Sir,—I have the honour t" acknowledge the receipt letter of the 9th instant No. 287 with' reference to the complaint of the Chamber of Commerce at this port regarding the delay in the delivery of mail per contract packets. In reply, I bez to inform you that the assertion of the Chamber of Commerce, that mail is not delivered until 3 mean 3 how the tug is the tuy arrives at the wharf, the bags are immediately put in the mail van but on account of the large number of bass at present, the mail van has to make three trips to the wharf to bring all the bags. As soon assail the bags are in the otice and counted, the bags containing the bags of the Box holders are immediately sorted and delivered.
The town portion of the mail takes a little longerjsas we have to sort the letters and papers before delivery.
Thave, ete., (Si F. G. Macntano, Postmaster.
Commander W. ©. H. Hastises, r, s.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.