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No. 11. The Hon. Dr. Pollen to the Hon. the Premieb. Sir,— The Whau, Avondale, 26th December, 1893. I have the honour to acknowledge receipt of your favour of date 14th December instant, and to thank you for notice of the several letters therein mentioned, a courtesy which I failed to obtain from the Hon. Colonial Secretary. You are good enough to express "regret that the Government cannot see their way to reopen it"—my claim for arrears of pension—"unless by the express direction of Parliament." Permit me to observe with great respect that there seems to be error here ; the question cannot need to be reopened, that having been effectively done when it was referred by the Premier and Colonial Treasurer, the Hon. Mr. Ballance, to the Public Accounts Committee. That Committee, after careful inquiry and consideration —with one dissentient only—recommended that payment of the sum claimed (£1,389 os. 5d.) should be made; that report having been then referred by the House of Representatives to the Government for consideration, the question, I submit, remains open — widely open —and the refusal of the Government, upon grounds of which no indication is vouchsafed, to enable the House of Representatives to give judgment upon the report of its most influential and important sessional Committee presented in i-esponse to official Ministerial requirement, amounts, in my view, to a simple denial of justice to me. The grounds for such denial ought to be —and, although unknown to me, may be —strong and sufficient; nevertheless, I hope that I shall not be considered impertinent or unreasonable if, in a matter which affects my personal honour as well as my private interests, I should now desire to be informed what these grounds are, and respectfully crave the favour of an answer. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. Daniel Pollen.

' • No. 12. The Hon. Dr. Pollen to the Hon. the Pbemiee. Sik,— The Whau, Avondale, Auckland, 15th February, 1894. On the 26th December ultimo, I had the honour to acknowledge receipt of your letter (No. 1059), of date 15th December, in which you were good enough to express the regret of the Government that they "cannot see their way to reopen it" (my claim for arrears of pension) " unless by the express direction of Parliament." I venture to point out that, the case having been officially reopened by the Premier and Colonial Treasurer (the Hon. Mr. Ballance), when it was by him referred to the Public Accounts Committee, it stands widely open, and that the refusal of the Government to enable the House of Eepresentatives to deal with the favourable report of its Committee amounts to a practical denial of justice to me; I therefore begged to be informed of the grounds of that denial. As I have not yet received the information desired, I now again respectfully crave the favour of an answer. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Government Buildings, Wellington. Daniel Pollen.

No. 13. The Hon. Dr. Pollen to the Hon. the Peemiek. Sib,— The Whau, Avondale, Auckland, 7th June, 1894. In the month of December last, in reference to my claim for arrears of retiring-allowance, I received a letter, in which you were good enough to express the regret of the Government that " they cannot see their way to reopen it without the express direction of Parliament." In my letter of date, 26th December, I pointed out that the case having been reopened by the late Premier, the Hon. Mr. Ballance, when he referred it to the Public Accounts Committee, it stood, as it still stands, open, and that the refusal of the Government to enable the House of Representatives to give judgment on the report of its Committee was, from my point of view, a practical denial of justice to me, and I craved the favour of being informed of the reasons which appeared to the Government sufficient to justify such denial. I have not yet received a reply. For nearly fifty years I have been, in one capacity or another, a servant of the people of New Zealand. In the early days, when Government and people were alike poor, my service was given in general gratuitously ; but, as it was professional and official, it was not, I think, less real and useful on that account. When, in 1873, holding offices of great trust and responsibility in the Civil Service, I accepted the portfolio of Colonial Secretary in the Ministry of Sir Julius Vogel, the public faith was pledged to me that my claim to a retiring-allowance as a Civil servant should not in any way be thereby prejudiced, and I thereupon continued to hold and to discharge the duties of my Civil Service appointments, with all their responsibilities, until the passing of "The Disqualification Act, 1876," put before me the alternative of deserting my Ministerial colleagues or resigning my Civil Service offices. I might then have settled my own claim as I wished, but thought it not becoming as Minister to do so; and, having received from the Governor in Council a practical renewal or indorsement of the pledge before mentioned, I allowed my claim to stand over, and, in order to avoid the necessity of making new appointments, I continued unofficially to supervise the working of my old offices until the defeat of the Ministry in 1877. When I made application to the new Government to "keep troth," I was made quickly to feel that the security upon which I relied would fail. The technical legal objection was raised that

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