D.—3

1873. NEW ZEALAND.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency. No. 1. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. (No. 514.) 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir,— 29th July, 1873. Beferring to the Hon. Mr. O'Eorke's Memoranda No. 89, of May sth, and No. 99, of May 10th, I beg to state that I shall do my utmost to give effect to the wishes of His Honor the Superintendent of Hawke's Bay. On receiving the instructions of the Government to lay on three ships direct for Napier, intervals of one month, I took immediate steps to carry out the order, but found more difficulty in doing so than I had anticipated. In fact, as I have already informed the Government, the first of the three proposed ships laid on for Hawke's Bay had to be withdrawn in consequence of only seventy emigrants offering themselves for that Province. Under these circumstances I adopted the only alternative open to me, namely, that of forwarding the emigrants to Wellington, to be transhipped thence to Napier. I am glad to be able to report, however, that the " Hovding " will be despatched from Scandinavia about the first week of August with a full complement of emigrants; and I hope to be able to despatch another ship from the port of London about October next, with a large number of single women, specially selected by Miss Herbert, who will undertake the personal charge of them during the passage out. I may mention that in the Government contract with the New Zealand Shipping and Freight Company, there is an agreement to pay £2 a head more for emigrants shipped to Napier than to the other ports ; and it is a question whether it would not prove cheaper in the end to send emigrants intended for Hawke's Bay to Wellington, and to tranship them there, as the cost of passage by local steamers would not, I understand, exceed 255. per head. At the same time, I fully recognize the desirability of sending emigrants, as a rule, direct to their destination. With regard to the proposed shipment of vine-growers, I beg to report that I have found considerably more difficulty in obtaining them than I had anticipated. I have no doubt, however, that with the assistance and co-operation of an influential friend at Darmstadt, I shall succeed in getting the required number in the course of the next few months. With respect to Mr. Ormond's suggestion that a limit should be put on the number to be sent, I may state that I do not propose to forward more than about twenty families of this class, as I consider that this will be sufficient to give the experiment a fair trial. I have, &c., I. E. Featherston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington, N.Z. Agent-General.

No. 2. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. (No. 525.) 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir,— 30th July, 1873. I have the honor to refer again to the subject of the appointment of Messrs. Seaton, Birch, and Farnall as emigration agents, with the view of reporting to the Government the steps I have considered it my duty to adopt with regard to them. I have already complained of the manner in which these appointments were made, without my having been communicated with or consulted on the subject, and I have more than once, in my correspondence with the Government, expressed my conviction that the appointments were wholly unnecessary, and that no adequate results would follow. I—D. 3.

EMIGBATION TO NEW ZEALAND. (LETTERS FROM THE AGENT-GENERAL).