A.—No. Ib.

MADE BY COLONEL WEAKE, C.B.

9

Enclosure 2 in No. 8. Major-General Chute to Sir George Geey, K.C.B. Sie, — Head Quarters, Wellington, 14th July, 1866. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of copies of a correspondence relative to certain statements made by Colonel Weare in a letter to his brother, forwarded to me in the Private Secretary's letter of the 4th instant, also of your Excellency's letter of the 12th instant. As it is evident from the correspondence that I shall receive instructions on the subject from the Secretary of State for War by the mail expected in a few days, I propose to defer making any remarks of my own on the matter, until after tho arrival of the mail. In the meantime, however, I think it right to place your Excellency in possession of the enclosed copies of letters I have received from Colonel Weare. I have, &c, T. Chute, His Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.8., &c. Major-General.

Sub-Enclosure 1 to Enclosure 2 in No. 8. Colonel Weaee, C.8., to the Assistant Military Secretary. Sir,— Wellington, Bth July, 1866. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 7th instant, enclosing copies of a correspondence to Sir G. Grey, K.C.8., from the Secretary of State for the Colonies, containing extracts of a private letter of mine to my brother, and furnished by him without my authority, and calling upon me to state, for the Major-General's information, my reasons for making assertions of so extraordinary a nature. In reply, I would beg first to express my deep regret that a private letter of mine, written to a brother, should have been used in a way I never authorized and never anticipated, and even the most private sentiments of so humble an individual as myself so largely quoted. I will now, as requested, most respectfully submit the reasons which, influencing my feelings, caused me to give utterance to many private sentiments in a hurried private letter to catch the mail, which I should not have done had 1 had more time for deliberation. The circumstances under which a Maori prisoner met his death at Kakaramea, on the 11th January last, created such a feeling amongst the officers of the regiment as to the interpretation that might be put on the various rumours, and thus bring reflections on the hitherto stainless name of the 50th Regiment, that they called upon me, as their commanding officer, to see that none was suffered to remain. For this purpose I addressed an official letter to the Adjutant-General, requesting to be informed whether the officer commanding at Kakaramea had due instructions for what he did. It was while thus labouring under my anxiety lest any of the various rumours of the case should be circulated to the discredit of the regiment, and before I received a reply, that I gave utterance to the sentiments in the extracts now furnished, but as they were merely my private impressions at the moment, and of a most private nature, and in a private letter to a brother, I must express my deep regret that they should have been so largely quoted, or any of the matter used in the way it has been, or that any of the expressions should bear an appearance of casting an imputation on any one, and I beg respectfully that they may be withdrawn. I have, &c, H. E. Weare, The Assistant Military Secretary, Head Quarters. Colonel, Commanding 50th Regiment.

Sub-Enclosure 2 to Enclosure 2 in No. 8. Colonel Weaee, C.8., to the Assistant Militaey Secretary. Sir,— Wellington, 13th July, 1866. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, enclosing a copy of a letter from His Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.8., to the Major-General Commanding the Forces, requesting that I might be called upon to substantiate the statements therein contained. With reference to that statement I hasten to place on. record that it never having entered my mind to convey the meaning that these men were alive I did not allude to it in my letter of the Bth instant, and that it was only on my attention being drawn, this day, by a friend, that the expression would bear that interpretation, that I became aware of it. I made the statement referred to in a private letter to a near relative, on hearing it from several officers whose credibility I could have no reason to doubt, and I trust that, after the explanation made in the first part of this letter, the matter contained in my private letter may be withdrawn, as requested in my letter of the Bth instant. I have, &c, H. E. Weare, The Assistant Military Secretary, Head Quarters. Colonel, Commanding 50th Regiment.

No. 9. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.8., to the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P. (Separate.) Sir, — Government House, Wellington, 13th August, 1866. Adverting to my Despatches of the numbers and dates specified in the 3