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The contention of the P and O Company is that by the Postmaster General's letter they were entitled to the carriage of all mails to India or at least to those which were sent for the first portion of the journey by British contract packet.
This is shown in the letter from the Superintendent to his Directors of the 7th June, 1888.
This is a matter for expert opinion but I think that, although the Postmaster General's letter is a bit mixed, such a construction can hardly be maintained.
(The agreement was however never formally repudiated by the Postmaster General as ought to have been done in 1894, as a simple matter of precaution).
I may add that both before and after the agreement of 1888 other vessels conveyed mails from Hong Kong to Bombay.
(Signed.) A.M.Thomson.
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