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I deem it my duty respectfully to record my dissent to the view now taken of this question by your Responsible Advisers. It has not, I conceive, any thing to do with the original construction of the Barracks at New Plymouth, it was simply an advance made on your Excellency's request and guarantee, from the Military chest in 1856, to relieve a pressure on the Colonial funds, which advance was ordered to be recovered (vide my letter of the 20th April 1857, alluded to in Mr. Stafford's Minute of the Bth of the following month) but postponed on a further pledge of responsibility, and now, when a final decision is communicated, and a settlement pressed, your Excellency's Advisers repudiate the claim altogether; a step, I humbly conceive, should have been taken, if taken at all, when the subject was last under consideration, and then duly admitted by them, and not now after a lapse of nearly a year and a half; for could Iby any possibility have foreseen such a result, I much doubt if I should have been justified in making the original advance, nor do I think your Excellency would have been induced to have made the request, supported with your personal guarantee, as regards its repayment if disallowed by the Home Authorities, if you could have anticipated this result. I beg, in conclusion, to observe that the Iron Barracks at New Plymouth were not ordered from Melbourne by the Military authorities on their own responsibility, but by the Officer administering the Government, who was for the time being Her Majesty's Representative in this Colony, and these proceedings received the approval of the Right Honorable the Secretary of State. I have Bee. (Signed) R. H. Wx-nyard, Colonel Commanding the Forces in New Zealand. His Excellency the Governor, &c, &c, &c. COPY OF A MINUTE WITH COLONEL WTNYARD's LETTER OF lITII SEI'TEMBEB 1858. Government House, 13th September, 1858. Prior to the erection of Barracks at New Plymouth the Secretary of State had positively directed that no further expense should be incurred on account of Her Majesty's Government either for Barracks or Fortifications in New Zealand. An urgent necessity arose—the Officer administering the Government was entreated to send troops for the salvation of the settlement— vide Memorials and Petitions both to the Local and Home Governments. Whon he did send troops to remain permanently, it became necessary to provide Barracks, and he did so on his own responsibility, at the expense of the Colonial Government.—The Assembly refused payment: not because it disputed the necessity or the propriety of the expenditure, but because it desired protection without expense. If the necessity for Barracks at New Plymouth, at the time they wore built, admits of a doubt, the Colonial Government might dispute the payment for them ; but even if they were now removed, they must be replaced by others, or New Plymouth would be abandoned to the Natives. The question soems to me precisely similar to that winch was mooted in reference to Ahuriri, where Ministers were forced to incur the expense for Barrack accommodation because Her Majesty's Government refused to do so. The Barracks at New Plymouth were built before Responsible Government was established, but Responsible Government has enjoyed the benefit of them, and been spared the expense which Ministers must necessarily have incurred unless they had determined to leave New Plymouth to the Maories— added to which, the debts and credits of the Colony, together with the Crown Lauds, which far exceeded the former in value, were all transferred to and accepted by the Colonial Government when Responsible Government was granted. In conclusion the Governor observes that Colonel Wynyard's statement of the case is perfectly correct.—He consented to repay the cost of the Barracks at New Plymouth into the Colonial chest, which was then empty, on a distinct understanding that his so doing should not prejudice the ultimate decision which has now been communicated by the Secretary of State to the Colonial Government. (Signed) T. Gore Browne. •> COPY OS A MEMORANDUM j)T >£K. STAFFORD. Auckland, September 16th, 1858. With reference to Colonel Wynyard's letter of the 11th instant, and the Governor's minute thereon, on the subject of the Barracks erected at New Plymouth in 1855, Ministers have to make tin following observations. Colonel Wynyard is under some misapprehension when he states that these Barracks " were not ordered from Melbourne by the Military Authorities on their own responsibility, but by the Officer Administering , the Government." No records exist of the Civil Authorities having even b(?en informed, much less of their havingapprove M conveyed by letter, dated the 16th April,