ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OE STATE.

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A.—No. 1

liabilities of all parts of the Colony), would materially retard its progress, and restrict its ability to provide for its public burthens. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. GREY. Enclosure in No. 21. Mr. Vogel to the Hon. E. W. Stafford. Sin, — Provincial Treasury, Dunedin, 9th December, 1867. In the absence of His Honor tho Superintendent from Dunedin I have the honor to forward for transmission to His Grace tho Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, the enclosed petition addressed to Her Majesty the Queen, praying for the Separation of the North and Middle Islands of Nevr Zealand into two separate and independent Colonies. I have, Ac., The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Julius Vogel, Wellington. Provincial Treasurer.

Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure in No. 21. Petition from Residents in the Province of Otago to the Queen. To Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria., Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Dependencies thereof, Defender of the Faith, &c. Most Gkacious Soveheign, mat it please Toub Majesty,— The humble Petition of your Majesty's loyal subjects, Colonists resident in the Province of Otago, who approach your Majesty with feelings of profound loyalty and attachment to your Majesty's royal person and throne, in all faithfulness and zeal towards your Majesty's service, most humbly and dutifully sheweth — That your petitioners pray your Majesty may cause an Act to be introduced into the Imperial Parliament to provide for the separation of the North and Middle Islands of New Zealand into two separate and independent Colonies, with such provisions for a federal union as your Majesty's Advisers may esteem advisable. That your petitioners consider the union of the Northern and Middle Islands is injurious to both, the interests of the two islands being dissimilar. That the Northern Island has been and will be for many years occupied in resisting the aggressions of the Native race ; and ultimate peace with the Natives can only bo secured by the careful local application of laws calculated to meet the wants of both the European and Native races, laws altogether unsuitable to the Middle Island, which, free from Native claims and occupation, seeks only' permission to devote its energies to the development of the great commercial, pastoral, agricultural, and mining resources which it possesses, by the construction of roads, bridges, railways, and other reproductive w rorks, and by encouraging emigration on an extensive scale. That, owing to the G-eneral Assembly of New Zealand having to chiefly occupy itself with the discussion of Native questions, laws for the general government of the Colony, as well as those more particularly affecting the interests of the Colonists occupying the Middle Island, arc either hurried through in an imperfect manner, or are altogether neglected. That the administration of the Government of the Middle Island, where only European settlers are concerned, has always been subordinate to that of the Northern Island; and, so long as the two islands are united and the Native question exists, your petitioners believe it will necessarily be so. That, besides the heavy charges on the Middle Island revenues for loans already expended, not for its benefit but for Native purposes, there is still a continuous drain on the revenue for current expenditure on the same objects, and your petitioners arc convinced that the disbursements will continue to be extravagant and in a great measure useless, so long as the Middle Island is liable for them. On the other hand, if the Northern Island has entirely to rely on its own resources, costly Native experiments will be avoided, and the Natives will be governed efficiently and economically. That the Middle Island now stands to the North Island in a similar relation to that which Great Britain did to New Zealand before Imperial considerations of expediency led the mother country to withdraw from interfering in Native affairs ; and the same considerations with equal force point to the inexpediency of the Middle Island continuing to interfere with the government of the Natives in the Northern Island. That your petitioners consider the extent, population, commercial importance, and resources of the Middle Island, as compared with those of other Colonies, fully justify their desire to convert it into a separate Colony. That your petitioners also respectfully represent that tho isolation, great length (one thousand one hundred miles), and the narrowness of New Zealand, make its Government from any one spot more difficult than that of other Colonies possessing many times its area. That your petitioners emphatically disclaim any desire that the Middle Island should escape tha liabilities fairly attaching to it; and they may direct your Majesty's attention to the Petition already forwarded in one thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, and subsequently from Auckland, and to tho proceedings in the General Assembly, as evidence that in the North Island, tho principal Province and a large proportion of the population arc as anxious as your petitioners for separation. That your petitioners are fully aware of the advantages of a federal union such as has taken place in British North America, but they humbly submit that the division of New Zealand into two