ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

59

A.—No. 1a

Subscribed for, and on behalf of, the brethren of the English, Scotch, and Irish Constitutions of the Free and Accepted Masons in Otago, on the 19th day of Februarv, 1867. J. Htde Haebis, P.G.M.E.C. Vincent Ptke, P.G.M.S.C. Charles White, D.P.G.E.I.C. Beplt. Gentlemen,— It is with the greatest pleasure I have heard your assurances of your loyalty to the throne, and of attachment to the person of our Most Gracious Queen; as also your statement that sentiments of deep loyalty have ever characterized your ancient Order. I thank you most sincerely for the wishes you have expressed for my health and prosperity. I am glad to learn that your Society is in a prosperous state, as I know that your prosperity will be the means of securing sympathy and relief for the widow, the orphan, and the destitute ; and I wish you a long career of success in the promotion of those works of charity and love, which I am sure will receive your constant care. G. Gret.

No. 28. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.8., to the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon. (No. 12.) * Government House, WeUington, My Lord,— 26th April, 1867. I have the honor to transmit for your Lordship's favourable consideration the enclosed Memorandum of my Responsible Advisers, in which they request me to submit to your Lordship the urgent necessity for Imperial legislation under which persons may be apprehended who have committed misdemeanours and escaped to adjacent Colonies, and pray that the Imperial Acts 6 and 7 Victoria?, c. XXXIV., and 16 and 17 Victoria}, c. CXVIIL, may be extended to all cases of misdemeanours committed in any of the Colonies of Australasia. I have, &c, The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon. G. GREY.

Enclosure in No. 28. Memorandum by Mr. Stafford. Wellington, 16th April, 1867. Ministers enclose a copy of a Memorandum agreed to by the Bepresentatives of the respective Australasian Colonies present at the recent Conference in Melbourne, representing that the Colonial Legislatures are unable to make effectual provision for the punishment of misdemeanours committed by persons who succeed in escaping from the Colony where the offence has been perpetrated to an adjoining Colony, and requesting tho extension of the Imperial Acts 6 and 7 Victoria?, c. XXXIV. and 16 and 17 Victoria?, c. CXVIIL to all cases of misdemeanours committed in any of the Colonies of Australasia. Ministers also enclose a copy of the opinion of the Attorney-General of New Zealand on this subject, and a copy of a New Zealand Act ( " Foreign Offenders Apprehension Act, 1863,") and of some notes in the margin of the Act, made by Mr. Justice Johnston, a Judge of the Supreme Court here. Ministers respectfully request His Excellency to submit to the Bight Hon. the Secretary of State the urgent necessity for Imperial legislation, under which persons may be apprehended who have committed misdemeanours and escaped to adjacent Colonies. For His Excellency the Governor. E. W. Stafford.

Sub-Enclosure 1 to Enclosure in No. 28. Memorandum by the Bepresentatives of the Australasian Colonies. Considerable inconvenience is occasioned to the inhabitants and the Governments of the various Colonies of Australasia through the facilities which exist for the escape of offenders against the Criminal Law from one Colony to another, and the want of power in tho several Colonial Legislatures to enact laws providing for the extradition of offenders. The Imperial Act 6 and 7 Victoria?, c. XXXIV., contains provisions for the apprehension and trial in such cases of offenders charged with treason or with certain felonies, and these provisions are extended by the Imperial Act 16 and 17 Victoria?, c. CXVIIL, to all felonies. But no cases of misdemeanour can be dealt with under these Acts, and the Colonial Legislatures are unable to make effectual provision for the punishment of the numerous and serious offences of this class committed by persons who succeed in escaping from the Colony where the offence has been perpetrated to an adjoining Colony. We, the undersigned Members of the Governments of Queensland, New South Wales, New Zealand, South Australia, Tasmania, and Victoria, are of opinion that the extension of the provisions of the above-mentioned Acts, 6 and 7 Victoria?, c. XXXIV., and 16 and 17 Victoria?, c. CXVIIL, to all cases of misdemeanours committed in any of the Colonies of Australasia is urgently needed, and