CO885-5 — Page 245

PUBLIC

RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

C.O. 885/

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

ALLY WITHOUT PERMISSION OF THE BE REPRODUCED PHOTOGRAPHIC- COPYRIGHT PHOTOGRAPH-NOT TO

64

Newfoundland.

Mails for Newfoundland are sent by the Allan Line of steamers. During the summer they are conveyed direct to St. John's, Newfoundland, and during the winter they are landed at Halifax, to be forwarded thence by local steamers.

India, Ceylon, Straits Settlements, Hong Kong, China.

Mails for India, China, and the Eastern Colonies are carried to and from Brindisi by the Peninsular and Oriental Company; weekly to India; fortnightly to the other places named. Between London and Brindisi the mails travel by special train service under an arrangement with the French and Italian Governments at a cost of about 49,5007. for the year 1885-6. The present contract, which is made with the imperial Government, and under which the Company receives 360,000l. a year, expires on February 1st, 1888, when another contract commences by which the Company will receive 265,006/.

per annum.

Under the existing contract (inclusive of the transit through Egypt) the Imperial Government paid, in 1885, beyond the amount of sea postage collected, 306,000Z., and towards this sum India centributed 68,0007, Ceylon 1,400., Straits Settlements 6,000/., and Hong Kong 6,000/.

Under the new contract the payments will be less, but until the contracts for the Australasian mails are settled no accurate statement can be given.

Australia,

Mails for Australia now leave London every Friday with the mails for India, and are carried to Brindisi by arrangement with the French and Italian Governments. Mails from Australia are landed every week at Brindisi or Naples, and forwarded thence to London by the same arrangement with the French and Italian Governments. The annual cost of the transit of the Australian mails between London and Brindisi and Naples amounted, in 1885-6, to 46,000l., being at the rate of 16frs. 50c. per kilogramme for letters and 87 c. per kilogramme for other articles by the special train service to and from Brindisi; and 4frs. per kilogramme for letters and 50c. per kilogramme for other articles by the ordinary train service from Naples.

The outward mail are received at Brindisi every alternate week by the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and carried by them to Colombo, under their contract with the Imperial Government for the Indian and China Mail Service. From Colombo the general Australian Mail is carried by the same Company to Melbourne, under a separate contract with the Colony of Victoria. For this service the Colony now pays 85,000 a year. No charge is made to the Colonies for carriage of the mails across Europe or to Colombo, but the postage is divided between the Home and Colonial Governments in the following proportions :-

Route.

1

Postage, per

Imperial Colonial

oz. letter.

Share.

Share.

མ

d.

d.

d.

Vid Brindiei

Outwards -

Homewards

G

34

心

Outwards -

6

Vid San Francisco

Homewards

G

Vid Plymouth

Outwards -

Homewards

6

6

1

5

G

65

On the alternate weeks the mails for Australia are carried by the Orient Company from Suez to Melbourne, and back to Suez or Naples, under a contract with the Government of New South Wales, which pays 12s. per lb. for letters, 6d. per lb. for newspapers,

per lb. for packets.

and 1s.

Tasmania.

The mails for Tasmania are carried by the above-mentioned routes, and contribute proportionably for the quantity transmitted.

New Zealand.

Mails for New Zealand are carried partly by the above-mentioned routes, partly by direct steamers which touch at the Cape and at Hobart, partly by way of San Francisco and the Pacific.

The direct steamers are paid by the New Zealand Government-for letters, 12s. per lb.; books and packets, Is. per lb.; newspapers, 6d. per lb. The net cost to the Colony in 1885 was 6,5527. 13s. 9d.

The mails rid San Francisco cross the Atlantic by the steamers carrying the general British mails, and are charged at the rate of 3s. per lb. for letters and 3. per lb. for other articles, outwards, and 1s. 9åd. per lb. for letters and 2d. per lb. for other articles, homewards, amounting to about 5,258/. per annum. America these mails are charged 6 frs. per kilogramme for letters and 2 frs. per For the land journey actoss kilogramme for other articles, amounting to a total of 11,3517. per annum. Across

the Pacific they are carried in steamers subsidised by the Governments of New Zealand and New South Wales jointly at the rate of 37,000% a year, to which the United States contribute 4,0007.

Contracts.

The Colonial contracts with the Peninsular and Oriental Company and with the Orient Company expire on the 1st of February 1888 simultaneously with the Imperial contract for carriage of the India and China mails. Tenders from both companies are

now under consideration for what is practically a renewal of the service now performed. The Peninsular and Oriental Company ask 85,0007. a year for a ten years' contract ani 100,000/. for a seven years' contract. The Orient Company ask a proportionate amount for an eight years' contract.

The Queensland contract with the British India Company expires.

The San Francisco contract has been recently renewed for three years at a subsidy of 37,0001. per annum.

The New Zealand contract with the direct line expires on the 9th of December 1889. It appears from the latest available reports (1885) that the Australasian Colonies pay for their Ocean Mail Services on all lines, after taking credit for postage received, the following amounts :

New South Wales New Zealand

Queensland

South Australia

Tasmania

Victoria

Western Australia

£ S.

d. 17,945 1 10

7,180 II

7

12,706 I 3

3,486 16 1

not known

38,936 6 4

3,177 0

2

Victoria collects from other Colonies contributions for their mails carried under this

contract.

Every fourth week the Queensland portion of the mails is dropped by the Peninsular and Oriental Company at Aden, whence it is taken on by the British India Company, under a contract with the Colonial Government, for a subsidy amounting in 1885 to 55,000. This contract contains provisions relating to other than postal matters, and the cost of carrying the mails is estimated at 15,000%. of the above sum.

Mauritius.

Mauritius receives its mails every four weeks by the steamers of the French Mes- sageries Maritimes Company; these steamers then proceed to Australia, and the return steamer brings on the Mauritius mails for Europe. For this service the Colony paid

A 3145).

N