the Waitara," sixteen years before; and he significantly asked me if that would not satisfy me. Monstrous injustice ! insult added to injury !—to take from myself and friends all our 50-acre selections of land on the banks of the Waitara, and give us in lieu one acre of our own land for every fifty we owned—forsooth, because the Provincial Government and other parties wanted the land for themselves, for the purpose of laying out a town to suit their own views. Would Ministers have brought in such a Bill had they owned the land at Waitara? Alas, no! It is a blot on the Statute Book of New Zealand, and is worse than any American repudiation. However, learning from the member, as I have stated, the nature of the amendment made to the Act, (and which he informed me had actually passed the Lower House,) I lost not a moment in sending overland the draft of a letter to the Colonial Secretary, and told him I would forward it to an influential Nobleman in England if the Bill was passed in its present shape. I requested him not to submit it for the Governor's approval until he saw me, and that I would leave for Auckland by the first vessel. I reached Auckland sometime in July, 1858; 1 saw the Governor with Mr. McLean. His Excellency said to me, " Mr. Carrington, yours is a very hard case, &c.," and told me to see Mr. Stafford and Mr. Richmond about it. I called upon these gentlemen, and, after talking some time with Mr. Stafford, and pointing out to him the flagrant injustice of the Bill, he told me that he did not understand the merits of my case, but that Mr. Richmond being a member for New Plymouth, he knew all about the matter, and he requested me on that account to talk it over with Mr. Richmond. This I did at some length, and appealed to his feelings, telliug him him that, acting under the advice of the late Lord Vivian, the then Master-General of the Ordnance, who was also a Director of the Plymouth Company of New Zealand. I had given up fifteen years service in the Ordnance Department for the purpose of making better provision for my family; that Lord Vivian had strongly impressed upon me the great value a few years would give to tho land I might buy, and the handsome provision I should make for my family, &c. After listening to me, Mr. Richmond said, "You cannot expect the Province to go to the expense of acquiring the Waitara land, and then hand it over to you and your friends; the getting of Waitara will be attended with great expense." I answered, "The Province accepted of the land with all its liabilities, and therefore it is the bounden duty of Government to give us the land we selected, and not to wrong us in the way proposed by the amended Land Orders and Scrip Act of 1858. Moreover, Mr. Richmond, there is an Act of Parliament which I feel satisfied will subvert the Bill, and I am resolved, if the Bill passes as it now is, to memorialize the Colonial Government and the Imperial Parliament." Mr. Richmond then remarked to me that such a course would only injure the settlement, that the Home Government had now resolved to leave the entire management of the land in the hands of the Colonial authorities, and he would not believe that I would take any step that would injure a settlement and people of a place I had founded. I then said to Mr. Richmond, " Give me a copy of the Bill as it now stands, and I will consider the matter and see what I will do to meet your wishes, for, rather than injure the settlers and the settlement, I will make great sacrifices. I certainly selected and laid out the settlement of New Plymouth, and no doubt have been the means of causing many people to invest and locate themselves there, and as you tell me that the Province would never go to the expense of acquiring my land and the land of my friends at the Waitara and then hand it over to me, I see there is no hope, either for myself or the settlers unless I sacrifice and compromise." I left Mr. Richmond and saw Mr. McLean, and showed him the fix in which I found myself placed. Mr. McLean told me that had he not been called away from the Waitara by Sir George Grey a few years before, he could have satisfactorily closed the purchase of the Waitara land, and I should then have enjoyed my property there without dispute or hindrance, but unfortunately he was called away, hence the cause of the injury inflicted upcn myself and those I represent. I said to Mr. McLean, " I do not know what to do—will you advise me—for I see clearly unless Ido something myself no steps will be taken to acquire the land." Mr. McLean replied, " Well, Carrington, I cannot advise you in the matter, you must judge for yourself." I left him, and after thinking the case over and over again for days, I made up my mind not to memorialize the Colonial Office and Parliament on the matter, and endeavoured to do the best I could for myself and friends. The result was that I succeeded in getting a clause of the Bill altered to this effect, —that whereas we were to receive only 12g Suburban acres, or 50 rural acres for every 50 acres we had at the Waitara, we were to be allowed 37| Suburban acres, or 75 Rural acres, and to have a priority of choice before any purchasers. I remain, &c, To A. B. Abraham, Esq. Fred. A. Carrington.

F—No. 2

F. A. Carrington,Esq. 1 July 1861.

Land Orders and Scrip Act. Auckland, 2nd August, 1858. Sir, — In reference to the individuals who under the judicial award of Her Majesty's Commissioner of Land Claims own End in the Waitara District, in the Province of New Plymouth, I now do myself the honor to state that I, on the part of myself and those I represent (viz. :—Edward Rose Tunno and Edwin Downe) am willing to abide by the conditions of Clause 8 of the amended Act substituting for acres of Suburban Land, 37J acres; for 50 acres of Rural Land 75 acres. I have, &c , Fred. A. Carrington. The Honourable C. W. Richmond, Colonial Treasurer, Auckland.

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REPORT OF COMMITTEE OF PRIVATE GRIEVANCES