A.—B

16

Having in this spirit prepared the report which he was directed to furnish, and being aware that Mr. Hall's remarks will be considered by Her Majesty's Government as carefully as the despatch to which they relate, it is the Governor's intention to abstain from all controversy with the members of the Executive Council as to the opinions which he and they may respectively have formed. His Excellency regrets that his own views on the subject, and those of Mr. Hall, should not, in all points, coincide; but he cannot deem it to be matter for surprise. It is only natural that events should bear, to the actors in them, a somewhat different aspect from that which they present to a dispassionate and uninterested spectator. It could hardly bo expected that the Governor's present Advisers, and those who preceded them in office, should take precisely the same view of any complicated series of political transactions; or that a Governor, by whom these transactions are necessarily regarded in a purely historical light, should agree wholly with either. His Excellency has not sought to obtrude his views upon the notice of others, nor was he by any means desirous of giving utterance to them at all; but, when called upon to do so by those who have a right to require it of him, he cannot assign as his opinions any but those which he in truth holds, or narrate facts otherwise than as they appear to him to have occurred. His Excellency does not presume to say that the opinions expressed in his despatch are in all cases well founded, or that his judgment as to facts may not be in some instances mistaken. But after full consideration of the points urged in Mr. Hall's memorandum, and a very careful reperusal of the documentary evidence relating to them, he sees no reason, in any important particular, to alter or modify the conclusions at which he had previously arrived. Government House, "Wellington, 12th July, 1881.

No. 6. The Peemiee to His Excellency the Goteenoe. Memorandum for His TSxccllency. The Premier presents his respectful compliments to the Governor; and has the honor to inform His Excellency that Ministers are of opinion that the publication of the despatch from His Excellency to the Secretary of State for tho Colonies, respecting Native matters on the West Coast of this Island, would injuriously interfere with the settlement of any existing difficulties with Maoris in that part of the colony. For this reason, Ministers think it desirable that the despatch should not, for the present, be made public. They, therefore, respectfully ask that His Excellency will telegraph to the Secretary of State their request that the despatch may not be published at present, and the expression of their hope that any intended publication of the document will be so made known to them, that their opinion as to such publication may reach, and be considered by, the Imperial Government. Wellington, July 13,1881. John Hall.

No, 7. His Excellency the Goveenoe to the Peemiee. Memorandum. The Governor has duly received Mr. Hall's memorandum of this day's date, and will comply with the request which it contains. Government House, Wellington, 13th July, 1881. Aethtje Gordon.

No. 8. [By a telegram dated July Ist, the Governor informs the Secretary of State that Ministers desire not to lay the Despatch No. 11, of February 26th, before the Colonial Legislature, and wish its presentation to the Imperial Parliament to be delayed as long as possible. On the 18th July, the Governor telegraphed requesting that the Secretary of State would inform him beforehand, by telegraph, when the despatch was likely to be presented to Parliament; and repeating that Ministers wished presentation to be delayed. The Secretary of State replied that he would, delay publication, if possible; but that, as the papers had been promised, they must be published if pressed for.]

No. 9. His Excellency the Goveenoe to the Seceetaey of State for the Colonies. (No. 43.) Government House, New Zealand, 16th July, 1881. My Loed, — In my Despatch No. 37, of the 18th June, I had the honor to enclose a memorandum of tho Premier, Mr. Hall, containing comments on the contents of my Report No. 11, of the 26th February. 2. I have now the honor to transmit the copy of another memorandum, which Ministers request may be substituted for that enclosed in my previous despatch. 3. The only difference between the two versions of this paper will be found in the third paragraph.