ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OE STATE.

15

A.—No. 1a

it, the communication stopped, and the redoubt itseH insulted by shots being fired into it, and under such circumstances the troops are marched off and leave the country, the position of this Colony will be one of great difficulty. 8. I have endeavoured to prevent such a case as I have last described from arising. There is no necessity that it should arise if the General and the Governor reside near each other; but if they do not do this, I feel confident that very serious disasters will take place. I have, &c, G. GREY. The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon.

Enclosure 1 in No. 11. Major-General Chute to the Under Secretary of State for War. Sir, — Head Quarters, Tauranga, Ist November, 1866. I have the honor to forward for the information of the Eight Honorable the Secretary of State for War, the accompanying copy of a letter from the Private Secretary of the Governor of New Zealand, with a report from Major McDonnell, of the Colonial Forces, aud a Memorandum addressed to His Excellency by his Besponsiblo Advisers, commenting in a most extraordinary and unjustifiabla manner on the conduct of Her Majesty's Troops in the Wanganui District. I enclose also a copy of the reply I caused to be sent to His Excellency's communication. It is not for me to enter into any discussion with His Excellency on the fact of his having thought" proper to send to the General Officer commanding Her Majesty's Troops a document of such a naturo as the Ministerial Memorandum, without any expression of His Excellency's own views on tho subject to which it refers; but as His Excellency has communicated to me this expression of his) Ministers' feelings (with which, apart from His Excellency's own views, I have no concern whatever), and it may possibly hence be inferred (though I am unwilling to believe it) that His Excellency himself participates in the opinions of his Besponsible Advisers, I consider it my duty to bring prominently under the cognizance of Her Majesty's Government, through the Secretary of State for War, the whole of the circumstances which have led to my being subjected to receive a document reflecting so improperly on Her Majesty's Troops, whom I have the honor to command. I forward herewith a copy of a correspondence which took place between His Excellency and myself in July last, respecting the employment of Her Majesty's Troops, in the Wanganui District, in co-operation with the local forces, against the disaffected Natives. It will bo observed that, on the 11th July, I received a request from the Governor to assist in a service which was being undertaken by a body of Colonial Troops in the Wanganui District. I replied that I would be happy to carry out any instructions His Excellency might be pleased to give me respecting the employment of Her Majesty's Troops in any military operations, but that it would be necessary that any of the Colonial Forces who were to be employed on the same service should be placed under my command. This was not done ; but His Excellency then wrote to me the letter of the 28th July. I subsequently had an interview with the Governor, and after discussion with him, consented to instruct the Officer commanding the Wanganui District to give assistance to Major McDonnell to the extent of 150 men, on his demanding it. A copy of my letter of instructions to the Officer commanding at Wanganui, and of my letter to the Governor, informing him thereof, are enclosed. It was not, I confess, without great hesitation that I consented to do this, for it appeared to me to be quite an anomaly to detain Her Majesty's Forces as His Excellency was doing, at the outposts, in the occupation of the same district, and yet to send an Officer of the Colonial Forces with a military force into the very heart of it, to co-operate against the hostile Natives, without reference to the control or authority of the General Officer commanding Her Majesty's Troops, whose co-operation, however, was still expected. Apart from this anomaly, I need not invite attention to its being against all the dictates of common sense, military precedent, and prudence, that two forces acting under different heads should, at the same time, undertake the same service in the same locality. It will be noticed that there is no assertion made in either Major McDonnell's report, or in the Ministerial Memorandum, that the assistence I had promised, as stated in my letter to the Governor of the 6th August, 1866, was applied for and refused. On the other hand, had an officer of the Imperial Forces, of Major McDonnell's rank, gone out without his aid being applied for, and taken the command, there would have been an interference both with the evident intention of the Governor and of the Colonial Ministers, viz.:—That Major* McDonnell should have the power of acting independently, and I should, most probably, have had my attention called to an interference that was not intended, and which was considered unnecessary and inconvenient.

It was, I confess, therefore, with much surprise and indignation that I learned that His Excellency's Responsible Advisers had ventured to reflect, as they have done, on Her Majesty's Troops; and I deeply regret that His Excellency has not, when conveying to me, without comment, that expression of their opinion, at the same time given me the authority for which I have so frequently applied to him, to withdraw Her Majesty's Troops from the whole of the outposts in the confiscated territory, where their services appear to be so little appreciated. In their desire to depreciate the services of Her Majesty's Troops, the Colonial Ministers have made statements not only unconnected with the contents of Major McDonnell's Eeport (the occasion