I have submitted your telegram of last night to the Hon. Minister, who instructs me to say that when he expressed his willingness to your directors and yourself that the Government should connect with your trains at Elbow, he understood that the service would be as previously, and which was so satisfactory—namely, every alternate day between Elbow and Kingston. If, however, your directors insist that they will not agree to any arrangement for through communication, so as to enable passengers to get from Dunedin to Queenstown in a day, unless the Government gives a daily connection between Elbow and Kingston, the Minister directs me to say that on hearing definitely from you he will further consider the matter.