A.—s

8

Kailway Department —namely, that they cannot distinguish between Cook Island and other island fruit.%The same objection might be made between, say, plums and tomatoes from Sydney and similar fruit from Auckland, if carried on the same ship on the New Zealand coast. The difficulty in regard to Cook Island fruit could be got over, in my opinion, by the Kailway Department accepting a copy of each ship's manifest, showing the marks and the number of cases of fruit shipped by each vessel in the Cook Group for the Port of Lyttelton. The correctness of such manifest can be certified to by the Collector of Customs at Earotonga, which is the final port in the Cook Islands before sailing for New Zealand. The certified copy could be posted to the Stationmaster at Lyttelton by the Collector. Then there could be no doubt as to the locality in which the fruit was grown, and the Railway Department would be safeguarded from fraud. Shipping. I think it again necessary to draw your attention to the freight charged from New Zealand to the Cook Islands and from New Zealand to Tahiti, and I cannot better do this than by repeating the remarks made on the subject in my first year's report, with the object of getting what I want, so that the fruit industry may receive every assistance. The freight charged from New Zealand to the Cook Islands is £2 per ton, and from New Zealand to Tahiti £1 15s. When inquiries were made upon this subject it was stated that the difference was caused by the fact that, although the distance is much greater from New Zealand to Tahiti than it is from New Zealand to Earotonga, the company had no charges to pay in the French possessions. I submit that they have no charges to pay in the Cook Islands. It is true that they supply their own boats and boatmen at Earotonga, and that they have to pay for the upkeep of the wharf and the sheds —property which is leased to them by the Cook Islands Administration ; but they charge at the rate of Is. per ton on inward and outward cargo, and this is over and above the £2 per ton freight. At all the other islands of this Group at which the company's ships touch, the boating is done by the Natives and traders themselves at their own cost, delivering at the ship's side outward cargo, and returning with inward cargo. Therefore I submit that the company should be approached to grant the same concessions to the Cook Islands inhabitants as are granted to the inhabitants of the French possessions. A set of tables giving the exports from the Group by the Wellington and Auckland routes is appended, showing a total outward tonnage of approximately 11,300 tons, and returns furnished by the Union Company show the approximate inward tonnage to amount to 5,650 tons. There can be no doubt that both services are growing very materially, which is very satisfactory, the South Island being catered for by the Wellington service. It should be remembered that the greater portion of the money derived from the Wellington shipments goes to Auckland, as 70 per cent, of the inward trade is done with Auckland merchants, who for years have made a business of catering for the Island trade. Mr. McLennan, the Union Company's Superintendent of Island Trade, visited these Islands again during the year, and I impressed upon him the necessity of withdrawing an obsolete boat like the " Talune," which is not now big or fast enough to carry the outward cargo. Shippers are greatly hampered by having to make application for space before the " Talune's " return from the French Islands, when they have to ask as a favour what space can be allotted to them. It sometimes transpires that while a shipper might be in a position to ship a thousand cases, he is limited to perhaps twothirds of that amount. Great complaints are made by the oversea passengers who come from San Francisco and connect with the " Talune," with the object of visiting the Cook Group, of the total unfitness of this vessel to compete with the growing trade. The passengers are confined to a small margin of the deck in consequence of the ship, for want of space, having to carry fruit and cargo on deck. I have no doubt, if representations are made by the New Zealand Government to the company in Dunedin through you, they will comply with the reasonable wishes of the planters and traders. It is most important that a faster ship should replace the " Talune " to enable the fruit to arrive in Auckland on Thursday morning, and so permit of it being quickly disposed of by rail and coastal steamer to the outlying districts of Auckland and south if necessary. It is to be very much regretted that the steamer from Fiji arrives in Wellington practically at the same time as the mail-steamer arrives from Rarotonga, the result being a glut in the market, and the Cook Island fruit suffers in consequence of the low prices which consequently rule. I respectfully request that you make representations to the Union Steamship Company to see if it is not possible to obviate this. I need not impress upon you the importance of this to the fruit industry. Representations on the subject have been made to me from New Zealand by some fruit-merchants and by various planters, and you will also find the matter referred to in the reports of both the Treasurer and the Fruit Inspector. Courts. High Court. —The report of the Registrar of the High Court attached shows 306 criminal cases to have been brought before the Court. Though these figures appear to show a somewhat large increase of crime over the previous year, the following remarks will make it clear that such is not the case. The figures show 89 cases of drunkenness from bush-beer drinking, as against 72 in the previous year, an increase of 17 ; but it must be made clear that the 89 cases only involved 233 defendants, whereas the 72 cases in the previous year involved 258 defendants. There was, therefore, an actual decrease of 25 persons. Another matter coming under the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court, which has helped to considerably increase the number of cases brought before the Court, is the actions taken to enforce the Fruit Eegulations. No such cases had been taken in previous years, and the 37 cases brought under this head during the past year are no small factor in swelling the number of " criminal" cases. Taking these allowances into consideration, it will ba seen that the increase in the number of cases, instead of being 75, is reduced to 13. The increase in the number of cases for theft is no doubt due to*the high