B.—No. 3.

No. 48. THE SUPERINTENDENT, SOUTHLAND, TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARY. Superintendent's Office, Southland, 30th September, 1864. Sir,— I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2nd inst., containing a copy of a letter from the Colonial Assistant Treasurer to the Sub-Treasurer of Southland, and stating that the latter officer had been desired to obtain for the General Government certain information regarding the liabilities of the Province of Southland, which I would not enable him to furnish. I have to observe that the usual way in which information is obtained by the General Government, from a Provincial one, is by a direct request to the head of the latter Government. I apprehend that it is not usual to seek it by the indirect and circuitous mode of communicating through subordinate officers, and that it is still more unusual to apply for such information in both those modes at the same time, as the General Government has seen fit to do in this instance. To your direct application of the 23rd July I replied on the 11th August, giving the information required : it did not occur to me that it was in any way necessary to communicate that information at the same time through the SubTreasurer, or that the General Government could derive any especial advantage from its repetition conveyed by that officer. Whatever information ho possessed he could communicate to the Treasury in Auckland, in obedience to bis superiors, and without reference to the Provincial Government ; but it did appear to me that compliance with his desire might form a precedent, and lead to a most inconvenient practice of eliciting information on the financial affairs of a Provincial Government, through the medium of a local officer of the General Government ; and this opinion continues unaltered. You express a regret that I should have thought it desirable to adopt the tone employed in my correspondence with Mr. Elles, at a time when the General Government is endeavouring to assist the Provincial Government to extricate itself from serious difficulties. I must in turn express the regret of the Provincial Government that you should conceive th.it the circumstance of the General Government's affording to the former such temporary assistance, should absolve it from the necessity of observing, or affoid a fitting opportunity for disregarding, some very ordinary rules of courtesy generally attended to. The Provincial Government fully acknowledges the important aid which it receives from the General Government; but the latter, when it takes occasion to remind the Provincial Government of their obligation, should remember that the partial assistance given only mitigates an embarrassment, of which the immediate cause has been its own antecedent action. I have, &c, J. A. R. Menzies, Superintendent. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Auckland.

No. 49. THE COLONIAL SECRETARY TO THE SUPERINTENDENT, SOUTHLAND. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, October 17tb, 1864. Sir,— I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter, No. 173, dated the 30th ultimo, with reference to my letter of the 2nd of that month, on the subject of of your declining to supply the Sub-Treasurer in Southland with certain information which that officer wanted, to enable him to furnish a return required from him by the Hon. Colonial Treasurer. Your Honor apparently desires to justify your refusal to afford that information on the ground that it was discourteous and irregular in the General Government to apply for such information from you through its subordinate officer. I cannot, however, admit any impropriety in a respectful application (as in the case under consideration) from a subordinate officer of the General Government to the Superintendent of a Province for certain information which was required to complete a Return for the Colonial Treasury ; especially in this instance, where, as your Honor admits, the General Government had applied to you direct for substantially the same information. I have, &c, William Fox. His Honor the Superintendent, Southland.

(No. 173.)

(No. 173.)

54

PAPERS RELATING TO