cause com-
munication to be addressed to you on this
subject when the arrangements are com-
pleted."

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 2nd May, 1855.

HIS Excellency the Officer administering
the Government has been pleased to
direct that the following extracts from the
Articles of War and Mutiny Act should be
published for general information, in order
that it may be publicly known, (before other
steps are taken which are now under the con-
sideration of the Military Authorities,) that
any soldier found beyond one mile from his
quarters, without leave in writing from his
Commanding Officer, may be deemed a
Deserter; and that any person or persons
harboring or assisting the same are liable
to a fine or imprisonment.

By His Excellency's command,
ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

Extract from the Articles of War.-Article
50.

"DESERTION.

"Any soldier who, without leave from his
Commanding Officer, shall absent himself
from his Quarters, Garrison, or Camp, or
from his Troop, Company, or Detach-
ment, or who, without a pass or leave
in writing from his Commanding Officer,
shall be found one mile or upwards from the
Camp, shall, on conviction thereof, be pun-
ished according to the degree of the offence,
by a general or other Court Martial &c. &c."

Extract from the Mutiny Act, clause 87.

"Any person who shall, in any part of
Her Majesty's dominions, by words or by any
other means whatsoever, directly or indirectly
procure any soldier to desert, or shall, by
words or by any other means whatsoever, at-
tempt to procure or persuade any soldier to
desert, and any person who, knowing that
any soldier is about to desert, shall aid or as-
sist him in deserting, or, knowing any soldier
to be a deserter, shall conceal such deserter,
or aid or assist such deserter in concealing
himself, shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor, and shall, on conviction thereof, be
liable to be punished by fine or imprison-
ment, or both, as the Court before
which such conviction shall take place, may
adjudge."

NOTICE.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 2nd May, 1855.

NOTICE is hereby given that, in order to
put a stop as much as possible to the
evil of drunkenness amongst the native popu-
lation, His Excellency the Officer administer-
ing the Government has been pleased to
notify that the whole penalty which
may be inflicted for a breach of the "Sale
of Spirits Ordinance," is to be handed over
to the informer.

By His Excellency's command,
ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.