D.—No. 1. I!

Enclosure in Treasury Letter of 16th Feb., 1865. General Post Office, 4th Feb., 1805. My Lords, — I have the honor to transmit the copy of a report from the Receiver and AccountantGeneral of the Post Office, covering- an account of the sums which will be payable, under the terms of your Lordships' Minute of the 25th April, 1861, by each of the Colonies in Australia and New Zealand, for the year from the Ist January to the 31st December, 1805, in aid of the Packet Service. I request that your Lordships will be good enough to cause these particulars to be communicated to the Governments of the several Colonies, with a view to their taking steps for remitting- the amounts due in each case previous to the 81st December next. I have, &c, Stanley of Alderley. The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury. THE RECEIVER AND ACCOUNTANT-GENERAL TO THE SECRETARY OF THE POST OFFICE. 81st January, 1865. I submit herewith, in duplicate, an account showing- the amounts due from the Australian Colonies and New Zealand in aid of the cost of the Packet Service to the 31st December next. The total amount charg-eable is £172,974 3s. lid., as compared with £180,792 11s. 10d., which was the sum charged to the 31st December, 1864. The Colony of Victoria apparently owes £82,995 ss. Bd., but as there is reason to believe that through a double issue of £50,000 from the Treasury in 1863, this Colony obtained credit for £50,000 which it did not remit, the true balance is £132,995 ss. Bd. This sum represents the amount which should be contributed by Victoria for the years 1863, 1864, and 1865, and as the amount is large and the payments are greatly in arrear, it would be desirable that the Colony should be urged to reduce the debt considerably during the present year. New South Wales has just paid its share of the cost of the service for the year 1864, so that the contribution for 1865 only, amounting to £18,186 15s. 3d., remains to be applied for. South Australia owes a balance of £1.324 7s. 2d. on last year's accounts, and this balance, when added to the sum chargeable for 1865, will leave £6,405 lls lid. to be applied for. New Zealand was charged with a balance of £48,846 12s. Id., to the 31st December last, and remitted only £14,300 during the year, so that, after charging the Colony £16,771 12s. od., for the current year, the large sum of £51,318 4s. Id., will have to be applied for. In this case the arrear is of long standing as well as large in amount, and I submit that the Colony should be strongly urged to reduce the amount largely during the present year. The charge upon Tasmania to 31st December, 1864, was £16,227 12s. 4d., but after adding to that sum the charge for 1865, viz., £3,342 2s. 5d., and allowing- for remittances received during the past year, the balance now to be applied for is reduced to £8,967 Is. 9d. Qeensland has paid its contribution for 1864, and the amount to be charged for this years' servioe only remains to be applied for. The amount in question is £8,154 Bs. 4d. The sum charged upon Western Australia to the 31st December last was £1,996 16s. lid., and this is increased to £2,804 6s. lOd. by the addition of this year's contribution. No remittance was received during the past year, but, after allowing credit for a remittance of £807 9s. lid., which has just been advised, but which has not yet reached this Office, a balance of £1,996 16s. lid. remains to be applied for. I submit that the Colony should be requested to remit the whole amount of this balance before the close of the present year. Geo. Chetwynd.

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PAPEES EELATING TO NEW ZEALAND MAIL SEEVICE.