PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE
Reference :-
།། །། ། mimic.0.
لنسيا
8855 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON
ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO
59 i
No. 8.
TEXT of LETTER from the POST OFFICE of NEW SOUTH WALES to the GOVERNOR of that COLONY, dated 21st March 1878.
In reference to your letter of the 19th instant, in connexion with the proposed accession of all British Colonies to the International Postal Union before the meeting of the Pastal Congress at Paris during the current year, I am directed by the Postmaster- General to state that the terms upon which the Colonies could enter into the Union have been relaxed so much in favour of the Colonies that he is disposed to recommend the accession of this Colony to it, but, as it is important that there should be uniformity of action on the part of such of the Colonies as may propose to take this course, and as an Inter-colonial Conference is to be held during next month, when the provisions of the Berne Convention can be considered, he thinks a decision should be deferred until the opinion of the Conference has been received.
No. 9.
EXTRACT of LETTER from the POST OFFICE to the TREASURY, dated 30th April 1880. The question whether the Australian Colonies should become members of the Universal Postal Union has from time to time formed the subject of correspondence between the Treasury, the Colonial Office, and this Department, but little progress has been made in the settlement of the question.
*
*
*
I beg leave to transmit a memorandum which I have caused to be prepared, showing to what extent the rates of postage on Australian correspondence of all kinds will require to be altered to correspond with Union principles, and the rates at which the charges for sea transit will, in the opinion of this Department, be accounted for after the entry of the Colonies into the Union.
Your Lordships will probably think it advisable to direct that a copy of this memo- randum may be forwarded to the Governments of each of the Australian Colonies and of New Zealand, so that they may be fully aware of the effect of entering the Union before they come to any decision.
But you will, no doubt, cause to be intimated to the several Governments, at the same time, what arrangements you propose to substitute for the existing arrangements with regard to the aid to be rendered from Imperial funds towards the cost incurred in maintaining the services subsidised by the Colonies.
No. 10.
MEMORANDUM Showing the CHANGES which seem to be necessary in respect of the EXCHANGE of CORRESPONDENCE between the UNITED KINGDOM and other countries of the UNIVERSAL POSTAL UNION on the one side and the AUSTRALIAN COLONIES and NEW ZEALAND on the other, in the event of those COLONIES entering the UNION. Assuming that the Australian Colonies and New Zealand become members of the Universal Postal Union, it seems to follow :-
1. That the arrangement made by the Treasury in April 1879, as to the mode in which the sea conveyance of the mails between the United Kingdom and Australia or New Zealand should be performed, and as to the shares to be borne by the mother country and the Colonies respectively, in the cost of such conveyance, as well as the modification of that arrangement settled with Mr. Childers, M.P., in February last, should be considered at an end.
2. That, thenceforth, the exchange of mails between the Australian Colonies or New Zealand and the United Kingdom, or between the Australian Colonies or New Zealand and any other Union country, either direct or by way of the United Kingdom, should be strictly according to the principles laid down in the Union Treaty of Paris.
As between the mother country and the Colonies, therefore,
The Imperial Post Office will retain the whole postage collected on the correspondence despatched from the United Kingdom, and the Colonial post offices will retain the whole postage collected on the correspondence despatched from the Colonies.
59 k
The despatching office will defray the cost of the sea conveyance, as well as of the land transit of all mails which it despatches, and will be governed, in each case, by the stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, and by the arrangements made in conformity to those stipulations. Consequently, on the outward mails, ria Brindisi, the Imperial Post Office will pay to France the special transit rates of 10 fr. per kilo. of letters and 50 c. per kilo. of printed papers or patterns, and to Italy the special transit rates of 6 fr. 50 c. per kilo. of letters and 374 c. per kilo. of printed papers or patterns.
The Imperial Post Office will then convey the mails from Brindisi to Alexandria, will
pay the Egyptian Post Office the transit rates due for their conveyance across the Isthmus, and will again convey the mails from Sucz to Ceylon or Singapore.
The Imperial Post Office will further account to the post offices of Melbourne or Brisbane for the sea conveyance of the mails by the Colonial packets. The rates to be paid for this conveyance will be calculated at the proportion of 15 fr. per kilo. of letters and i fr. per kilo. of printed papers which the distance from Ceylon or Singapore to the place of destination bears to the whole distance travelled by sea. In the case of Melbourne the distance to be performed by sea from Brindisi, vid Alexandria, Suez, and Point de Galle, inay be set down at 9,089 nautical miles, to which 22 miles must be added for the sea conveyance from Dover to Calais, or 9,111 miles in all. Of this, 4,289 miles is performed by the Imperial and 4,822 miles by the Colonial packets.
The proportion of the Union sea rates of 15 fr. per kilo. of letters and 1 fr. per kilo. of printed papers, which would have to be accounted for by the Imperial to the Melbourne Post Office would therefore be 7 fr. 94 c. per kilo. of letters, and 53 c. per kilo. of printed
papers, &c.
In the case of Brisbane, the distance to be performed by sea from Brindisi, ria Alexandria, Suez, and Singapore, may be set down at 9,886 nautical miles, 22 miles must be added for the sea conveyance from Dover to Calais, or 9,908 miles in all.
Of this, 5,883 miles is performed by the Imperial, and 4,025 miles by the Colonial packets. The proportion of the Union sea rates of 15 fr. per kilo. of letters and i fr. per kilo. of printed papers which would have to be accounted for by the Imperial to the Brisbane Post Office would therefore be 6 fr. 09 c. per kilo. of letters, and 41 c. per kilo., of printed papers, &c.
The post offices of Melbourne and Brisbane will convey the homeward mails viá Brindisi, in the one case to Ceylon and in the other to Singapore, and will account to the Imperial Post Office-
1. For the proportion of sea postage due for the services performed by the Imperial Post Office in conveying the mails from Ceylon or Singapore to Suez, and from Alexandria to Brindisi, and from Calais to Dover, viz., 7 fr. 06 c. per kilo. of letters, and 47 c. per kilo. of printed papers sent from Melbourne, and 8 fr. 91 c. per kilo. of letters, and 59 c. per kilo. of printed papers sent from Brisbane.
2. For the transit rates payable to Egypt for the territorial conveyance from Suez to Alexandria, say at the ordinary Union transit charges, 2 fr. per kilo. of letters, and 25 c. per kilo. of printed papers.
The post offices of Melbourne and Brisbane will also account to the Italian and French post offices for the territorial transit rates payable for the conveyance of the mails from Brindisi to Calais by special services.
The Imperial Post Office will convey to New York the outward mails via San Francisco, and will pay to the United States Post Office the transit rates of 6 fr. per kilo. of letters, and 2 fr. per kilo. of printed papers, &c., due for their conveyance from New York to San Francisco.
1
The Imperial Post Office will account to the post office of Sydney or Wellington for the sea conveyance of the mails by Colonial packet from San Francisco, at rates calcu- lated according to the proportion of 15 fr. per kilo. of letters, and 1 fr. per kilo. of printed papers, which the distance from San Francisco to Sydney or Wellington bears to the distance from Liverpool to New York.
The distance from San Francisco to Sydney is 6,950 miles, and from San Francisco to Wellington 6,255 miles, and the distance from Liverpool to New York is 3,016 miles. The proportion of the Union sea rates of 15 fr. per kilo. of letters, and I fr. per kilo. of printed papers, which would have to be accounted for by the Imperial Post Office to the Colonial Post Offices would therefore be 10 fr. 46 c. per kilo. of letters, and 70 c. per kilo. of printed papers sent to New South Wales, and 10 fr. 12 c. per kilo. of letters, and 67 c. per kilo. of printed papers sent to New Zealand.
1 3