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 conveyed 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 Excellency’s Government
may make.

I may further take the liberty to observe, that in a matter of so much importance—affecting 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
November and 16th December last, referring to Memorials 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 honor 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 before your Excellency the enclosed copy
of Resolutions which have been passed by the Provincial Council of this
Province.

I have, &c.,
JAMES EDWARD FITZGERALD,
His Excellency
the Governor of New Zealand.
&c., &c., &c.

CANTERBURY.

Extract from the Journal of Proceedings
of the Provincial Council.

Tuesday, November 25, 1856.

"Motion made and question proposed—

That this Council learns with the
greatest concern that the General Government have determined that the New
Zealand Mail brought by the steamers
from England to Melbourne shall be
forwarded thence to Auckland, as such
an arrangement will entirely deprive the
Southern Provinces of the advantages
which they ought to derive from the
steam service, for which they will have
to pay the largest share of the required
bonus.

That in the opinion of this Council
any steam service from Australia which
is supported out of the General Public
Revenues, ought to provide for the conveyance of the English Mail to the most
central port of the colony, so that all the
Provinces may share in the benefit of
the arrangement.

That a copy of these resolutions be
transmitted to his Honor the Superintendent, with a respectful request that
his Honor will cause them to be laid before his Excellency the Governor and the
Government.

That Mr Speaker do also transmit a
copy of these Resolutions to the Honorable the Speaker of each House of the
General Assembly.

Question put and agreed to."

George H. Ross,
Clerk to the Council.

Port Lyttelton, New Zealand,
17th December, 1856.

Sir,—Be pleased to take an early opportunity to bring under his Excellency
the Governor’s consideration, the accompanying Memorial of the Merchants and
other residents of this Province, touching
the prejudice to the Southern Settlements
of the proposed steam postal communication for the entirety of New Zealand.