9
though performed by two vessels-an equitable
adjustment of the proportion payable by the
Lords of Her Majesty's Treasury might be
made, so as not to burden the English Go-
vernment unduly, and yet, at the same time, to
give the Southern Provinces of New Zealand
their fair share of the advantages intended to
be conferred by the new Postal arrangements.
And your Memorialists, as in duty bound, will
ever pray, &c.

(Signed)
(Signed)

JAS. KELHAM, Chairman;
JOHN JOHNSTON,
Deputy-Chairman.

Superintendent's Office, Wellington,
24th November, 1856.

SIR,-

I have been requested by the Chamber of
Commerce of this place to support the Memo-
rial which they forward by the present mail
against the proposed arrangement for the con-
veyance of the English Mails from Australia to
New Zealand.

The inadequacy of the arrangements in
question, the grave inconvenience and injustice
which will be inflicted by them, not only on
this, but on all the Southern Provinces, are so
clearly explained by the memorialists that it is
needless for me to do more than to express my
entire concurrence in their protest.

If His Excellency's Government persists in
making the steamers run to Auckland, simply
because, as the Superintendent of Canterbury
remarks in a postscript to his recent pamphlet,
"it has chosen to set itself down in a remote
corner of the Islands," I earnestly trust it will
not so unnecessarily sacrifice the interests of
this Province, as to insist upon its mails being
conveyed to Auckland, but that, on the con-
trary, His Excellency's Government will give
instructions that the Wellington mails shall be
forwarded direct, as at present, by the sailing
vessels, which ensure almost a weekly commu-
nication between Wellington and Australia.

I have, &c.,
I. E. FEATHERSTON,
Superintendent.

The Honorable
The Colonial Secretary,
Auckland.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 4th December, 1856.

SIR,-

I am directed by the Colonial Secretary to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
24th ult., covering two memorials to the Go-
vernor relative to the contemplated postal ar-
rangements, and to inform you that the same
has been laid before His Excellency.

I have at the same time to express the regret
of His Excellency's Government that, owing to
the early departure of the "Zingari" it has
been impossible, from the variety of subjects
requiring consideration, to afford by this mail
such explanations as would, it is believed, re-
move some misconception on the part of the
Memorialists of the views of the Government on

this subject, with respect to which a further
communication will be made by the first op-
portunity.

I have, &c.,
W. GISBORNE,
Under Secretary.

J. Kelham, Esq., J. P.,
Wellington.

Wellington Chamber of Commerce,
16th December, 1856.

SIR,-

I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of
your letter of the 4th inst., acknowledging
receipt of Memorials from this Chamber, and
from merchants and others in this port, on the
subject of the proposed change in the Postal
arrangements. Waiting with considerable
anxiety the explanations promised, I beg most
respectfully to impress upon His Excellency's
Government, that no arrangements which
would permit the English Mail to be first con-
veyed to Auckland, and from thence distributed
to the Southern Provinces, would be satisfactory
or fair towards them, and I am persuaded that
they will look for this as a sine qua non in any
arrangements or explanations that His Ex-
cellency's Government may make.

I may further take the liberty to observe,
that in a matter of so much importance-af-
fecting the whole community of the South, the
Memorialists had reasonably expected that
some more definite answer would have been
given to them, and that no delay would have
occurred in giving prompt consideration to the
subject.

I have, &c.,
JAS. KELHAM,
Chairman of the Wellington Chamber
of Commerce.

To the Honorable
the Colonial Secretary,
Auckland.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, January 6th, 1857.

Sir,-

In reply to your letters of the 24th No-
vember and 16th December last, referring to Me-
morials forwarded by you from the Wellington
Chamber of Commerce, and from merchants
and residents in that Province, on the subject
of the Steam Postal Service proposed to be
established for New Zealand, I have herewith
the honour to transmit copies of correspondence
on this subject, in continuation of that already
published, which will inform the Memorialists
of the views entertained by the Government of
New Zealand with respect to it.

I have, &c.,
E. W. STAFFORD.

James Kelham, Esq., J. P.,
&c., &c.,
Wellington.

Superintendent's Office, Christchurch,
December 16, 1856.

SIR,-I have the honor respectfully to lay