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Sib,— I have received through my Minister of Native Affairs your communication to Her MajeTSty the Queen, expressing your desire that the union of New Zealand to Britain, as at present existing, should be confirmed for ever and ever. I have, at your desire, conveyed that message to Hes Majesty, and have also, as you request, directed that your statements be made known to the Jubilee Committee at Auckland. lam always ready and glad to receive your communications and addresses at any time that you intimate to me your wish to make them. Onslow, Governor.

Hon. E. Mitchelson, Native Minister. Wanganui, 6th February, 1890. Auckland friend, salutations to you. My heart has experienced much pleasure in receiving your letter—that is, the letter from yourself and the Governor, Earl Onslow, acknowledging the receipt of my address to Queen .Victoria, and I am very thankful to you [plural] for your agreeing to my wishes. Friend, please explain this to the Governor. I am exceedingly gratified at his reply to me, and that he has acceded to my request, and also at the other words in his letter. May he and his countess and his family live long. I have explained all this matter to my tribe. That is all. From your humble servant, Mbiha Keepa Bangihiwinui.

No. 44. (No. 13.) My Lobd, — Government House, Auckland, Ist February, 1890. I have the honour to inform your Lordship that, the year 1890 completing the fifty years since the foundation of New Zealand as a colony, her people have, during the past month, been celebrating the Jubilee of the colony at various centres and on different dates. I have already informed your Lordship that the Exhibition held at Dunedin was designed to celebrate the same auspicious event, and has been attended with a success quite unlooked-for. Acting on the advice of my Ministers that the 29th of January had always been held to be the anniversary of the colony, and Parliament having given no expression of opinion as to what date was most generally considered to have been that on which the colony came into being, I proclaimed the 29th January, the day on which Captain Hobson landed in New Zealand, as a public holiday throughout the colony. I also proclaimed the 22nd of January, the day on which the first settlers landed at Port Nicholson, as a public holiday in the Wellington District. The people of Wellington elected to celebrate the Jubilee on the 22nd January, and the people of Auckland on the 29th, thus enabling me to be present at both places, together with His Excellency the Admiral Commanding-in-Chief on the Australian Station, and His Excellency the Governor of New South Wales, Lord Carrington. Loyal addresses were presented to Her Majesty the Queen, at Wellington, and at Auckland, to myself, as her representative. At both places processions of trades and societies paraded the streets, and regattas took place. Although very great crowds thronged the streets and harbours, no accident attributable either to carelessness on the part of the authorities or to the misconduct of the crowds took place in either city. The telegrams of congratulation from Her Majesty the Queen and from the Imperial Government were received with great satisfaction by my Ministers and by the crowd to whom I read them. Addresses were also presented to me by the Natives. In Wellington, Major Kemp, whose loyalty in former days was of such immense value to the colonists, desired to present one in person; but, owing to his not having intimated his desire to me, I was not aware of it, and did not receive the address until I reached Auckland. I have, however, since been informed that it was in consonance with his wishes that the expressions of his opinion should be made public. On the Jubilee of the landing of Her Majesty's first representative, Te Wheoro and the chiefs of the Waikato tribes came into Auckland to assist at the celebration, and I had the honour of receiving the first loyal address which has been presented by the Natives of the Waikato, as well as one from Paul Tuhaere and the Hauraki Natives at Orakei. ■