A.—2

50

No. 82. New Zealand, No. 189. My Lord, — Downing Street, 14th October, 1909. With reference to my despatch No. 169, of the 3rd ultimo, 1 have the honour to transmit to you, for the consideration of your Ministers, copies of correspondence, as noted in the margin, on the subject of an agreement between Great Britain and France with regard to security of navigation. I shall be glad to be informed by telegraph at your Ministers' early convenience whether your Government desire to adhere to this agreement. I have, &c, CREWE. Governor, the Right Hon. Lord Plunket, K.C.M.G., X.C.V.0., &c.

No. 83. New Zealand.— Miscellaneous. My Lord,-- Downing Street, 18th October, 1909. I have the honour to invite your attention to the 7th paragraph of Mr. Lyttelton's circular despatch of the 13th April, 1905, in which allusion is made to the question of the preparation of illustrated lectures on the Empire for use in the schools of the United Kingdom. 2. Most of the money required for the necessary initial expenditure has been secured, at the instance of Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales, by Lady Dudley and a committee of ladies who raised by private subscriptions a sum nearly amounting to £4,000. This sum was placed at the disposal of the Committee on Visual Instruction, sitting at this office, to enable them to proceed with the scheme. 3. The preparation of the lectures has been intrusted to Mr. H. J. Mackinder, and the committee have obtained the services of Mr. A. Hugh Eisher, a member of the Painter-Etcher Society, to visit India and the colonies for the purpose of obtaining sketches and photographs suitable for lantern-slides. 4. Mr. Eisher has completed his work in India, the Eastern Colonies, Somaliland, Cyprus, Canada, and Newfoundland; and it is now proposed that, after calling at Gibraltar and Malta, he should proceed to Australia, leaving Naples in the " Omrah " on the 21st November, and reaching Melbourne on the 22nd December. It is intended that he should visit each of the States of the Commonwealth of Australia, the Dominion of New Zealand, Fiji, and Papua. No definite programme has been laid down, and his movements will depend largely on the local circumstances. He will probably return to this country in May or June of next year. 5. While in India and Canada Mr. Fisher was given free passes on the railways as well as Customs facilities, whereby his valuable photographic apparatus, which requires very careful handling, was admitted without examination. Any similar privilege that your Ministers may be good enough to grant in New Zealand would be very gratefully valued by the committee, whose funds are not at present adequate to cover the whole of the work which lies before them throughout the Empire, and who are most anxious that the Dominion should be illustrated both by view and letterpress in the most effective manner possible. T have, &c, CREWE. Governor, the Right Hon. Lord Plunket, K.C.M.G., X.C.V.0., &c.

No. 84. New Zealand, No. 192. My Lord,— Downing Street, 29th October, 1909. T have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Ministers, two copies of a revised edition of the regulations relating to the Examination of Masters and Mates in the Mercantile Marine.

A.-l, 1910. Fo. 57.