A—No. 2

MILITARY DEFENCE.

No. 1. COPY OF A DESPATCH FROM SIR G. CORNEWALL LEWIS, BART., TO GOVERNOR GORE BROWNE, C.B. Downing Street, 12th September, I860. Sis,— The important contents of your Despatches, No. 76 of the 9th September, 1858, and No. 84 of the 20th September, 1858, relative to the contribution to be made by the Colony towards the expense of the Troops stationed in New Zealand, did not escape attention. They were made the subject of correspondence between the different Departments of Her Majesty's Government concerned in the question, but owing to causes, into which I need not here enter, it appears that the correspondence was not at the time brought to a definite result, and the task has devolved on Her Majesty's present Advisers of considering , the question, and furnishing you with instructions upon it for your guidance. With the Despatches above referred to you forwarded a Memorandum from your confidential Advisers, in which they stated, in reply to the demand for some contribution from the Colony towards the expense of barracks, that they could only propose two alternatives —either, first, that the requisite barracks should be built by means of an advance of thirty thousand pounds from the Imperial Govern- - ment, on which sum the Colony should pay interest and sinking fund until the debt were extinguished, defraying at the same time, from Colonial funds any repairs of barracks, —or, secondly, that instead of being called upon from time to time to meet particular charges, the Colony should contribute towards barracks the sum of five pounds per annum for each man. At New Plymouth there is a case which stands on grounds of its own. From the statement of this case, recorded in a Despatch from Mr. Secretary Labouchere to the Governor, dated the 31st of March, 1856, it appears that in consequence of an alarm, the inhabitants of New Plymouth asked for Troops, and were told they could only have them on condition of providing barracks. They consented: and the money, amounting to nearly seven thousand pounds, was actually paid into the Military Chest, but was allowed, on an emergency, to be repaid to the Colonial Treasury, on the distinct understanding that, if the Home Government should so decide, it should be paid back into the Military Chest. Since the date of the foregoing despatches, the Treasury have intimated that the following sums have since been expended from Imperial funds for barracks in New Zealand :— Year ending 31st March, 1858 £13,914 0 0 „ „ 3l3t March, 1859 6,133 0 0 £20,047 0 0 and the Treasury enquire whether steps have been taken to procure repayment of these sums from the ColonySuch being the facts of the case, Her Majesty's Government are unwilling, after the long intermission which has taken place in the correspondence, to prefer a special demand for the repayment of the actual cost of barracks. They prefer reverting to the proposals made by your Advisers, and rendering these proposals the basis of a settlement both for the past and the future. So far as regards all periods prior to the 1st of April, 1858, no other demand will be made on the Colony than for repayment of the sum expended on constructing the barracks at New Plymouth, which expense the Local Government was distinctly understood to undertake to bear, and indeed to have at one time paid, and received repayment on the express condition of abiding by the ultimate decision of Her Majesty's Government. From and after the 1st of April, 1858, Her Majesty's Government accepts the proposal made by the Colonial Government of a contribution at the rate of five pounds per man for the troops employed in — New Zealand; this expression being understood to include the entire force of Officers and Men. The Imperial Treasury have made heavy advances for barracks in New Zealand, on the faith of being reimbursed by the Colony, and therefore it will only be just that prompt measures should be taken for paying into the Military Chest the sums due, in respect both of the barracks formerly constructed at New Plymouth and also of the assessed rate of contribution, for the period since the 1st of April, 1858. The mode of computing the number of the troops for the purposes of this account can easily be settled by you. Perhaps the simplest method would be to take the force at the date of each monthly return in the year, and then to strike the average of the whole twelve months, in order to arrive at the figure by which the colonial payment should be calculated. In the present measure, Her Majesty's Government do not confine their view to barracks, but are willing to treat the intended subsidy as the general contribution of the colony towards the expenses of

(No. 65.)

£30,000.

£5.

£7000.

£S.