INTERVIEWS OF AGENTS-GENERAL WITH COLONEL STANLEY ON HIS RETIREMENT, AND EARL GRANVILLE ON HIS ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE AS SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.

Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives, 1886 Session I, A-07

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1886. NEW ZEALAND.

INTERVIEWS OF AGENTS-GENERAL WITH COLONEL STANLEY ON HIS RETIREMENT, AND EARL GRANVILLE ON HIS ACCEPTANCE OF OFFICE AS SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES.

Presented to both Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

The Agent-Geneeal to the Peemiee. Sic, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 11th February, 1886. In accordance with the precedent which has been observed on former occasions, the High Commissioner of Canada and the Australasian Agents-General waited upon Colonel Stanley to take leave of him on his retirement, and afterwards upon Earl Granville to offer their co-operation to his Lordship on his accession to office. I transmit herewith a report of the meeting with Lord Granville. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

Enclosure. [Extract from the Times, Thursday, 11th February, 1886.] Lokd Geanville and the Colonies. Sic Chaeles Tuppbe, the High Commissioner for Canada, Sir Saul Samuel, Sir Arthur Blyth, Sir Francis Dillon Bell, Mr. Murray Smith, Mr. F. C. Garrick, and Sir Charles Mills, the AgentsGeneral for New South Wales, South Australia, New Zealand, Victoria, Queensland, and the Cape of Good Hope respectively, waited upon Lord Granville by appointment at the Colonial Office, on Tuesday, at four o'clock, and were duly presented to his Lordship and the Eight Hon. G. Osborne Morgan, Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, by Sir B. G. W. Herbert, Sir Chakles Tuppeb said, —Lord Granville —My colleagues, representing the colonies of Australasia and the Cape of Good Hope, and myself are greatly obliged by this early opportunity of tendering our respectful congratulations upon your acceptance of the office of Secretary of State for the Colonies. We are much gratified by the fact that a statesman of such great influence and long official experience has been selected to preside over the interests of the important colonies we represent. We do not forget the measures of great importance, especially to Canada, that were concluded under your Lordship's administration when you held office in 1868-70. It is, no doubt, as gratifying to your Lordship as it is to ourselves to know that all these colonies have made great advances since that time. Not only has there been a great increase in their populations, an enormous addition to the volume of their trade, but the most remarkable development in the means of communication by the extension of their railways. The time has now arrived when the people of this country fully recognize the great value of the colonies, not only from the great and steadilyincreasing trade between them and the Mother-country, but also from the evidences that have been afforded that they are no longer to be regarded as a source of weakness, but of strength, to the Mother-country. We need not tell your Lordship that at no other time in the history of the colonies have there existed more unswerving devotion to the Crown and determination to maintain British institutions than at the present. They are glad to know that they have reached a position in which they may be relied upon to give substantial aid in the maintenance of British interests. It is but right that we should say that we have on all occasions received from your distinguished predecessors, Colonel Stanley and Lord Derby, the most kind consideration and hearty co-operation in all the questions it has been our duty to submit for their consideration ; and we have no doubt we can rely with the same confidence upon your Lordship to aid us in promoting, as far as is possible, the best interests of the colonies we have the honour to represent. My colleagues from Australia will, no doubt, seek your assistance in protecting their interests in the islands of the Pacific; and I may remind your Lordship that Canada, by the construction of the Canadian Pacific Eailway, has recently assumed greater importance as a Pacific as well as an Atlantic dominion, and that she feels as deep an interest in the position of those islands of the Pacific as those colonies of Australia which my colleagues especially represent. As this is the first official interview I have had the honour to have with your Lordship, it is only right that I should express my thanks, on behalf of Canada, for your action as Foreign Minister in appointing me to represent the Dominion at the International Cables Conference at Paris, where you were good enough to place me, as the representative of Canada, in the same position as that occupied by the representa-

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tives of all the other countries, and also for the kind manner in which you complied with the desire of the Government of Canada that I should be appointed with plenipotentiary powers, in conjunction with Her Majesty's Ambassador at Madrid, for the purpose of negotiating trade relations between Spain and Canada. Wo beg, in conclusion, to thank your Lordship for having given us this opportunity of waiting upon you, and to assure you that you can at all times rely upon our hearty co-operation whenever we may be useful in promoting the interests of our common country. Earl Gkanville, in reply, said,—l am much touched by the courtesy of the language addressed to me by Sir Charles Tupper in the name of the gentlemen who represent so well in London our great colonies. It was especially agreeable to find from one speaking with so much authority that you are aware of the deep sympathy which I feel for our fellow-subjects residing in the great dependencies of the Crown. I rejoice greatly at the intimate and influential relations which exist much more than formerly between the representatives of the colonies and the Colonial Office. The names of most —indeed, of all—of the gentlemen present have been long known to me. At least four of them held conspicuous positions in the Parliaments or in connection with the public affairs of their colonies when I previously held the seals of this office. Sir Charles Tupper must in Canada have watched with interest the progress of two important matters with which we then had to deal. I almost despaired at one moment of settling the question of the North-Western Territory, and of bringing the Canadian authorities and the Hudson Bay Company to an agreement. It was only by the exercise of great good sense and conciliation on both sides that a perfectly satisfactory arrangement was arrived at. I was fortunate to have to deal with two such men as the late Sir George Cartier and Sir Stafford Northcote. Sir Charles will also probably remember the effective organization at that time of Lord Wolseley's expedition up the Eed Eiver. With Sir F. D. Bell I had personal relations; and I can appeal to his recollection with regard to the withdrawal of the troops from New Zealand—a measure on which opinions were violently divided at the time, but which, whether right or wrong, proved conclusively how thoroughly Englishmen can be trusted when thrown upon their self-reliance and on their own resources. I have a vivid recollection of the good services of Sir Francis Bell in connection with the important financial arrangements with New Zealand which were carried out at that period. I speak with those feelings of gratitude which have sometimes been defined as having a prospective as well as a retrospective character. I rely with confidence on the assistance which you will all afford me. You have not only the power of giving Mr. Osborne Morgan and myself information which we may require as to your respective colonies, but you can bring us more closely into touch with the sentiments and feelings of those you represent. I consider such a body of men, from their official position and from their personal qualities, most useful both as a check and an encouragement to successive Secretaries of State; who, if they are worth their salt, should desire to avoid all unnecessary and irritating interference, while they give stability and continuity to a consistent colonial policy which ought not to change with the varying hot and cold blasts of Home opinion. The rapidity of communication between this country and the most distant colonies, the immense development of trade based upon freedom and intimate knowledge of one another's wants, the patriotic sympathies felt and acted upon which have been excited by arduous and difficult tasks thrown upon the Mother-country, all tend to tighten the bonds which exist. Mr. Osborne Morgan and I look with confidence upon you, gentlemen, for your support and guidance in keeping us on the right path. Mr. Osbobnb Morgan said he should be only too glad to receive advice and assistance from the representatives of the colonies whenever they found it convenient to favour him with their views on anything in which their interests were involved. The representatives of the colonies then withdrew.

[Extract from the Times, Friday, sth February, 1886.J Colonel Stanley on Colonial Afpaies. Colonel Stanley has taken leave of the High Commissioner and the Agents-General, and when doing so went on to speak of the various important colonial questions of the day. The condition of South Africa and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Eailway were both, referred to, and Colonel Stanley stated that the Imperial Government had already experienced benefit from the completion of that great work. He then passed to the consideration of Australasian affairs. He said he was favourable to the administration of New Guinea by the Australasian Colonies in conjunction with the Colonial Office ; and it was important that the Federal Council should take up this question, he considering it within their sphere to make representations and to offer advice to the Home Government upon the subject. The question of finance in relation to New Guinea could not, however, be ignored. As far as those colonies which were not members of the Federal Council were concerned, he was of opinion that they might be separately consulted; and it would be a matter for regret if, owing to their not joining the Federal Council, such inaction on their part when important questions came up for consideration should be found to lead to their isolation. He had lately received a couple of deputations advocating State-aided emigration. He was himself favourable to the establishment of a Central Bureau in connection with the Colonial Office, which would assist rather than interfere with the arrangements now made by the various colonies. The question had also been raised whether the intimate communication now established between the Colonial Office and the Agents-General had intruded on the duties of the various Colonial Governors. In his opinion, however, this close communication should be encouraged, and in no wise interfered with the relations subsisting between the Governors and Her Majesty's subjects in the colonies themselves. — British Australasian.

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