E.—No. 5.

are confined, but when they called on me and reported that they had made such a visit, and what was tho state of things they found prevailing there, I felt sure it was my duty to call attention to tho subject; and I believe that my Rasponsible Advisers have now placed the hulk in a satisfactory state. I have, &c, The Right Honorable Edward Cardwell, M.P., &c. G. Geey.

No. 10. Copy of a DESPATCH from His Excellency Sib George Gbey, K.C.B, to the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P. Sib, — Government House, Auckland, 3rd August, 1864. I have the honor to transmit for your information a Memorandum which my Responsible Advisers are anxious to have transmitted to you in relation to my Despatch, No. 101, upon the subject of the native prisoners of war. I have, &c, The Right Honorable Edward Cardwell, M.P., &c. G. Geey.

No. 11. Copy of a DESPATCH from His Excellency Sir George Grey, X.C.8., to the Right Honorable Edward Cardwell, M.P. Sib, — Government House, Auckland, 20th August, 1864. I have the honor to transmit for your information the copy of a *Memorandum which I have received from my Responsible Advisors, and which they have requested me to transmit to you, in which, in reference to your despatches No. 43 of the 26th of April, and No. 65 of the 26th of May, 1864, they state that they deem it to be an imperative duty to place on record without delay their protest against tho introduction into this Colony of a new form of government, under which native affairs would be administered partly by the Governor, and partly by his Advisers. 2. I have given this Memorandum the best consideration in my power, and beg to offer the following remarks upon it:—My Responsible Advisers think that practically no difference of opinion as yet exists between the Governor and themselves. What constitutes a difference of opinion admits of question. I think that several discussions which have taken place between my Responsible Advisers and myself regarding the terms which should be given to natives who have been in arms, regarding the confiscation of native territory, the entering upon military operations, and other cognate subjects, constitute differences of opinion upon important points connected with Imperial interests; but, as copies ofthe greater part of such discussions have been transmitted to you for your information, you will be able to determine whether or not I am right in thinking that they show that considerable differences of opinion between my Responsible Advisers and myself have, from time to time, arisen upon subjects which are of great Imperial concern. 3. I would next state that I am of opinion that the publication in the Colony of your despatch No. 43 of the 20th of April, has produced a very happy effect upon the native population here. To it I attribute in no small degree, and in spite of adverse causes, the surrender of the rebel natives at Tauranga, and I believe its contents and the publication of them will go far to bring the war to a close in several districts of the Colony, In all this I may be wrong, but I have carefully observed and considered recent: events, and as the result I have arrived at the conclusion I have above stated. 4. Since the direction of native affairs was originally assumed by the Colonial Ministers, a great change has taken place in this country. Then a war had recently been in appearance concluded, and there seemed grounds to hope that peace between the two races might be permanently preserved. Now a very different state of things prevails ; what may with justice bo regarded as a civil war is raging in New Zealand. The parties engaged in this conflict are, the whole ofthe European population, and a part of the natives on one side, the remaining portion of the native population on the other. Both parties to this war are subjects of the Queen, and citizens of the Empire, and they mutually allege against each other wrongs. Great Britain to bring this war 1o a close, furnishes an army of nearly ten thousand men, a considerable Naval Force, and a large Military and Naval Expenditure. 5. The Colonial Ministers at present possess and exercise here, upon all ordinary subjects, all the powers usually held and exercised by Ministers in those countries where the system of Responsible Government prevails. In addition they now, as I understand them, protest against not being allowed to exercise absolutely, powers which would virtually give them a very large control over the naval and military forces, and the naval and military expenditure of Great Britain. 6. I think that in deciding upon the protest now transmitted the following points should be considered. The Colonial Ministers are responsible to the General Assembly for Colonial matters; but, as I will presently shew, the General Assembly does not even in such matters exercise such an active supervision or control over their acts and proceedings as the Parliament of Great Britain exercises over those ofthe British Ministry, and when it is remembered that the General Assembly is in no way responsible for the mode in which Her Majesty's Naval and Military forces are employed, or for tho naval and military expenditure of Great Britain, I think that that body would exercise little or no control over the Colonial Ministers in reference to those matters. 7. The Members of the General Assembly are collected from great distances, are drawn away from their own private avocations, to which they are anxious to return as speedily as possible. Tho settlements from which they come are also removed by long distances from the capital, and have frequently interests of a totally different character from those of the population inhabiting districts where there are many natives. From their remoteness from the seat of Government the information the inhabitants of such settlements possess regarding public affairs is limited; it is frequently only such as the Ministry of the day thinks proper to suffer to transpire. Hence less interest is taken in what may be termed general public affairs, as distinguished from jirovincial public affairs, than would be imagined, and public opinion regarding general public affairs, is, in the settlements remote from the

r. E. No. 1., (Part II.), p. 37.

*E. No. 2. C. p. 20.

8

DESPATCHES FROM SIR GEORGE GREY