D.—2

30

carriage of any other passengers than their own; and the Governments of New South Wales and South Australia both stipulate in their charter-parties that " No passengers other than those provided by the Agent-General are to be taken in the vessel." Clause 30 (31 in first schedule, 16th November, 1876). —The provision for the passage of a schoolmaster as a second-class passenger (if required) has been struck out. I think it would have been well to have retained this. An allowance of one pint bottle of beer to the matron was substituted for one quart bottle: this has been altered in the present copy of the contract to the quantity originally fixed on —namely, one quart, which is, I think, not an excessive allowance. Clause 35 has been struck out from the first schedule, the' first part of it having been provided for in clause 11 of the contract; but the latter part of clause 35 was most important in the interest of the Government, and should, I think, be replaced either in the body of any future contract or in the schedule. I allude to the following: —" Beyond the above rates no other charge whatever shall be made in respect of any of the passengers provided by the party of the second part, or of extra fittings or alterations in fittings of the ship at the port or time of embarkation, or of any expenses consequent on the ship's putting back or into any port from any cause whatever, or in respect of any of the matters aforesaid." Clause 37 (35 in first schedule, 16th November, 1876). —There are important omissions from this clause —namely, from paragraph 3, " until satisfied that all the stipulations of the charter-party have been properly fulfilled ;" and from subsection 2, " properly treated on the voyage; " and that " the stipulations in the charter-party appear to have been iv all respects duly observed and fulfilled." I have the honor to inclose herewith copies of the invoices of extra provisions supplied to the following ships : —" Orari," " Inverness," " Howrah," and " Rangitikei," all which were supplied under the dietary scale in force before the new contract, that being the scale in the prospectus issued to the bulk of the emigrants who were engaged for these ships. . I have, &c, Edwabd A. Smith, R.N., The Agent-General for New Zealand. Despatching Officer.

No. 21. The Agent-Geneeal to the Hon. the Ministeb for Immigbation. (No. 61.) 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sic, — 12th January, 1877. In pursuance of the instructions contained in the Hon. the Colonial Secretary's letter No. 148 of October 19th last, your memorandum No. 225 of the 18th October, and your letter No. 248 of the 17th November last, to make all the reductions in my department which I consider possible, I have lost no time in considering the question, and I have now the honor to inform you of the opinions I have arrived at, and what I have done and purpose to do in the matter. I found at the office at Westminster the following officers (I place opposite to the name of each his position and salary) : — Walter Kennaway ... Secretary to the department £800 per annum. J. Cashel Hoey ... Private Secretary ~. 400 „ W. G. McKellar ... Accountant ... ... 500 „ A. O. Ottywell ... ... 400 E. A. Smith ... ... Despatching Officer ... 400 „ R. Hackworth... ... Clerk ... ... 225 Thos. Shortt ... ... Clerk ... ... 180 B. McKillian ... ... Clerk ... ... 130 Wm. Johnson... ... Clerk ... ... 120 „ E. R. Sison ... ... Clerk ... ... 120 „ J. F. Collas ... ... Clerk ... ... 80 David Fenn ... ... Messenger ... ... 39 „ Wm. Byde ... ... Messenger ... ... 26 „ I have not included Mr. Hartwright, the Audit officer, in above list, as I do not consider that he is subject to my control or strictly an officer of the department. The rooms occupied by the AgentGeneral consisted of one store room on the basement at an annual rent of £20- 165., five rooms on the ground floor at an annual rental of £240, four rooms on the first floor at an annual rent of £200, and two rooms on the third floor at an annual rent of £65. It was evident to me that having the rooms so much separated entailed extra expense of officers, wasted valuable time, and made it difficult for me to efficiently watch over the department. Next to the rooms on the first floor to which I have referred there is a set of similar rooms of the same number, four, but rather larger in extent. I have come to the conclusion that, with the reductions I propose to make, these four rooms will do as substitutes for the rooms on the ground floor and the rooms on the third floor. They will enable the business of the office to be carried on both more efficiently and with greater economy. lam led to believe that I can get these four rooms for £250 per annum, and that the landlord will take back the rooms I propose to give up, for which the rent is £305, so that the substitution for rent will effect a saving of £55. I have not yet a final acceptance from the landlord, as it has to be submitted to a Board, the landlord being the Mutual Tontine Association. The other advantages of the change are greater even than the saving of rent. With the change of rooms I propose to do away with the distinctive character of the department which has grown up. I find that Mr. Kennaway was not fully in the position of head of the department under the Agent-General. There were, in fact, something like three departments —namely, the emigration under Mr. Kennaway and Mr. Ottywell, the public works and accounting under Mr. McKellar, and the confidential under Mr. Hoey, with the assistance