On the 5th instant, the ship White Star arrived in Port Phillip with the English Mails of August 19th. The Ariel schooner was then lying there, just ready to sail for Wellington. The Captain immediately wrote a letter to the Postmaster asking for the Mails. This letter he took to the office of the Mail Master in Sandridge, who told him that it was utterly useless to forward the application, as a similar one had been refused because the orders were that the Mails for New Zealand were to be sent on to Sydney. The letter was therefore destroyed. The Ariel sailed for Wellington on the following morning and arrived here on Tuesday the 18th inst., up to this date neither the Mails of the 5th nor of the 19th of August have been received.

As if to make this the more vexatious, the Shepherdess sailed from this port for Otago, on Wednesday the 19th instant; the Canterbury is about to sail for Lyttelton; the Zingari will sail for Nelson, New Plymouth, &c., to-morrow; and the Ariel for Sydney on the same day. Thus had the Mails been brought here by the Ariel they might have been distributed to all the Southern Provinces and replies sent at once from this port, instead of which all these opportunities are lost, and, from the infrequency of communication with Otago, it is quite probable that the mails for that place may lie here from one to two months before they can be forwarded.

I hope, therefore, that His Excellency’s Government will not only grant the prayer of the Memorials, but that pending arrangements for the direct transmission of the Mails, instructions may be sent to the authorities in Melbourne to avail themselves of direct vessels for this Port, whenever such shall offer.

I have, &c.,

JAMES KELHAM,

Chairman.

To the Honorable

the Colonial Secretary,

Auckland.

To His Excellency Colonel THOMAS GORE BROWNE, Companion of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty’s Colony of New Zealand, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c., &c.,

The humble memorial of the undersigned merchants, traders, and residents of and in Wellington, in the Province of Wellington, New Zealand.

Humbly Sheweth,—

That your Memorialists have read with much regret in a letter addressed by your Excellency to the Colonial Secretary of the Province of Victoria, your Excellency’s desire that Auckland shall be made the port for the delivery of the Mails for the whole of New Zealand.

That as this arrangement, if carried out will entirely deprive the community here of any advantage from the postal arrangements made by the English Government, your Memorialists respectfully but earnestly protest against the Mails for this port being sent to Auckland, and pray that your Excellency will be pleased to direct, that if no arrangements can be made for the transmission of the Mails from Melbourne direct, that they may be forwarded to Sydney, to be sent on from thence, as at present, by the earliest opportunity.

And your Memorialists, as in duty bound will ever pray, &c.

[313 Signatures.]

MEMORIAL OF THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE.

To His Excellency Colonel THOMAS GORE BROWNE, Companion of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath, Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty’s Colony of New Zealand, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c., &c.

The humble memorial of JAMES KELHAM and JOHN JOHNSTON, as Chairman and Deputy-Chairman, of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce.

Humbly Sheweth,—

That the attention of the Chamber having been called to the proposed Branch Postal Communication from England via Melbourne, and thence to Auckland, your Memorialists have been directed to press upon your Excellency’s Government the very grave objections to the proposed route which are entertained by the mercantile community and public of this Province.

Your Memorialists regard it as almost impossible that the vessel that has to perform the voyage from Melbourne to Auckland and back within one month—supposing it to be a steamer of considerable...