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D.—sa

No. 3. Mr. G. V. Stewaet to the Hon. G. M. O'Eobke. Sib,— Northern Club, Auckland, Bth May, 1874. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication, dated 4th instant, in which you state that the Tauranga block I have selected at Kati Kati is no longer at the disposal of the General Government. I beg respectfully to submit to you, as their representative, that at the time of making the arrangements referred to between the Hon. the Premier and the Superintendent of Auckland, these very lands were under offer to me, and therefore could not in justice be thus dealt with; and in support of this statement I refer you to the official Blue Book, 1873, D. 2c, page 8, in which the following passage appears: — " The Government will give you (G. Vesey Stewart) a right of selection over the whole lands of the Province of Auckland, whether General or Provincial, and they will be prepared to set apart a block of 10,000 to 20,000 acres for the purpose of such special settlement." I feel satisfied that these previous arrangements made with me did not at the time occur to either Mr. Vogel or Mr. Williamson. I therefore, on behalf of a large number of intending emigrants (some of whom are at present on their passage to this country) ask the General Government, through you, to redeem their promises made to me, and to cancel " the regulations that have been prepared for these particular lands." There are thousands and tens of thousands of acres of good land that the Government, with its facilities for purchase, can readily exchange for the lands I now desire, and enable them to make regulations equally favourable to the Province of Auckland. The Victoria Valley was suggested to me yesterday for the first time by Mr. Williamson, as a suitable block, and which lat once declined to accept. I had made strict personal inquiries when in that neighbourhood, and ascertained that the lands (though good, but broken) were liable to floods, and so cut off from all communication with markets, as in a practical sense to be perfectly useless for many years to come as a place for special settlement; and I would deserve to be branded as a scoundrel and hooted from society, if by my representations I induced my countrymen to exchange their happy cheerful homes for such a place of banishment and servitude. You state " that the original proposal on behalf of the immigration scheme having been made to the Superintendent," &c, you refer me to him to set apart a suitable block of land. I respectfully submit, in reply to this allegation, that the original proposal was made to Mr. H. W. Farnall, the accredited agent to the General Government; and therefore, to adopt your own argument, "it only remains for me" to apply to the General Government for the block of land required. I accept unreservedly your statement, " That there is no desire on the part of the General Government to shrink from any obligation they may have incurred in this business," and feel equally satisfied that if you could kindly confer with Mr. Williamson on the subject, he will readily join you in making such arrangements as will enable us to conclude the matter. I would, in conclusion, urge upon both Governments, in the strongest terms, the necessity now existing to allow me to return home by the mail steamer of next Tuesday. I'will (D.V.) reach Ireland in July, which of all the months of the year is the most important for emigration purposes, as in that month intending emigrants sell their growing crops by auction ; and further delay, after the protracted delay that has already occurred (caused by personal differences among your own officers at home) will tend much to weaken public confidence in the Government of New Zealand. In justice, however, to my friends, and to your Government, who have partly defrayed my expenses here, I feel bound to remain in this country till all is satisfactorily concluded. I have, &c, The Hon. G. Maurice O'Eorke. Geo. Veset Stewaet.

No. 4. His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland, to the Hon. G-. M. O'Eoeke. Sib, — Superintendent's Office, Auckland, Bth May, 1874. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated yesterday, enclosing the copy of one addressed by you to Mr. G. V. Stewart, in regard to the land at Kati Kati being appropriated for his proposed special settlement. With reference to the statement contained in your letter to Mr. Stewart, to the effect that the block of land at the Kati Kati is no longer at the disposal of the General Government, but, by an agreement between the Hon. Mr. Vogel and the Superintendent, is now in the hands of the latter for administration, I have to point out that the land comprised in that block has not as yet been placed under the administration of the Superintendent. Mr. Stewart has been informed that the promise made by my predecessor will be faithfully maintained and kept with him, and that he is now (and has been since his arrival in Auckland) at liberty to select, for the purpose of his scheme, any block of land held in possession by the Provincial Government, and that any such land which may be selected by him accordingly will be set apart for his proposed special settlement, and held in reserve for that purpose for a reasonable period, to afford him time to take the requisite means for bringing out his immigrants to Auckland ; and I have also given Mr. Stewart to understand that the undertaking made by Mr. Gillies cannot be regarded as extending, or having been meant to extend, to lands still in the hands of the General Government, inasmuch as when those lands may be handed over to the Superintendent for administration, certain stipulations and conditions are likely to be required for the sale and disposal thereof, as may prevent the Provincial Government from dealing with Mr. Stewart for the location of his people thereon upon the basis of Mr. Gillies's proposal. I have, &c, J. Williamson, The Hon. the Secretary for Crown Lands, Auckland. Superintendent.