D.—3.

No. 21. The Agent-Geneeal to the Hon. J. Macandeew. (Telegram.) sth March, 1878. Stewart refuses sign agreement because no tracing land. Wants me guarantee that land accords exactly with tracing submitted by him to Lands Board, Auckland. Shall I? Also if he not sign am I to act under agreement ? Vogel.

No. 22. The Hon. the Minister for Immigration to the Agent-General. (Telegram.) Bth March, 1878. Stewart land substantially same, but guarantee nothing. Further questions, wait letters. J. Ballance.

No. 23. Mr. G. V. Stewaet to the Hon. the Minister for Immigration. Sic, — Martray House, Ballygawley, 28th January, 1878. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 7th December, 1877, No, 2861, and also to thank you for the three copies of the agreement. With regard to the telegram to which you allude as having been addressed to me on the 31st July, you will find it was dated Wellington, 11.30 a.m., on Ist August, and only received by me on board the mail steamer as orders were given "for all to go on shore:" it was therefore received too late for any practical purpose. But you should further consider that I was bound by my agreement to pay the £5,000 on the Ist of January; that the only season of the year to obtain farmers in Ireland for emigration is during our autumn and winter months, and had I waited till these lands were gazetted on 29th November I should have lost another season, and have been in every way unable to perform the terms of the draft agreement that were closed last July between the Waste Lands Board> your predecessor, and myself. I should further state that this agreement had been printed so far back as the first week in July; that it was confirmed at a special meeting of the Waste Lands Board on the 31st of July ; that both your predecessor and the Chairman of the Waste Lands Board informed me previously that everything had been practically arranged, and everything was virtually concluded. On my return home I published a pamphlet in which this agreement is recited. I sent a copy to your Agent-General; and I think, under the circumstances, I have reason to complain of the treatment I have received at his hands, as, in the absence of instructions from the Government, he should have been satisfied with the evidence I produced. Tou will observe that the £5,000 payable by me on the Ist of January was paid to the AgentGeneral on the 20th December previous. I feel much obliged to you for the concluding paragraph in your letter, and trust that, as the Agent-General has now received his instructions from you, no further official difficulties will be imposed upon me. I take the liberty of forwarding to you a copy of my pamphlet, and also a review by Land and Water, by which you will perceive the class of persons I am introducing to New Zealand, and I have no hesitation in stating that, since the foundation of the colony, no single ship has ever reached her shores introducing a better-selected class of emigrants, both as regards social position, intelligence, capital, and colonial capabilities, than the one conveying the main body of the " Stewart Special Settlement No. 2." Thanking you for your courtesy and kindness, I havej &c, J. Macandrew, Esq., Government Buildings, Geo. Vesey Stewart. Wellington, N.Z.

No. 24. The Hon. the Minister for Immigration to Mr. G. V. Stewart, Sic, — Immigration Office, Wellington, sth April, 1878. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 28th January last, and to thank you for the copy of your pamphlet, which I have read with much interest. I now forward for your information copy of a letter which I have addressed to the Agent-General by this mail, with reference to the proposed extension of the Katikati Settlement. I have, &c, G. V. Stewart, Esq., . J. Macandeew. Martray House, Ballygawley, Ireland.

Enclosure in No. 24. The Hon. the Minister for Immigration to the Agent-General. Sir, — Immigration Office, Wellington, sth April, 1878. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letters of the 11th December, No. 1,168, and also of the 30th January, No. 94, and to thank you for the copies of the correspondence which have 3-D. 3.

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