A.—No. 2A.

of the price of land purchased by Immigrants, in the proportion of £20 to each statute adult, and put for the introduction of Immigrants, selected on a plan approved of by the Superintendent and Provincial Council." "6. —That the present system of granting land to Naval and Military Settlers should cease, and that they should be treated as other Immigrants, power being reserved to the Superintendent and Provincial Council of this Province to deal specially with any cases of hardship occurring to men who have served in Taranaki, and who may have applied for their discharge before the Ist July instant, for the purpose of settling in the Province." " 7.—That the New Eegulations shall be drawn up in accordance with those at present in force, except so far as the latter may be repugnant to the foregoing resolutions." "B.—That a respectful Address be presented to His Honor the Superintendent, informing him that, in the opinion of this Council, the Land Eegulations at present in force in this Province require considerable alteration, and requesting him to take the necessary steps for the enactment of New Eegulations, in accordance with the above Eesolutions." True Extract. James B. Lawsoit, Clerk to Provincial Council. No. 2. (No. 35.) Copy of a Letter from the Hon. E. W. Stafford to His Honor H. R. Richmond. Sir, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 19th January, 1800. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter of the 25th September last, on the subject of the management and disposal of the confiscated lands in the Province of Taranaki, and I have to express my regret that this letter, which was addressed to the late Government, has not been replied to sooner. I have given the most careful consideration to your letter, with an earnest desire to co-operate with the Provincial authorities in giving- effect to any plan best calculated to provide successfully for the settlement of the confiscated lands, than which no subject can well be of more urgent importance to the Colony or the Province concerned. I have long entertained the belief that any plan of colonizing these lands would be more efficiently and economically executed under Provincial than under Colonial Administration, and the course taken with respect to the confiscated lands in the Province of Auckland indicates that the Colonial Legislature and two successive Governments have concurred in this belief. The scheme sketched out by your Honor would doubtless be attended with many advantages in settling a country, could such settlement be initiated without the drawback of the many liabilities and obligations which attach to the confiscated lands, but, under existing circumstances, certain obstacles present themselves to carrying that scheme into effect in the manner indicated by you. In the first place, a very large preliminary expense would be entailed, which would, as your Honor states, be, under the most favorable circumstances, little more than replaced when all the lands were ultimately disposed of. The Colony has not at present the means of making this outlay, and even if it had, it is almost certain that the Legislature would not now devote Colonial funds to that purpose, while it is not yet apparent how the Province, unassisted, could of itself find such considerable sums as the scheme would require. Again, it might be contended, on the part of the Colony, that the whole intention of taking possession of and settling the confiscated lands, was thereby to place on those lands a strong and progressive population, self-supporting, and capable of self-defence, which would be the best guarantee for the future tranquillity of the country, and would obviate the necessity of future expenditure and money sacrifice on its part, in the suppression of insurrection. It thus might fairly stipulate that these lands, after first discharging all obligations to military settlers, friendly natives, and others, should be altogether appropriated to securing and maintaining the settlements placed thereon, rather than that the proceeds should be used for other purposes, which, like the proposed Harbour Works, may be deemed to be more matters pertaining to the Province at large in ordinary times, than special objects, to attain which the Colony has spent large sums and suffered much injury. In short, the Colony might reasonably object that it never intended to spend its funds in works of that character which Provinces undertake and execute for themselves, and might fairly agree that therefore any proceeds of confiscated lands which it did not itself lake to defray the cost incurred by it in obtaining possession of those lands, should properly be expended in promoting their settlement alone, so as to ensure the Colony against further expenses on account of them. For like reasons the Legislature would probably consider that, after the very large expenditure which the Colony lias incurred, with the result that those lands are now open to colonization, it cannot be expected that if they are handed over to the Province, the "guaranteed Land Fund" should, in addition to the lands themselves, continue to be given to the Province of Taranaki. If, however, the entire cost of settling those lands, and of discharging- all the liabilities to which they are subject (except pay and rations to military settlers) were undertaken by that Province, as has been proposed with respect to the Province of Auckland, it would be reasonable that some sufficient amount should be advanced as a loan to the Province to enable it to fulfil effectually the duties which would devolve on it. I shall be glad to be able to support any plan embracing the principle to which I have referred, and I repeat my conviction that the General Government cannot perform the work of colonizing the confiscated lands in Taranaki, or in any other Province, nearly so satisfactorily or economically as it could be effected

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OF THE CONFISCATED LANDS.