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No. 5. The Agent-Geneeal to the Hon. the Ministee for Immigeation. Sie, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 16th January, 1886. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your memorandum of the sth December, No. 129, transmitting copies of correspondence with Mr Arthur Clayden, and directing me to give effect to the arrangement you had made with him, as therein described. I note that the (increased) sum of £300 is to be paid to Mr Clayden, in such manner as may appear best in the interests of the Colony, whether for a stated number of lectures to be delivered by him, or for a fixed period during which his services would bo available in the United Kingdom. When Mr Clayden arrives, and explains the plan he would propose for his lectures, I shall be better able to say what will be best to do, but at present the first of the two alternatives you propose is the one I should choose, as there seem to me many objections to the other. Care will have to be taken about the class of people sent out through Mr Clayden. If you turn to your predecessor's letter of the 14th January, 1880,No. 25—No. 15,D. 1, 1880—you will see that Mr Rolleston called attention to a list sent in by the Immigration Officer at Wellington, of persons who had been induced to come out by Mr. Clayden, but who were by no means of the class he had undertaken to introduce. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

No. 6. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Minister for Immigeation. Sie, — 7, Westminister Chambers, London, S.W., 20th January, 1886. With reference to previous correspondence respecting your arrangements with Mr. W. Courtney, I was much surprised when I found, by the correspondence in your memorandum of the Ist December last, what the state of the case really was. Mr. Courtney had never told me of his letter of the 24th October, informing you that the amount raised among his friends to that date was only £128; but he assured me you had promised him that, notwithstanding any failure in the subscription, he should receive £250 here. I now find that it was decided in Cabinet that the Government contribution was not to exceed £1 for £1, and that if only £128 was raised, then no more was to be paid by me. But Mr. Courtney now tells me he is entirely destitute of means, the £128 subscribed by his friends having been exhausted in his passage and other expenses, and is whole dependence is, in fact, upon the money he may receive from this office. Under these circumstances I think it would be advisable for the Government to reconsider their arrangement with him. Your instructions of the 31st August were, to "pay him from time to time such amounts as he might require, not exceeding £20 16s. 8(1. per month, up to the sum of £250, on condition that he delivered eight lectures a-month in such places in the United Kingdom as he might consider best." Acting upon this, I advanced him £20 on the 22nd December ; and now, upon his reiterated assurances, as to the lectures that he is going to deliver in Scotland and other places, I have advanced him a further sum of £30, but have told him that I shall not let him have any more until I receive fresh instructions from yourself. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

No. 7. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Minister for Immigeation. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 21st January, 1886. I transmit to you herewith a "Times" report (Monday, 18th January, 1886) of a deputation, headed by the Marquis of Lome, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, on the subject of a scheme which has been proposed for " disseminating authentic information on emigration to the Colonics," through the medium of Post Offices or other Government departments. You will observe that Lord Lome suggested that the Agents-Ceneral should furnish the information to the Government in the first instance. Colonel Stanley said, in effect, that the matter was under consideration, and Lord Dunraven thought the Agents-General should be consulted upon it. .Nothing definite, however, has been settltd, and for my own part I do not think the scheme will get much further. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister for Immigration, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

No. 8. The Agent-Genee4L to the Hon. the Minister for Immigration. Sie, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 28th January, 1886. I received in due course your telegram of the 20th inst., stating that the general tenor of my letter of the 30th November last had been approved, and that I was to go on making arrangements for giving effect to your proposals in connection with assisted passages to small farmers. There were several points upon which I wished to address you by this mail, but my time has been so much taken up by the work connected with the approaching conversion operations, that I am obliged