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Enclosure. No. 8. Commercial. 1033. Sir,— Paris, Bth January, 1910. 1 have the honour to inform you that I have this day addressed a note to the French Government in the sense of your despatch No. 5, Commercial, of yesterday's date, stating that it has been decided to recognise in New Zealand official passenger-steamer certificates issued in France. I have, &c, Sir Edward Grey, Bart., &c. Francis Berths.

No. 123. New Zealand, No. 17. Mv Lord,— Downing Street, 17th January, 1910. I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, the enclosed copies of a circular instruction, which has been issued by the Board of Trade, respecting the extension from the Ist July, 1"91O, of the requirements of the Merchant Shipping Acts in regard to the certification of skippers and second hands of fishing-boats, to all liners and drifters of 50 tons gross tonnage and upwards, propelled by steam or other mechanical power. I have, &c, CREWE. Governor, the Right Hon. Lord Plunket, K.C.M.G., X.C.V.0., &c.

No. 124. New Zealand, No. 19. My Lord, — Downing Street, 22nd January, 1910. With reference to your despatch No. 82, of the 19th October last, T have the honour to forward, for the information of your Ministers, copies of an Order in Council dated the 10th January, 1910, respecting appeals to His Majesty in Council from the Dominion of New Zealand. 2. I take this opportunity of transmitting, with reference to my despatch No. 195, of the 30th October last, copy of a similar Order in Council respecting appeals from the Province of Alberta. I have, &c, CREWE. Governor, the Right Hon. Lord Plunket, K.C.M.G., X.C.V.0., &c.

No. 125. New Zealand. —Miscellaneous. My Lord, Downing Street, 26th January, 1910. With reference to my despatch " Miscellaneous," of the 17th October, 1908, and to your reply No. 1 of the 4th January, 1909, respecting the institution of a general Medal for Long Service and Good Conduct in the Colonial Forces throughout the Empire, I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a specimen of the medal, with riband, as approved by His Majesty the King. 2. As the lettering for the medal originally proposed did not show that it was intended for the permanent forces of the oversea dominions and colonies, the inscription on the reverse was, with the concurrence of Sir Joseph Ward when in this country in August last, altered to its present wording so as to make this clesir 3. Requisitions for the medal should be sent to the Deputy Master of the Royal Mint, Tower Hill, E.C., and for the riband to the Chief Ordnance Officer, Royal Army Clothing Factory, Grosvenor Road, S.W. 4. The new medals, like those now granted to the New Zealand Permanent Forces, will be issued under the authority of the Royal Warrant of the 31st May, 1895, and no change will be required in the existing regulations governing the grant of medals to those forces to make them applicable to the grant of the new medal.

A.-l, 1910, No. 67.