ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OP STATE.

29

A.—No. la.

tralia, by permitting the landing to be made at a particular sj">ot," speaking from memory, I believe the spot is one from which male and female passengers of the s.s. " Lord Worsley " were taken in the cargo boats and brought to New Plymouth, and I indicated the spot because it was in an infected district, and because Mr. Johnson's sub-contractor here neither owned or rented any pasture or other land for the support of his cattle, but depastured them at large on the lands of the settlers and Natives. 5. As there is no reference to the name or date of the local paper that Commissary-General Jones enclosed, I cannot refer to the context which may or may not have reported my words correctly. I can remember congratulating the settlers that further importation from infected ports had not taken place, as the general introduction of pleuro-pneumonia would have caused great loss and depreciation in the value of their stock, and made the losses general which had so far been individual. I presume this is what Commissary-General Jones refers to. G. Pleuro-pnejimonia was introduced into this Province by a cargo of one hundred and eighty head of cattle imported by the " Hydra" from Australia, for the use of Her Majesty's Troops, and by the Commissariat transport bullocks from Auckland, which were permitted to, be landed in obedience to a letter from the Honorable Mr. Domett, before adverted to. These cattle, and these only, introduced pleuro-pneumonia into the Province. With the concurrence and active co-operation of the Colonel commanding and the Senior Commissariat Officer, the diseased cattle of the Commissariat, as well as the cattle of the settlers, were placed in quarantine by proclamation, until the disease was extirpated, with some loss and expense to all the parties concerned. This was south of the town a few miles. Some miles to the north of the town, the cattle belonging to the friendly Natives caught the disease from the imported cattle, and not being confined in enclosed pastures, it has not been found possible to isolate the diseased cattle and root out the disease. I believe the Natives have lost considerably, probably more than the settlers, by the introduction of diseased cattle for Commissariat purposes. Having involved the settlers and Natives in these losses, by permitting the importation of apparently clean cattle from infected districts, I endeavoured to remedy the evil and not to relax the law again, unless called upon again to do so by the General Government, with a full knowledge of the facts, which was not done during my tenure of office. Shortly after Mr. Johnson's contract commenced, Assistant Commissary-General Moore informed me that the contractor's representative had complained to him that the farmers were requiring prohibitory prices for their cattle. I therefore spoke to the first farmer I met, Mr. W. Bayly, on the subject, and informed him that I would relax the prohibition on the importation of cattle, if I found it was made use of to raise the price of cattle, when he informed me, that there was no difficulty in obtaining meat for Her Majesty's Troops that would pay the profit of one contractor, but that it could not be obtained at a price that would pay the profits of three contractors, Mr. Johnson, his subcontractor Mr. Lethbridge, and his sub-contractor Mr. Long ; and at once offered to support his statement by undertaking to supply Her Majesty's Troops in this Province, at the contract price, until the end of March, 1866. This offer he was very well able to carry out, and he reduced it to writing. I enclosed a copy to Assistant Commissary-General Moore, and by that officer it was forwarded to Commissary-General Jones. Commissary-General Jones arrives at the opinion " that the prohibition was imposed to obstruct and prevent the contractor from carrying out his contract, as the settlers were anxious both to retain the contract in the hands of one of their own number, and to secure a higher price for the few animals they had in the Province." This opinion is disposed of by the fact, that the proclamation was in existence years previously, and that I refused to relax it when settlers had the contract until I had been moved thereto by the Honorable Mr. Domett at the instance of the Lieutenant-General. The question to me was one of whether the cattle of the settlers were to be sacrificed to the importation of diseased cattle for the benefit of a contractor who took a contract to supply cattle which he knew the law prohibited him from importing into this Province from Australia. The foregoing appears to me to comprise all that I need remark on the subject in my present unofficial capacity, at the same time to express my regret that I have felt unable to condense my remarks more. I have, &c., The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Chaeles Beowjs*.

Enclosures. Proclamation. Warrant delegating to tho Superintendent of the Province of Taranaki, certain powers vested in the Governor by " The Diseased Cattle Act, 1861." Whereas by " The Diseased Cattle Act, 1861," it was provided that the Governor in Council might by warrant under his hand from time to time delegate to tho Superintendent of any Province within the said Colony all or any of the powers vested in the Governor or Governor in Council by the said Act, subject to such Begulations as he might think fit, and might from time to time rescind such delegation : Now therefore, I, Thomas Gore Browne, the Governor of the said Colony of New Zealand, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council thereof, and in pursuance and exercise of the said power and authority do by this warrant under my hand delegate to Charles Brown, Esquire, so long as he shall hold the office of Superintendent of the Province of Taranaki, in the said Colony, the several powers vested in me by the second, fourth, fifth, seventh, ninth, and tenth sections of the said Act, subject to be rescinded as in the said Act provided, and subject to the Begulations of even date herewith, and to any other Begulations to be from time to time duly made. Given under my hand at the Government House, at Auckland, this first clay of October, in the year of our Lord ono thousand eight hundred and sixty-one. By His Excellency's command, T. Gore Browne. William Fox. 8