B—No. 8

4

APPORTIONMENT OF THE PUBLIC DEBT

of the New Provinces Act, under which the annual charge of the Public Debt of the former Province of Wellington will be apportioned between the two Provinces into which that Provin.ce is now divided. I have delayed answering Mr. Richmond's letter, in the belief that when the decision of the Imperial Government on the New Provinces Act was known, a reply would be unnecessary, and as I learn by the last mail that the Act is still under the consideration of Her Majesty's Government, and that they had been placed in full possession of the means by which that Act was passed, viz., His Excellency the Governor having first disfranchised the Province of Wellington, in the House of Representatives, and of his Advisers having then availed themselves of the enforced absence of the Wellington Representatives to introduce and pass the Bill, which but for his Excellency's disfranchisement of this Province would probably not have been introduced, and certainly could not have been passed, I think you will concur in my opinion that it is unnecessary to go into the financial question referred to in Mr. Richmond's letter, till Her Majesty's decision on the Act is known. I have, &c, I. E. Featherston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Superintendent. Auckland.

No. 4. COLONIAL SECRETARY TO SUPERINTENDENT OF WELLINGTON. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, 25th October, 1859. Sir, — As it will be the duty of the General Government to propose to the General Assembly at its next session the apportionment of the capital of the Provincial Debt of the Province of Wellington between the present Province of Wellington and the Province of Hawke's Bay, I have the honor to invite you to favour the Government with a statement of the principles upon which, in your Honor's opinion, an equitable apportionment ought to be based, accompanied with any information which it is in your Honor's power to furnish, and any observations which you may desire to make upon the subject of the apportionment. I have, &c, Hbnry John Tancred, For the Colonial Secretary. His Honor the Superintendent, Wellington.

(No. 484.)

No, 5. COLONIAL SECRETARY TO SUPERINTENDENT OF WELLINGTON. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, October 2oth, 1859. Sik, — On the 4th December, 1858, the Honorable the Colonial Treasurer, in a letter addressed from Nelson requested your Honor to furnish certain information to enable the General Government to act on the 15th section of " The New Provinces Act, 1858," under which the annual charge of the Public Debt of the former Province of Wellington will be apportioned between the two Provinces into which that Province is now divided. On the 29th April last, I drew your Honor's attention to the circumstance that no reply had been received to that letter, and on the 4th of June you informed me that in your opinion it was unnecessary to go into the financial question referred to till after Her Majesty's decision on " The New Provinces Act, 1858," was known. That decision wag notified in the New Zealand Gazette of the 18th July last, but as yet I have received from your Honor no information which would enable the apportionment of the annual charge of the Public Debt in question to be made, and thus relieve the Province of Wellington from a proportion of the burden, the whole of which, in the absence of that information, it is at present compelled to bear. As the result is that the Provincial Chest at Wellington is deprived of funds which should properly belong to it, I have to request that your Honor will be pleased to furnish the required information without unnecessary delay. I have, &c, Henry John Tancred, For the Colonial Secretary. His Honor the Superintendent, Wellington.

(No. 489.)