Colonial Despatches

With reference to your letter of the 15 May last, respecting complaints submitted by the Governor of British Columbia as to the inconvenience occasioned by the existing arrangements for the transmission of the Mails to and from Panama, I am commanded by my Lords Commisssioners of the Admiralty to request you will state to the Secretary of State for the Colonies that on communicating with the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury on the subject, theirLordships Lordships have decided that they are not prepared to authorize the establishment of a subsidized line of packets, but the Postmaster General will place himself in communication with the United States Post Office Authorities with a view to see whether some arrangement cannot be made for the transmission of the British mails by the Steamers which it is understood have lately been established, under contract with the American Government, between San Francisco and the Ports north of it.