A.—No. 1.

20

DESPATCHES PROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE

sth. And suggesting that all extra expense incurred by the retention of Imperial Troops in the Colony beyond the one battalion specially provided for, be made a charge against the Colony from Ist April, 1866, the period fixed by the Secretary of State for War for the concentration of the Imperial Troops in certain garrisons. I have, &c, The Assistant Military Secretary, Wellington. Ed. Strickland, D.C.Q-.

No. 23. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon to Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B. (No. 10.) Sir, — Downing Street, Ist February, 1867. I received by the last mail your separate Despatch of the 2nd November last, forwarding a copy of a Despatch addressed to you by direction of MajorGeneral Chute, in relation to a Memorandum of your Responsible Advisers " regarding the inaction maintained by Her Majesty's Imperial Troops in a " disturbed district." You did not, however, transmit a copy of the Despatch which was addressed to General Chute by your desire on the 15th of October, or of any previous correspondence on the subject. I should therefore have obtained a very imperfect understanding of the matter without the further information which I have received from the Secretary of State for War, who has forwarded to me the full correspondence, noted in the margin, between yourself and General Chute, and a letter from His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding in Chief, of which I enclose a copy. By the mail which has this day arrived, I receive your Despatch of 28th November, No. 108, enclosing a copy of the Despatch General Chute addressed to the Secretary of State for War, on the Ist November last, on the subject. This correspondence confirms me in the opinion which I have already expressed—that the Imperial Troops cannot be too promptly or too completely withdrawn from New Zealand; and also shows the expediency of the instructions conveyed to you in my other Despatch No. ,of the which in effect confines the Imperial Troops to the duty of garrisoning the main centres of population, and leaves to the Colonial Forces the conduct of active operations in unsettled or partially settled districts. I must, however, in addition to these instructions add this further direction, in which I anticipate your concurrence : that in any district in which active operations may have to be carried on conjointly by Imperial and Colonial Forces, those operations, although of course undertaken under instruction from the Governor, and on his responsibility, must be under the military control, not of the Governor or of the Ministry, but of the Officer in command of Her Majesty's Troops. It must be clearly understood that any employment of Her Majesty's Troops in active operations can only be permitted on this condition. I have, &c, Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B. CARNARVON.

Sir G. Grey to Major-Gen.Chutc, July 11, 1866. Major-Gen. Chute to Sir G. Grey, July 12, 1866. Sir G. Grey to Major-Gen.Chute, July 28, 1866. Major-Gen. Chute to Sir G. Grey, August 6, 1866. Private Sec. to Assistant Military Sec., Oct. 15,1866. Assistant Military Sec. to Private Sec. Oct. 21 1866. Memo, by Ministers, Oct. 12,1866-

Enclosure in No. 23. Major-General Fostek to the Undee Seceetaet of State, War Office. Sie, — Horse Guards, 12th January, 1867. I am directed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, in which you request that the Field Marshal Commanding in Chief may be moved to favour General Peel with his opinion of the correspondence which has passed between the Governor of New Zealand and the MajorGeneral Commanding the Troops in that Colony, relative to a Memorandum which has been addressed to His Excellency by his Eesponsible Advisers, commenting upon the conduct of Her Majesty's Troops in the Wanganui District. In reply, I am desired to express His Eoyal Highness's opinion that nothing can be more insulting to Her Majesty's Troops serving in New Zealand, than the Memorandum of the Colonial Ministers, forwarded to Major-General Chute by the Governor, without comment, and of which the Major-General most properly complains. Major-General Chute's explanation regarding the orders and instructions he had considered it necessary to give to the Officer commanding at Wanganui, and his reply to the unjustifiable reflections