ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OE STATE.

121

A.—No. U.

mcnt of the Governor and the Colony on grave charges which no one had openly preferred, and a demand rather on the accused to prove their innocence than on the secret accuser to prove his accusation. We extremely regret to be compelled to represent to Your Majesty, that in some of Your Majesty's Imperial Departments of State, the practice of receiving from Imperial Officers in the Colony, letters, all knowledge of which had been withheld from the Governor, impugning the conduct of himself and his Advisers, has been, as is shown in Papers on New Zealand affairs presented by Your Majesty's command to both Houses of Parliament, repeatedly adopted during the last five years, notwithstanding the protests of the Governor; and we most respectfully beg to state, that such a practice is not only a violation of the express rules of Your Majesty's service, and a manifest injustice to the Governor and his Government, but that it has been productive of serious injury to the interests of Your Majesty's service, and of Your Majesty's loyal subjects in New Zealand We sincerely trust that Your Majesty will not deem us impatient, or unduly sensitive, in the particular matter at issue. The honour and good name of the Colony are our most precious possession, and there arc special political circumstances affecting this Colony, which make us the more jealous of the view taken by Your Majesty's Imperial Government of our treatment of the Natives, and the more solicitous to vindicate our character in that respect. In 1840 Your Majesty entered into a treaty with the Aborigines of New Zealand, on the faith of which Your Majesty assumed the Sovereignty of the country, and in that treaty Your Majesty was graciously pleased to extend to them your Boyal Protection, and to impart to them all the rights and privileges of British subjects; and since that time Your Majesty has issued repeated injunctions honourably and scrupulously to fulfil the conditions of that treaty. In 1863 Your Majesty's Imperial Government relinquished absolutely to the Colonial Government the fulfilment of these sacred obligations. When that relinquishment was made, a civil war was raging between the two races, and a force of twenty thousand men, consisting of Your Majesty's Imperial and Colonial troops, was engaged in suppressing insurrection. At the present date, when complete tranquillity has not been restored and the relations of both races are extremely critical, the Imperial troops are withdrawn from the Colony. The Colony is now alone engaged in making efforts, —nowhere, wc believe, previously paralleled, in proportion to the means at command, —to restore and maintain Your Majesty's authority, and to promote the welfare and civilization of all the Native inhabitants of these Islands. We have no wish now to question the policy, or to comment on the course of events which led to it, of imposing on the unaided resources of the Colony the exclusive duty of discharging what are to a great extent Imperial responsibilities ; but we respectfully venture to point out these facts as demonstrating that, in the absence of material aid, the sympathy and moral support of Your Majesty's Imperial Government are all the more necessary to the Colony in its endeavour to fulfil these objects, and that indifference and distrust will render that fulfilment, difficult as' it always must be, an altogether hopeless task. Under these circumstances, while* in this instance we cordially recognize that the charges against the Colony have been, owing to the prompt action and firm attitude of the Governor, refuted fully to the satisfaction of Your Majesty's Imperial Government, we are apprehensive that the precedent created in this case by the Secretary of State, namely, that of recognizing charges made in so irregular a manner against the Governor and the Government of this Colony would, if persisted in, impair the confidence which should subsist between the Imperial Ministers t and the Colonial vVuthorities; would be prejudicial to the reputation and usefulness of public men; would tend to alienate the affections of the Colonists, and 'would be dangerous to the Avelfare and concord of the two races in New Zealand. We therefore earnestly pray that Your Majesty may be graciously pleased to cause such steps to be taken as will obviate the future adoption of a course similar to that taken by Your Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies in this and in other instances, and that Your Majesty may be also pleased to extend to ourselves and to Your Majesty's other loyal subjects in this Colony Your Majesty's Most Gracious consideration, and that all our proceedings may receive from Your Majesty the most favourable construction. We also humbly pray that Your Majesty may be pleased to cause the Papers forwarded herewith, and others bearing on the same subject, to be presented to both Houses of the Imperial Parliament, in order that the fullest publicity in the United Kingdom, where the imputations have been secretly circulated, may be authentically given to all the circumstances connected with such imputations, and to their complete refutation. And we, Your Majesty's most faithful and loyal subjects, will ever pray, &c. D. Monro, „___^__^^_^____^_ Speaker. No. 51. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.8., to the Right Hon. the Duke of Buckingham. (No. 90.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord Duke, — 7th September, 1867. I have the honor to transmit an Address which I have this day received 31