ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

41

A.—No. la.

2. Your Lordship will find from General Chute's letter, that whUst I have been so seriously blamed for the detention of the troops in New Zealand, I only now learn for the first time that General Chute has applied to the Secretary of State for War for instructions as to what is to be done with the wing of the 50th Regiment, which is detained in this Colony, and regarding the disposal of wliich, it appears, no instructions have yet been issued by the War Department, upon whom, together with the General, the blame for its detention entirely rests, although they have led your Lordship to believe that I am the person who is to blame, and who deserves the censure and public punishment which has been inflicted on me. 3. It was also arranged by the Home and Local Governments that aU Her Majesty's Regular Forces were to be removed from the Colony of New Zealand ; and it was in consequence of an appHcation from the Major-General to the Secretary of State for War, and not in consequence of any application from myseH or from the Local Government, that orders were issued that the 18th Regiment was to be retained here until it was ascertained if the Local Government would enter into certain stipulations to secure its detention in New Zealand. It seems seriously unjust, under such circumstances, to blame me for the detention of the troops ; and such proceedings, in detaining troops here without reference to the Governor or Local Authorities, unsettles men's minds as to the course the Home Government intend to pursue regarding the withdrawal of troops from the Colony, and greatly increases the difficulties of the Governor and the Colonial Ministers, and places the Governor altogether in a position of inferiority to the General, who appears to have the independent power of meeting the wishes of those who desire, not unnaturally, and not without strong arguments on their side, that troops should be retained here. 4. Your Lordship wiU also find from the enclosed letter that General Chute, notwithstanding my repeated orders and entreaties to the contrary, maintains his Head Quarters at fifteen clays, in point of time, from the Seat of Government, where alone information from all parts of these islands is collected, —that this is made an excuse for the General corresponding direct with an Agent appointed by the General Government, at Auckland, who in no manner represents me, and who is under no responsibility regarding the movement of Colonial Troops in the north of New Zealand, a proceeding which must give rise to divided councils and divided command, and must altogether impair the authority of the Governor. 5. The statement made in General Chute's letter, that I am at present absent from the Seat of Government, and which is made to form, in part, a justification of the proceedings taken, conveys a wrong impression to persons at a distance. Although absent from the Seat of Government, I have never been more than a few hours absent from a communication by telegraph of from four to five minutes with that Seat of Government, and I have always held myself ready to embark for Wellington at a moment's notice, and could reach it in twenty-four hours; whilst it took ten days for General Chute's communication to reach me. 6. To give a correct view of the case, the General, instead of writing as he has done, should have written as follows : —" As your ExceUency is aware, lam " so far removed, in time, from the Seat of Government, that you cannot give " prompt orders to meet any emergency that may arise from the serious step I am " about to take." 7. I cannot conceive that any inconvenience could have arisen to the public service from my being allowed to determine which regiment was first to be "withdrawn from New Zealand, the 12th or the 57th. To have left me this choice would have been quite consistent with the orders originally issued to the General, to send home the several regiments as nearly as possible in a certain order; whilst many questions of public safety, of public policy, and even party questions, depend upon the manner and order in which the movements are made. 8. According to the old custom of conducting the service of the Empire, in which I have taken an active part for upwards of twenty-six years, the General charged with the duty which has been devolved upon General Chute would have resided at the Seat of Government, would have been in constant communication with the Governor regarding it; and, provided no delay took place in the execution 11