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that his connection with the undertaking was positively mischievous, for he was issuing regulations of a kind that I could not give my approval to, and promising free passages to capitalists when such a course was never contemplated by the Government. I felt that he was seriously compromising both myself and the Government, and I therefore felt no hesitation in putting an end at once to his official relations with my department. The Government will observe by the printed draft circular forwarded herewith (Enclosure 8), that Mr. Farnall had so completely failed in getting up the scheme in the North of Ireland (which it was never intended should comprise more than from twenty to fifty families), that he asked me to authorize him to issue an entirely new set of Emigration Regulations, to be signed by himself as Emigration Commissioner, and to be circulated throughout the United Kingdom. If, as I have every reason to believe, the accounts _sent in by Mr. Walker and Mr. Andrews (Mr. Farnall's clerks) show the total number of emigrants secured through Mr. Farnall's agency, it will be seen that the result of Mr. Farnall's services, during the period that he has been receiving remuneration at the rate of £700 a year, is, in all, seventy-three emigrants. With reference to the remuneration which I have from time to time allowed to Messrs. Birch, Seaton, and Farnall, you will remember that I stated in my despatches that the remuneration of 18s. and 255. per diem would be wholly inadequate, if they discharged the duties allotted to them; and I have no hesitation now in saying, that if they had really acted as peripatetic agents, being constantly on the move, giving lectures and diffusing information in other ways, visiting, supervising, and stimulating the local sub-agents, that the travelling allowance of £350 per annum would not have done more than meet their travelling and other necessary expenses. But the travelling allowance was no sooner granted to them than they, with the exception of Mr. Birch, virtually ceased to travel at all. Mr. Seaton took a small office in Glasgow, and Mr. Farnall in Belfast, where they remained constantly, pocketing during the whole time the said travelling allowance of £350 per annum. Mr. Birch, I am glad to say, did for several months visit the north of Scotland and the Shetland Islands, where I believe he did good service in promoting emigration. I have, &c, I. E. Featherston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington, N.Z. Agent-General.

Enclosure 1 in No. 2. The Agent-General to Mr. J. Seaton. Sir,— 30th April, 1873. I have the honor to remind you that, on the recommendation of the Superintendent of Otago " that there should be a perambulating Home Agency, consisting of one or more persons from New Zealand thoroughly acquainted with the agricultural and pastoral pursuits of the Colony, and qualified to give reliable information," you were appointed by the Government, and I was instructed to determine the scale of your remuneration for such services as you might be required to perform. It will be in your recollection that both you and Mr. Birch constantly represented to me that you had been promised a salary of £350 each, with travelling allowances for the whole year at the rate of £1 per diem; and that, upon this representation, I ultimately agreed to carry out the engagement which you alleged had been entered into before you came home. Since that arrangement was made, however, it appears that you have altogether given up travelling, and have subsided into a local agent in the city of Glasgow, drawing, nevertheless, the full travelling allowance of £1 per diem. In your various reports you confess that no fruits are visible as the result of your labours; and, as you will learn by the extract from the Hon. Mr. O'Rorke's Memorandum of February 15th (No. 34), already forwarded to you, the Minister of Lands and Immigration complains that the services rendered by you appear to him altogether disproportionate to the expenditure incurred in your pay and travelling allowance. I so fully concur in the opinions expressed, both by yourself and by the Government, that I readily accede to the request conveyed in your letter of 28th instant, to relieve you altogether of your present duties, and I propose, therefore, that your services shall be dispensed with on and after the 31st May. I have to request that during the ensuing month you will devote yourself exclusively to the duty of procuring the emigrants applied for by Mr. Burns of Otago. You will be entitled to an allowance to cover the cost of your return passage to New Zealand, in terms of previous correspondence. Before concluding, I may add that while these peripatetic agents have been employed in Scotland, in addition to 80 local sub-agents, I find that during the past year, ending March 31, 1873, the number of emigrants despatched from Scotland amounts to only 546; and there can be no doubt that fully nine-tenths of these have been obtained through the exertions of the local agents. I have, &c, I. E. Featherston, James Seaton, Esq., 28, St. Enoch Square, Glasgow. Agent-General.