Vided, nor forfeiture of the Ship, I know no
way of punishing a breach of the law, except
by way of Indictment; but such a mode of
Proceeding is here wholly out of the case.

8. Why the Colonial Parliament did not
   last Session, act under the 16th and 17th Vic-
   toria, Chapter 107, Section 328, and by ad-
   dress open our coasting trade, or take steps to
   open it, I know not; nothing more foolish, or
   more opposed to sound principle and modern
   policy, can be imagined than this very incon-
   venient letter, placed, not on the stranger,
   but on our own people.

9. Be that the Collector of Customs is con-
   fined to his bed by serious illness, I should
   advise a reference to him. He is much more
   conversant than any other person with the law
   upon those questions.

10. If there be after all a penalty, which I
    have been unable to discover, that penalty, not
    being under our Local Customs' Law, would
    be one which the Governor would seem to have
    no lawful authority to remit. But a prosecu-
    tion by Indictment is, by law, under the At-
    torney-General's control, and for myself I
    should not think of prosecuting in such a case
    as this.

11. It will be seen that the obstacle arises
    from the national character, not of the Pas-
    sengers, but of the ships. A French ship
    could no more take a French Passenger than
    an English one.

12. I think that the French ship and the
    American might be both informed, that so far
    as the Local Government is aware, there is a
    general prohibition of such ships taking pas-
    sengers from Colonial port to another, but
    that there is no penalty provided except one
    which the Government has under its control,
    and will not under the circumstances seek to
    enforce, and that it is considered by the Go-
    vernment that no risk will be practically run
    by accommodating in those ships such indivi-
    duals as are detained here for want of means
    to proceed to Algoa Bay.

(Signed) W. PORTER.

10th January, 1855.

Downing-street,
27th April, 1855.

SIR,

I am directed by the Secretary of State to
inform you, in answer to your Letter of the 7th
of this month, that he agrees with the opinion
of the Lords of the Committee of the Privy
Council, that it is not necessary to procure the
amendment of the Customs Consolidation Act,
16 and 17 Victoria, c. 107, sec. 163, by the
insertion of the omitted penalty on the car-
riage of passengers from Port to Port in a Co-
lony in Foreign Ships, but that the matter
may be safely left to the discretion of the Co-
lonial Legislatures.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) HERMAN MERIVALE.

Downing-street,
31st May, 1855.

SIR,—I transmit to you, herewith, a copy of
a letter which has been received from the

Assistant Secretary to the Board of Trade in
the Marine Department, covering copy of one
addressed by him to the Secretary to the Board
of Customs, relating to the inconvenience which
has arisen with respect to the sale, in this
Country, of Colonial Ships registered in the
British Possessions abroad, in consequence of
the mode in which the changes, effected by
the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, have
been brought into operation, and pointing out
the steps to be taken, by persons interested in
shipping, in order to bring such dealings into
accordance with the New System.

In compliance with the wishes of The Lords
of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade
I have to desire that you will communicate to
all Officers employed in the Registry of Ships
and, also, as far as may be practicable to all
Ship-brokers, Attorneys, Notaries, or others
engaged in dealings in Ships, the contents of
the letter addressed by the Assistant Secre-
tary of the Board of Trade to the Board of
Customs.

I have, &c., &c.,
(Signed) J. RUSSELL.

Form of Letter from the Registrar at the Port
of Registry de novo, to the Registrar at the
Port of original Registry, enclosing appli-
cation for Transfer..

Port of
day of

SIR,—I enclose an application for the
transfer of the Registry of the Ship (
) of your Port to this Port, together with
the Certificate of Registry, and a form in
which the neccessary entries may be made,
The old Certificate and I request that you will
Registry must be enclosed cancel the Certificate and
and a blank fo of a fill up and return to me the
Letter to be for
transferring the Registry, form, pursuant to the pro-
visions of the Merchant Shipping Act, 1854,
Sections 89 and 90.

I am,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,

Registrar of the Port of

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 12th Dec., 1855.

HIS Excellency the Governor has been
pleased to direct that the following Des-
patches from Her Majesty's Secretary of State,
respecting the conveyance of Mails to Austra-
lia and the Postage on Newspapers, should be
published for general information.

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

Downing Street,
15th June, 1855.

SIR,—

I transmit to you herewith a Copy of
a Letter from the Secretary to the Postmaster
General, reporting that, in addition to the
contract concluded with Messrs. Baines &
Co., of Liverpool, for the conveyance of
Mails to Australia on the 5th of each month