3

A.-No. 1.

TO THE GOVERNOR OP NEW ZEALAND.

registered in the Colony or not, as an owner of a vessel registered in one of the neighbouring Australian Colonies, or of a Erench vessel, might with justice complain of unequal treatment if he could not obtain a certificate. I have, &c, Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B. CARNARVON.

No. 7. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon to Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B. (No. 20.) Sir, — Downing Street, 3rd September, 1866. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch No. 49, of the 28th of May, forwarding, with a Memorandum on the subject from your Responsible Advisers, a Petition addressed to the Queen by Mr. Whitaker, the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland, praying that the Northern portion of the Colony of New Zealand may be erected into a separate and independent Colony. I request that you will inform Mr. Whitaker that Ids Petition has been laid before the Queen, but that the circumstances of the case are not such as to justify me in advising a compliance with its prayer. I have, &c., Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B. CARNARVON.

No. 8. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon to Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B. (No. 27.) Sir, — Downing Street, 17th September, 1866. I have the honor to transmit for your information a copy of a letter from the War Office, with its enclosure, respecting a payment made by the Imperial Government to a Contractor in New Zealand, in compensation for losses sustained by him through a prohibition imposed by the local authorities on the importation of Australian cattle into that district. I find from a perusal of the letter of the Commissary-General that his advertisement for tenders was published in October, 1864; that the acceptance of the contract was given on the sth of January, 1865 ; and that on the 11th, 12th, and 16th of the same month, or shortly after the information that the contract had been entered into must have reached Taranaki, Proclamations were published by the local authorities prohibiting importation from aU places from which a supply of cattle could be obtained. It appears also that Mr. Brown, the Superintendent of the Province of Taranaki, congratulated the inhabitants upon the good the prohibition had effected hi keeping up the price of cattle in the Province, stating at the same time that if the prohibition were relaxed the prices would faU. In the absence of explanation on several of the points adverted to by the Commissary-General, it is impossible for me to arrive at a decision as to the source from which the losses which have been incurred through the action of the Taranaki authorities should be paid ; and you will observe that, in addition to the claims of the contractor, expenses have been entailed by the prohibition upon the Commissariat Department, in connection with the freight and land transport of salt meat for the use of the troops. I request that you wiU furnish me with a fuU report upon the questions raised by the Commissary-General. I have, &c, Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B. CARNARVON.

August 16, 1866.