D.—No. 5.

cated to the General Assembly of the said Colony; and such certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the amount so paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the said United Kingdom, and of the time when the same was paid on account of the interest or principal of the sum so borrowed. 6. The Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury shall cause to be prepared, and shall lay before both Houses of Parliament within fourteen days next after the beginning of every Session, an account of all sums from time to time issued out of the Consolidated Fund of the said United Kingdom by virtue of this Act towards making good any such deficiency as aforesaid, and also an account of all sums repaid by or recovered from New Zealand by reason of such advance, with the interest paid or recovered thereon. 7. And whereas by an Act of the General Assembly of New Zealand, passed in the twenty-seventh year of Her Majesty, intituled " An Act to enable the Governor to establish Settlements for Colonization in the Northern Island of New Zealand," provision was made for the proclamation of certain Districts within the said Colony, and for setting apart within such Districts eligible sites for settlements for colonization, and for other matters therein mentioned: And whereas doubts are entertained whether the provisions of the said Act, or some of them, may not be void by reason of their repugnancy to the third section of an Act of Parliament of the twentieth and twenty-first years of Her Majesty, intituled "An Act to guarantee a Loan for the service of New Zealand:" Be it enacted as follows : — Nothing in the said Act to enable the Governor to establish settlements for colonization in the Northern Island of New Zealand shall be or be deemed to have been void or inoperative on account of any repugnancy to any of the provisions of the last-mentioned Act of Parliament. No. 32. Sin, — Downing Street, 25th June, 1864. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 46, of the 31st March last, and to inform you that the draft for £11,287 10s., on account of interest and Sinking Fund of the Guaranteed Loan to New Zealand, due on the 30th instant, has been duly forwarded to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury. I have, &c, G-overnor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., Ac, &c.,&e. Edwahd Cahdwell. No. 33. S IE) — Downing Street, 25th June, 1864. 1 have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 50, of the sth of April. I am glad to learn from your Despatch —what, indeed, is also to be collected from the recent history of the war- —that the practice of carrying on hostilities by the murder of unarmed persons is not to be viewed as generally adopted by the natives. I have, &c, Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., &c, Ac, &c. Edwaed Cahdwell. No. 34. Sib,— Downing Street, 27th June, 1864. From your Despatch,' No. 53, of the 6th of April last, I collect that some difference has arisen between yourself and your Ministers respecting the proper mode of dealing with the 183 Maori prisoners taken at Kangiriri, and the tone of your Despatch leads me to conjecture that, if your Advisers had concurred with you in adopting a definite and generous course of action with regard to these persons, the resistance to Sir Duncan Cameron by the natives at Orakau might, in your opinion, have been less desperate, some loss of life avoided, and the completeness of the success enhanced. On this I think it necessary to observe, that while I fully recognise the general right and duty of the Colonial Government to deal with matters of native policy properly so called, I consider that while active operations are being carried on under the conduct of Her Majesty's officers, and in the main by Her Majesty's military and naval forces, it is for the Governor personally, as representative of the Imperial Government, to decide upon the fate of persons who are taken prisoners in the course of these military operations, and although, before adopting any such decision, I should wish you to obtain the advice, and if possible the concurrence of your Ministers, I do not consider that concurrence indispensable. But, subject always to the positive law of the Colony, I hold you entitled to determine, and I look to you for determining, whether such prisoners, or any of them, shall be released on parole or otherwise, or whether they will be kept under such control as may legally be applied to them as prisoners of war, or whether they shall be handed over to the civil authorities to be dealt with as criminals. I shall therefore be fully prepared to support you in case you should have thought it necessary, with or without the consent of your Ministers, so to deal with these prisoners as in your opinion the public interest may have required. As I understand that your opinion has an especial reference to the good eftect which measures of generosity would have upon the military operations of Sir Duncan Cameron, I make no doubt that, in forming that opinion, you have been fully acquainted with the views of Sir Duncan Cameron, and of the grounds on which those views have been arrived at. I have, Ac, Governor Sir George Grey, X.C.8., Ac, &c, &c. Edwahd Caedwell. No. 35. Sin, — Downing Street, 27th June, 186-1. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatches, Nos. 17 and 52, of the sth and 6th April, the former enclosing a letter from Sir Duncan Cameron containing a report of opera-

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DESPATCHES FROM RIGHT HON. E. CAKDWELL, M.P.