A.—2,

6

4 I should also be glad to receive, for transmission to the Patent Office, complete sets of specifications of patents and lists of trade-marks which may have been published in the colony under your government, and I have, farther, to request that your Government will give such instructions as will insure that copies of all such documents are in future transmitted, as soon as they are published, to the Commissioners of Patents, through the medium of the mail-bags of this office. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government KIMBERLEY of New Zealand.

No. 7 Copt of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. the Earl of Kimbeuley to the Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand. (Circular ) Sir, — Downing Street, Bth July, 1880. With reference to the Earl of Carnarvon's circular despatch of the 9th of August, 1877, relative to the adoption by the colonies of the test for colourblindness to which candidates for certificates of competency as master, mate, or engineer in the mercantile marine are now subjected, I have the honor to transmit to you a copy of a further letter (2nd July, 1880) which has been received from the Board of Trade, pointing out that only a few of the colonies have replied to the circular, and enclosing an amended circular recently issued by that department relative to the colour test. In compliance with the desire of the Board of Trade, I have to request that, if your Government have not already adopted the colour test, you will urge upon them the desirability of doing so with as little delay as possible, and that you will also invite them to adopt the plan of indorsement of certificates in the case of the failure of a candidate to pass the colour test, as set forth in the enclosure to the letter of the Board of Trade. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government of KIMBERLEY. New Zealand.

Enclosure in No. 7 The Board of Trade to the Colonial Office. Board of Trade (Marine Department), Whitehall Gardens, S.W., 2nd July, 1880. Sir, — Certificates. I am directed by the Board of Trade to request that you will be good enough to draw the attention of the Earl of Kimberley to the letter from this department to the Colonial Office dated the 11th of July, 1877, forwarding a circular relative to the test for colour-blindness then in use in the United Kingdom in the case of candidates for masters' and mates' certificates of competency, and suggesting the adoption of a similar test by those colonies to which the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act of 1869 had been extended by Order in Council. With regard to the above suggestions, I am to state that replies have only been received in this department'from the colonies named in the margin ; * and, as it is important in the interests of life and property, as well as in order that colonial certificates may have the same value as those issued by this Board, that this subject should form part of the examination in the colonies as in the United Kingdom, I am to suggest that, if Lord Kimberley sees no objection, the necessity of adopting a colour test should be again urged upon those colonies from which no replies have yet been received. I am also to transmit herewith copies of an amended circular (Circular 180) recently issued by this department relative to the colour test, and to request that you will be good enough to move Lord Kimberley to take the necessary steps to cause copies to be forwarded to all colonies, including those to which the provisions of " The Merchant Shipping (Colonial) Act, 1869," have been extended, with an invitation to the authorities to adopt the plan of indorsement of candidates' certificates therein mentioned in cases of failures to pass the test, which should apply equally to certificates already in the possession of candidates, whether granted by the colonial Governments or by this department. I have, &c, The Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office. Thomas Gray

* Victoria, Canada, South Australia, Newfoundland.