E.—No. 1.

in His Excellency's views, he would take the expence on himself. They hare nowhere intimated that thej do acquiesce in Hi* Excellency's views, but on the contrary, have expressed their dissent from them. They are, however, prepared to waive their own opinions in deference to the strong pressure which His Excellency lias brought to bear upon them on this subject, and will, if he desires it. transfer the custody of the prisoners to Hi* Excellency on His Excellency giving the guarantees referred to in Ministers' previous Memorandum. They cannot, however, as His Excellency appears to have thought, when writing his Memorandum under notice, divest themselves of all responsibility in the matter. They must still claim to be His Excellency's Advisers us to the disposal of the prisoners, a matter which may most seriously affect the suppression of the rebellion and pacification of the natives. And they beg most distinctly to state that they cannot consent to any change being made till Bitch an enquiry into the past detention of the prisoners as lms been proposed shall have been effected. When the Commissioners shall have made that enquiry and reported, Ministers will then be prepared 1o transfer the prisoners to Jlis Excellency's keeping. In reference to the complaint which His Excellency has made that no information had been furnished him of the fact that Te Oriori had been allowed to go at large upon his parole, Ministers beg to state that after His Excellency's Memorandum of the 3rd May. refusing to interfere in a system of detention which he did not approve, they did not consider that it was his wish to have any further official communication on the subject, and therefore thought that in acting as they did, they were conforming to His Excellency's views. 23rd June, 1864. '

No. 48. MEMORANDUM of His Excellency respecting Native Prisoners. The Governor has received from Ministers their Memorandum of yesterday's date upon the eubjed of the native prisoners confined on board the hulk " Marion," and having given it his best consideration. regrets much that he cannot comply with their present wishes. With every proper deference to the views of his Responsible Advisers and to their opinion that the distinct understanding may bcthat Ministers, and not the Governor, shall be responsible in this matter, he believes that even if he thought he would be justified in entering into such an understanding with them, which he does not, he could not in the opinion of the Home Government, or of the world at large. divest himself of t lie responsibility which naturally belongs to him in regard to these prisoners. After the most lengthened and careful consideration of the subject, the Governor has come to the conclusion that he can no longer bear the responsibility of being the person who sanctions and orders the long continued detention of so large a number of prisoners (taken by British troops), in an imprisonment of the nature of that to which they have been subjected, without, in as far as he knows, anj legal authority existing for their imprisonment. He is fortified in this resolution, because whilst he believes, as he has already stated, that this responsibility does rest upon him, he thinks that Ministers have, in point of fact, in this matter expected him to act as their subordinate, whose duty it was to earn out their news, without exercising his own discretion, although these might lead to the violation of rights belonging to all the Queen's subjects— to whom information even on the most important points connected with it was to lie communicated or withheld as they thought proper —and whose opinions, views, or feelings in the matter were frequently not to be recognised. [f Ministers are responsible to the General Assembly for all questions connected with these native prisoners taken by British troops, the Governor regards himself us being really equally responsible to that body to do his duty in this matter, and lie is also responsible to the British Parliament and nation for the manner in which the prisoners have been or may be dealt with. Ec lias hitherto, in the greater number of instances, given way on this subject to his Ministers, (vhilst he does not think that they have equally recognised or made allowances for his responsibility in the matter. He therefore felt it to be his duty at" once to close with the terms stated in the second paragraph of their memorandum of yesterday's date, and to assume the responsibility of the disposal <.A' these prisoners on behalf of the Imperial Government, who, he believes, will be generally held to haw a Large responsibility in this question, and he cannot go back from this unless he is allowed without any further delay to place on parole all such of the native prisoners as he thinks proper, and on sue!) conditions as he may think it necessary to impose. Government House, Auckland, 24th June, 1864. G. Gbst.

No. 11). MEMOBANDTJM relative to the Disposal of the Native Prisoners. Ministers beg to acknowledge the receipt of His Excellency's memorandum of yesterday's date, relative lv the detention of the rebel prisoners. Ministers can only conclude, from the tone of His Excellency's two last memoranda on this subject, that he is determined to carry out his views regardless of his Responsible Advisers. While, therefore, they yield to the pressure which His Excellency brings to bear upon them, Ministers feel bound to state that they have consulted many of the persons best qualified to judge on the subject, and these persons have been unanimous in their condemnation of the release of the prisoners as a body, either absolutely or on parole, at the present time. As regards the earnest request made by Ministers in their two last memoranda, and which His "Excellency has not favored them by noticing, that he would enable them to carry into effect the investigation into the fair treatment of the prisoners by means of such a commission as originally suggested by His Excellency, Ministers can now only appeal to the memoranda which have passed on the subject for proof that it has not been they who have flinched from such enquiry. Those memoranda shew that after urgently pressing the enquiry on Ministers and their acquiescing in it,

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MEMORANDA AND REPORTS