A.—No. 1.

30

DESPATCHES EROM THE GOVERNOR OE NEW

land; the Governor may be absent from "Wellington, perhaps attended by only one member of the Executive Council: much time —possibly months —would necessarily elapse before the Governor could meet the Executive Council, and the Judge, after a special summons, which might find him cither at Invercargill or Dunedin, could attend at the seat of Government, during which time the condemned criminal would be kept in a most objectionable state of suspense, while at the same time the Judge, in order to attend, may have had to interrupt the sessions of the Supreme Court, causing great public inconvenience and expense, and the Governor might also have to return hurriedly to the seat of Government to meet the Executive Council. It is probable that the portion of the Koyal Instructions now referred to may have been inserted inadvertently, without a recognition of the particular circumstances of New Zealand, or the character of the Executive and judicial administration therein, and it is submitted that these instructions should be revoked, and in lieu thereof that the practice which has obtained in New Zealand for the last seventeen years be enjoined, namely —that the Governor, after receiving the report of the Judge should, with the advice of his responsible Ministers, taken either in Executive Council or otherwise, indicate what action was to be taken with respect to a sentence of death. For His Excellency the Governor. E. ~W. Staffoed.

No. 25. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to His Grace the Duke of Buckingham. (No. 5.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord Duke,- — 15th February, 1868. With reference to your Grace's Despatch No. 73, of the 22nd November ultimo, covering letters from the War Office respecting Mr. Commissary-General Strickland, and to previous correspondence with my predecessor, Sir George Grey, on the same subject, I am now requested by my Responsible Advisers to transmit a further Memorandum prepared by Colonel Haultain, the Minister for Colonial Defence. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. F. BOWEN.

Enclosure in No. 25. Memoeandttm by Colonel Hatjltaest. Me. Steickxand's position with reference to the Colony was in no way similar to tha,t of Dr. Mouatt. The latter officer was specially appointed by the Colonial Government, with the sanction of .General Cameron, to organize and supervise the local medical staff, and it was on his resignation of that appointment, and for very valuable services performed in that capacity, that it was proposed to remunerate him by a grant of land, as had been previously done in the cases of Major-General Galloway and Lieutenant-Colonel Pitt, under almost similar circumstances. Mr. Strickland's services were never placed at the disposal of the Colonial Government; he simply performed his duties as an Imperial officer, and he had no more claim to remuneration from the Colony than had every other officer and man of the Imperial force serving in New Zealand. On this ground only, as he is well aware, his non-official application for a grant of land was refused. This application was made by him to me in the month of October, 1866, and his defamatory letter was written on the Bth November following. The Secretary of State for War has, therefore, been misled by Mr. Strickland's letter of the 18th October, 1867, and has misunderstood the 6th paragraph of Sir George Grey's letter, No. 80, of the Bth August, 1867, when he arrives at the conclusion that a " partial," " personal," and " invidious " distinction " has intentionally " been made in Mr. Strickland's case, in consequence of his statements against the Colony. For His Excellency the Governor. T. M. llaultain".

No. 2G. Cory of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir G. P. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to His ' Grace the Duke of Buckingham. (No. 7.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord Duke,— 20th February, 1868/ I have the honor to forward herewith copies of a Memorandum (with six enclosures) submitted to me by my Responsible Advisers, showing the policy which they recommend for adoption in the matter of the general amnesty for political offences, recently suggested by the Provincial Council of Auckland; and also the present condition of the Maoris detained at the Chatham Islands. These papers will repay an attentive perusal. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos. G. F. BOWEN.