A.—No. la.

6

DESPATCHES FROM THE GOVERNOR OF NEW

N.S. 66-998, R.M., Raglan. 66-3276, Gov. Agent, Auckland. N.s. Tjii-aooaj ' R.M., Waiuku. N5766-1991, R.M., Upper Wlmngnuui. N.S. 66^2000; CO., Tauranga. N.S. 66-1992, • '.('.. Auckland. N.S. 66-1995, R.M., Napier.

3. In answer to this I beg to enclose copies of letters which reached me the same evening by the same mail as General Chute's letter herewith enclosed, from various parts of the Island. I believe when your Lordship has read these, you will think it incredible that under such a state of things the General Officer Commanding here should maintain his Head Quarters at a distance in point of time of fifteen days from the Government of the country. 4. I have in vain represented that in a country settling down from rebellion and from Avhich a large MiKtary Eorce is being withdrawn, the order of the removal of each separate detachment is a matter of the greatest nicety requiring much thought, and that frequent changes in the state of the country may require a corresponding change in the intended removal of detachments even at the last moment, and that it was essential that the General should be near me. A reference to my correspondence wdl show how earnest and repeated have been my statements to this effect to the Home Government and to General Chute. The evils I stated would arise if I was deprived of the assistance I needed, have now I fear come. Some of them have already faHen on the Colony, and nothing but vigorous and united action can avert the others. 5. The Home Government has, unfortunately, from imperfect knowledge, sided in view with the Major-General. I shall, however, now require him to reside at the Seat of Government until further orders are received from home, unless he is in the field, and at all risks I shall enforce this determination; but I believe that General Chute, when he sees this Despatch and its enclosures, will himself feel the necessity of rendering me that assistance he is so well capable of doing, and will earnestly and well support me in the crisis which has come, and will regret the course he has adopted. I think, however, that the General here should be told that in a country in a state of rebelhon it is his duty in all instances, in a conciliatory and proper spirit, to comply with the lawful requisitions of the Governor, and not to raise factious or needless questions regarding the propriety of these : and even if he thinks it right to raise questions, to comply cheerfully in the first instance with the requisition, and then refer the question home, rather than contest a matter point by point and refer it home, either not complying with the requisition or yielding it an imperfect and therefore useless compliance until an answer has been received; and above all things he should be instructed not to refer such questions home, without affording me an opportunity of reporting on them by the same mail by which his letter goes. 6. The Home Government does not rightly appreciate the position of the Military Staff in this country. They become from many causes liable to identify themselves strongly with party questions, and the Secretary of State for War may, under the system of correspondence pursued with him, entirely without his own knowledge, and in ignorance of the merits of the case, be made the head of a powerful party in this country acting in direct opposition to the Governor and defeating his views on most vital points. 7. In the case under consideration, the question of the place where the General's Head Quarters were to be located was referred to the Secretary of State for War without my having been informed that this had been done. But the Editors of Auckland newspapers knew it, as also some of the reasons on which the General justified his non-compliance with my orders, and this knowledge was used for the purpose of attacks in the Press here; and ultimately the Home Government came to a decision upon General Chute's letter to them, before they had received any report from me on the subject, and entirely under a misapprehension, that I had asked something to be done which had never entered into my imagination, and upon other grounds, some of which, after the difficulties which have arisen, it is painful to those acquainted with the country to read: such as that Wellington is unfitted to be the Head Quarters, from the dangerous navigation of Cook Strait and from the inexperience of Wellington merchants in taking military contracts. It is more disadvantageous than might at first be supposed, that the Home Government should be hurried into a wrong decision upon such questions, for I have generally found that the Departments at home, before coming to a decision, will carefully consider the evidence they have before them, but that it is very difficult to get them to reconsider a subject, or to reverse a decision once taken, however erroneous that decision may have been.