A.—No. 1b.

FURTHER DESPATCHES EROM THE SECRETARY OE STATE AND THE GOVERNOR OF NEW ZEALAND.

No. 1. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Eight Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. (No. 65.) Government House, Auckland, My Lord, — New Zealand, sth June, 1869. Since the sudden collapse, at the beginning of this year, of the Panama Steam Company, there has been much difficulty and delay in arranging for the regular transmission of the New Zealand mails to and from Australia, to meet there the steamers of the Peninsular and Oriental Company. Eor this reason, and also because several bags and parcels from the Colonial Office seem (as I am informed) to have been put, at the Post Offices in London or Melbourne, into the mail for Auckland instead of into that for Wellington, many of your Lordship's recent Despatches did not reach me in proper time ; and it is thought probable that there may have been some irregularity also in the arrival of my Despatches in England. It is hoped, however, that the arrangements already made by the Colonial Government in New Zealand, and the fresh arrangements which will probably have been made at London in consequence of my Despatch No. 16, of the 2nd Eebruary ultimo, will insure greater punctuality for the future. 2. In my Despatch No. 52, of the 2nd May ultimo, I reported that " I had "requested my Responsible Advisers to cause me to be furnished with detailed " Returns (in addition to the general Reports submitted on the 7th December and " 7th January ultimo, and in many other Despatches) respecting the condition of " the disturbed districts, the state of the Colonial troops, and other subjects, con- " corning which your Lordship may probably desire to be kept informed, though " the Imperial Government no longer claims any control over the internal affairs "of this Colony." I have since received your Despatch No. 30, of the 26th Eebruary ultimo. My Constitutional Advisers have informed me that they will furnish full, and, it is believed, satisfactory, explanations concerning those points in their management of Native affairs to which your Lordship has referred. Ample Reports on all these subjects will be submitted by tho July mail; but it is impossible that they should be all ready for the June mail, which will take the present Despatch, especially as I have been necessarily absent during several weeks from the seat of Government, while accompanying the Duke of Edinburgh to the Southern Provinces, and entertaining His Royal Highness at Auckland. Eor the same reason it was also impossible that I should open in person, at Wellington, the annual Session of the New Zealand Parliament; and it was, consequently, opened by Commission on the Ist instant, as I had previously arranged with the Colonial Ministers. No public inconvenience will bo experienced, as I shall leave Auckland by the first steamer and reach Wellington before the end of next week. 3. Meanwhile, I have requested the Colonial Secretary to forward, by the June mail, to the Colonial Office, the usual monthly Memorandum by the Minister for Defence (Colonel Haultain), showing the progress of the military operations against the insurgents; together with copies of Colonel Whitmore's Despatches reporting the results of his recent expedition into the country of the wild and fierce clan of the Uriweras. My Responsible Advisers considered it necessary to strike a blow against these savage mountaineers, who have furnished the main strength of the forces of Te Kooti in his murderous raids on the English settlements at Poverty Bay and in the Bay of Plenty. Colonel Whitmore's expedition seems to have closely resembled those frequently sent forth to chastise the hostile tribes on the northern frontier of British India. He appears to have broken—at all events for the present —the prestige of the chief Hauhau leaders, and to have restored, in a great measure, confidence to the settlers in the disturbed districts. 4. I transmit by this opportunity the last Returns (dated 15th May ultimo) showing the number and distribution of the Colonial forces. It will be seen that