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enclose copies of the Addresses-in-Reply which have been presented to me by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives respectively. I have, &c, - The Right Hon. Lord Knutsford, &c. ONSLOW.

No. 12. (No. 37.) My Loed, — Government House, Wellington, 26th June, 1889. I have the honour to enclose herewith two copies each of a protest and a petition to Her Majesty the Queen made by Messrs. Donald and Edenborough, of Auckland, in the matter of their steamer the " Bichmond " and the recent action of the Imperial German authorities at Samoa in relation thereto. The circumstances of the case are already familiar to your Lordship, and there appears to be but little doubt that it is the intention of the Imperial German Government to afford some compensation to Messrs. Donald and Edenborough. The only question likely to lead to difference of opinion is as to the amount of compensation. The petitioners have already formulated their claim to the Imperial German Government, and are now awaiting a reply. Your Lordship will observe that in paragraph 8 of the petition the petitioners suggest that the matter of their claim should be referred to arbitration under the conditions usual in such cases, and they state that they are prepared to be bound by the award of the arbitrators. The circumstances of the case appear to me to justify the petitioners in making a claim on the Imperial German Government for compensation, and the proposals for arbitration tend to show that the petitioners do not put forward any extravagant claims for compensation beyond those to which they may fairly be entitled, and I therefore commend the petition to the favourable consideration of Her Majesty. I have, &c, The Right Hon. Lord Knutsford, &c. ONSLOW.

Enclosure 1. To the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty. —The humble petition of your Majesty's subjects, Alexandeb Bell Donald, Charles Allan Edenboeough, Eichaed Exham, and Thomas Bennett Howarth, of Auckland, in the Colony of New Zealand, Merchants, trading together in co-partnership under the style or firm of Donald and Edenborough, showeth : — 1. That your petitioners are the owners of the steamship " Bichmond," of 700 tons register, till lately duly registered as a British ship in the Port of Sydney, in the Colony of New South Wales, and now duly registered as a British ship in the Port of Auckland, in the Colony of New Zealand, and trading between Auckland, in your Majesty's said Colony of New Zealand, and the Islands of the Eastern Pacific. By contract between your petitioners and your Majesty's Government of the Colony of New Zealand the said steamship carries your Majesty's mails between the Colony of New Zealand and certain islands of the Eastern Pacific. 2. The steamship " Bichmond," having your petitioner Charles Allan Edenborough on board, with Bobert Guthrie Hutton as master, sailed on the 9th of January, 1889, from the Port of Auckland on a voyage from Auckland to the Islands of Tonga, Samoa, Tahiti, and Baratonga, carrying your Majesty's mails, and laden with a cargo of general merchandise and live-stock. 3. The steamship " Bichmond " arrived at Apia, in Samoa, on the evening of Friday, the 18th of January, 1889. Whilst at Apia aforesaid, flying your Majesty's flag of the merchant shipping, and carrying your Majesty's mails, the said steamship was boarded by officers of the navy of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Germany, and was searched, her cargo interfered with, the master and ourselves prevented from landing her cargo and delivering the same to our customers at the Port of Apia, a passenger taken violently from the said steamship, and the said steamship delayed, and the cargo damaged in such a manner that our customers refused to take delivery thereof. 4. Your petitioners respectfully and humbly pray to be permitted to refer to their printed protest and complaint accompanying this petition for full and specific details of the injuries and wrongs which they received and suffered by reason of the action of the naval forces of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Germany. 5. Your petitioners are informed that the Ministers of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Germany have not recognised the declaration of war issued by the Consul of His Imperial Majesty at Samoa, which declaration constitutes, as your petitioners are advised, the sole justification for the acts and grievances of which they complain. 6. Whether such declaration of war was or was not valid, your petitioners rely upon the promise of the Imperial Curman Consul made to them,- as stated on pages 12 and 13 of your petitioners' accompanying printed protest and complaint, and upon international law, as the