DESPATCHES EROM THE GOVERNOR OE NEW

A.—No. la.

92

being a breach of the instructions of the late Lord Herbert, who, when Secretary of State for War, directed that this honor should be only very sparingly used, as Her Majesty's Government were most anxious to promote, by every means in their power, a spirit of self-reliance among the inhabitants of New Zealand. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. GREY. P.S.—I beg to be permitted to observe to your Grace that my Responsible Advisers express then* regret that the name of Captain Noblett, of the 18th Regiment, should, from an error, have been unfavourably alluded to. I would also express my extreme regret that such should have been the case, as, on the occasion of the capture of the Weraroa Pa, Captain Noblett evinced a marked energy and alacrity in the performance of this duty, as I reported in my Despatch No. 91, of 22nd July, 1865.

Enclosure in No. 38. Memoeandum by Colonel Haultain. Wrrn reference to Lord Carnarvon's Despatches, No. 10, of the Ist February, 1867, and No. 20, of the Ist March, 1867, and the respective enclosures thereto, Ministers regret exceedingly that their Memorandum of the 12th October, 1866, should have been considered insulting to the officers and men of Her Majesty's Troops serving in New Zealand, by His Boyal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding in Chief, and should have been equally condemned by Lord Carnarvon and the Secretary of State for War. Ministers had no desire to comment on the conduct of any particular officers and men; their object was to animadvert on the general line of action pursued by the Imperial Troops on the West Coast, and on the anomalous relations between them and the Local Forces, which they are not surprised His Boyal Highness should declare to be incomprehensible to himself and utterly at variance with the customs of the service in all other parts of Her Majesty's dominions. It must indeed appear strange to those who are unacquainted with the policy adopted by the Imperial Government towards this Colony that, in a district fully garrisoned by the Begular Troops, it should bo necessary for the Local Government to send a small force (all that their means would admit of) to punish offenders who had been committing murderous outrages close to the Imperial camps, and that they should have had to request that their commander should not be interfered with in performing this service, "if he was to act without the assistance of the Begular Troops." (Enclosure No. 1.) It would almost seem as though His Boyal Highness had not been made acquainted with the recent instructions of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, relative to the location and movements of the Imperial Troops in New Zealand, or he would hardly have thought it advisable to insist that the usual relations between the two services should invariably be maintained ; for as it had been determined that such Troops as were to remain in the Colony should be stationed at the centres of population, from which they were not to move except under conditions which could not be accepted, and as the Head Quarters of the Major-General Commanding are at Auckland, 400 miles from the Seat of Government, and nearly half that distance from any probable scene of hostile operations, it is plain that it would not be practicable for Officers commanding Local Troops, when separately employed on special service in the field, to be under the orders of the Major-General, and at the same time to conduct operations initiated by tho Colonial Government, and carried ou at the expense of the Colony. Ministers had hoped that the vigorous and successful operations of General Chute at the commencement of last year, with the stringent instructions he issued to officers commanding posts to lose no opportunity of attacking and harassing the enemy (Enclosure No. 2), would have secured the tranquillity of the West Coast; but the results were not such as might have been expected: the rebel Natives returned to their settlements in the bush, and committed aggressions from time to time with comparative impunity. Tho communications between Patea and Taranaki were never open, largo parties only could pass from post to post with safety, and notwithstanding the assertions that small escorts were sufficient from Patea as far as Waingongoro, and that communications were not stopped, the occurrence of the murderous outrages and ambuscades instanced by LieutenantColonel McDonnell in his letter of the sth instant (Enclosure No. 3), suffices to prove the correctness of that part of the statement made by Ministers in their Memorandum; that Bedoubts were fired into is confirmed by Lieutenant-Colonel Hamley's letter of 19th November, 1866 (enclosed in Lord Carnarvon's Despatch, Ist March, 1867, No. 20), the offenders remaining yet unpunished. It is true armed parties were sent to follow them to the edge of the bush, into which the rebels retired, only more likely to be emboldened still further to harass and annoy their opponents, by finding that they could always make good their retreat to positions to which they would not be followed. The offer of the Major-General to assist the Colonial Forces with 150 or 250 men, under command of a Field Officer, was, as is shown by Lieutenant-Colonel McDonnell's letter, almost practically useless. For the latter officer to have surrendered his command, would have been to have set aside his own plans and arrangements, for the sake of the assistance of a small Imperial Force, which alone could not have performed the required service, and the Commander of which would probably have little regarded the wishes of the Colonial Government. Lieut.-Colonel McDonnell was, however, left entirely unfettered on this point, and was at liberty to have applied for assistance whenever he deemed it necessary. Ministers consider that he judged rightly in not asking for that assistance ; and they freely admit that they are not desirous that the Colonial Troops should continue to be associated with the Begular Forces, for it is evidently intended that for the future, Local Officers, whatever their rank or qualifications, are not to exercise command when serving with any portions of the Imperial Troops.