A.—4.

19

No. 10. The Premier to the Agent-General. Sib, — Premier's Office, Wellington, 4th November, 1885. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letters of the 22nd July and 14th August last in reference to the Federal Council Bill. The position that Parliament has taken up in the matter I need not further refer to, as I have dealt with that in a letter forwarded to you on the 23rd September last. I only desire to point out that our position in reference to this Act has not varied. Whilst not desiring to stand aloof from the other colonies if a Federal Council were created, we desired to see its power so limited that our own legislative independence was not encroached upon. Mr. Griffith's suggestion seemed to us to agree with our proposal, and we accepted it in hopes that the other colonies might also agree to it. Ido not know if it is necessary to deal with the subject further. If there is ever to be a Federal Council of Australasia negotiations will have again to be renewed. New South Wales has declined to join, and, though the other colonies approve, yet so long as New South Wales and New Zealand decline, Australasian Federation in any form is incomplete. I have, &c, Sir F. Dillon Bell, K.C.M.G., Agent-General. Eobert Stout.

Nos. 1 and 3.

No. 9.

No. 11. The Agent-General to the Premier. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 18th November, 1885. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 23rd September, conveying the decision to which the House of Eepresentatives had come on the subject of the Federal Council Bill, after a debate which no one connected with New Zealand could read without very great interest. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

No. 9.

No. 12. The Premier to the Agent-General. Sib, — Premier's Office, Wellington, 27th November, 1885. Eeferring to your letter No. 1,071, of the 14th August, with which you transmitted a copy of Colonel Stanley's despatch to the Governors of the Australian Colonies respecting the Act for constituting a Federal Council for Australasia, I have now the honour to forward for your information copy of a memorandum which Ministers, on receipt of the despatch by His Excellency the Governor, deemed it expedient to draw up, narrating what had been done by this colony regarding Federation. I have, &c, Sir F. Dillon Bell, K.C.M.G., Agent-General. Eobert Stout.

No. 3.

A.-l, No. 12.

No. 13. Tho Agent-General to the Premier. Sir, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 12th December, 1885. The German Government have just laid before the Eeichstag a memorandum explaining what they have done respecting their new colonies in Africa and the [Pacific. I am having a translation made of this memorandum, which I shall soon be able to send you. Meanwhile I transmit herewith two extracts referring to it which have appeared in the papers. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

Enclosure. [Extract from the Standard, Friday, 4th December, 1885.] The New German Colonies. Berlin, 3rd December.—A memorandum describing fully what has been done in the colonies lately acquired by Germany in Africa and in the Pacific Ocean has been laid before Parliament by the Imperial Government. It begins by affirming that the fundamental idea of German colonial policy, which was that the protection and supervision of the Empire should follow all German commercial enterprises on the other side of the ocean, so far as occasion required, has been thoroughly followed out. In New Guinea and the East African Protectorate the Empire has abstained from any immediate interference in the internal affairs of the country ; nor has the state of things in South-west Africa offered occasion for such interference. Only in the Cameroons and Togo, where the commercial houses interested have, in spite of the efforts of the Imperial Chancellor, failed hitherto to form a corporation for purposes of local government, has the Imperial Governor had to resort to independent action; but there also the formation of a bureaucratic regime has been carefully avoided, for the Governor avails himself of the counsels of the resident merchants. The memorandum then furnishes, in five distinct sections, a variety of details respecting (1) the