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arises, What officer of the Supreme Court can perform the duties ? By section 35 of " The Supreme Court Act, 1882" (New Zealand), it is provided that the Governor may appoint such Eegistrars, Deputy Eegistrars, Clerks, criers, and other officers as may he required for the conduct of the business of the Court ; and, an immediate necessity for the appointment of a Marshal having arisen, the Government has been advised that that authority should be read with " The Courts of Admiralty Act, 1890;" and, acting upon the advice, the Eegistrars of the Supreme Court at each of the Cities of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Duuedin have been appointed a Marshal of such Court in respect of its jurisdiction as a colonial Court of Admiralty. As some doubts, however, exist as to the strict legality of the course followed, the attention of the Imperial Government should be drawn to the point, so that a declaratory Act might be passed to the effect that, in the exercise of Admiralty jurisdiction, the officers of the Supreme Court who discharge analogous duties in the ordinary civil jurisdiction should also discharge like duties in the Admiralty jurisdiction. Premier's Office, Wellington, 30th July, 1891. J. Ballance.

No. 12. (No. 53.) My Lobd,— Wellington, 19th August, 1891. I have the honour to enclose the translation, and to forward separately the original and signatures, of a petition addressed to Her Majesty the Queen by a number of the Maoris resident in what is known as the " Hot Lakes District " of New Zealand. With reference to this petition, my Ministers request me to state to your Lordship that, in their opinion, the representative council sought by the petition to be established would not be productive of benefit to the Maoris. The Native interests of this colony are already represented in Parliament by four Maoris in the House of Bepresentatives and two in the Legislative Council, who take an active interest in general politics, and especially in all measures affecting their people, and have every facility for influencing legislation as far as is desirable, or for their own good. I have, &c, The Bight Hon. Lord Knutsford, &c. ONSLOW.

Enclosure. To the most permanently exalted in place as in rank : To Her Most Boyal Majesty Victoria, Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and of her colonies of Australia and New Zealand, and all her dependencies, and Empress of India. Salutations to you, the bright and shining Kahurangi,* the noble shelter-affording Bata, I and the bond of union with your Maori subjects. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness, let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together. May it please your Majesty,— Herein is the matter which we humbly ask that your Majesty, in your great wisdom and love for your Maori subjects, may be pleased to favourably consider—namely, that the means of producing peace and good-will may be granted them. Firstly : May it please your Majesty to grant and authorise the formation of a representative council, to be elected by your Maori subjects, as a mountain of rest from which all measures affecting the Maori people can be clearly reviewed, and all matters also affecting the Natives can be dealt with by that council, previous to their submission to your Majesty and the New Zealand Parliament for consideration. Should such steps be found productive of good and peace, final effect can then be given thereto. Secondly : Let not your mind be troubled, as in this action there is no intention or tendency to disregard your power or to separate the two races, but rather that the members of the Native race may become still more united under you our Queen; as your Majesty has already concluded with us a glorious bond of union in the Treaty of Waitangi, the terms of which, however, have not been given full effect to by the different Governments of New Zealand. This has filled the minds of your Maori people with misgiving lest the conditions embodied in that treaty should be altogether lost sight of. It is therefore on that account that your Maori people are steadfastly looking to you to afford them relief. Thirdly : This petition is not only made on behalf of the Natives resident in districts free from European laws, but also on behalf of those residing among Europeans, they being still more burdened by the laws. Fourthly : We, the members of the churches of New Zealand, in our pain and groaning by reason of the oppressive nature of some of the laws affecting the Maori people, most humbly pray that your Majesty may be pleased to grant what we now ask for. Fifthly: Should your Majesty be in doubt respecting the pain which your Maori people are suffering from, may it please your Majesty, by virtue of your royal authority, to send hither one of your leading subjects, who is not in any way in sympathy with the Government of New Zealand, to inquire into the nature of these grievances above set' forth. We are unanimous in submitting to you the matters above mentioned, and in witness whereof we have hereto attached our names. God Save the Queen.

* A kind of stone highly valued by the Natives of New Zealand, and used by thorn as an ornament. I One of the principal trees of the New Zealand forest, Metrosideros robusta.

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