11—No, 8.

SCHEDULE B.

No. 2. Copy of a Letter from the Hon. E. W. Stafford to His Honor I. B. Feathehston. /at or-i Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 15th October, 1868. ' I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter of the 2nd instant, requesting that certain debts of the Province of Wellington may bo brought under the operation of " The Public Debts Act, 1867." , ~, . , ~ ,» I would draw your Honor's attention to an error in your letter, in which you refer to the sum oi £25 000 raised by mortgage of the unreclaimed land in the harbour ot Wellington as a debt which Sed atTetime of the passing of "The Public Debts Act, 1867,'; that mortgage having been effected after the passing of the Public Debts Act, Your Honor is also m error in estimating that the annual savin- in interest to the Province, from a compliance with your request would amount to £7 05(5 10s as that would bo the gross saving which would result if the interest on the mortgage debts were'added to that on the loans which are already brought under the operation of the Public Debts and Loan Consolidation Acts. The saving which would really result to the Province by bringing the Wanganui Bridge Debentures and the mortgages on the reclaimed and unreclaimed lands under tile Acts would amount, on the basis of the statement furnished by your Honor to only SgO per annum, and but a small part of that saving could accrue during the present financial y°arThe thGo lvernment has carefully considered your Honor's proposals, and is unable to accede to *h%t rtbt ffS"TJmed and unreclaimed lands are not debts of that kind which it was intended to guarantee under the Public Debts Act, being merely mortgages on a part ol the lrovmcial anded «to£ which are to be paid off as the proceeds of that estate are realized Had these debts been of the nature of ordinary Provincial Loans, the Provincial Act, which recently authorized the mortgage of the unreclaimed land could not have been passed without the special sanction ot the STourseTuggested by your Honor would entail a material addition to the permanent debts of the Province in opposition to the original intention of applying the proceeds of the land mortgaged to the payment of the debts. Even if your Honor's proposal were not inadmissible for the reason stated above thelateperiod of the Session of the General Assembly at which it is made would quite S2de the Legislature from giving it that careful deliberation which so important a proposa required A question like this, tvhich involves the assumption by the Colony ot a serious amount of pecuniary responsibility, could only be entertained as part of a general financial adjustment and could not properly be brought on at the close of a Session, when many members have left Wellington"after an arrangements been made that no new measure of political importance would be brought forward during the present Session. &0> His Honor the Superintendent, Wellington. ' E. W. Staffoud.

4

PAPERS RELATIVE TO WELLINGTON PROVINCIAL DEBTS.

Interest and SlNKINO FtlND. Present Ahount. Amount When Converted. Present Annual Charge. Annual Charge after Conversion. Land Purchase Loan, 1856 ... Gladstone Loan, 1856 £ s. d. 27,000 0 0 50,000 0 0 £ s. d. 27,000 0 0 50,500 0 0 59,000 0 0 { { £ 1,620 4,000 4,000 1,000 2,000 1,000 s. d. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 j £ s. d. 1,620 0 0 3,036 0 0 3,510 0 0 1,927 10 0 Union Bank Loan, 185G 50,000 0 0 i) » 25,000 0 0 32,125 0 0 Wanganui Bridge Manawatu Loan Reclaimed and Unreclaimed Land Loan 152,000 16,000 30,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 168,625 16,000 30,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 13,620 1,600 3,000 0 0 0 0 0 0 10,123 10 960 0 1,800 0 0 0 0 58,000 0 0 58,000 0 0 5,800 0 0 3,480 0 0 Annual Saving ... 256,000 0 0 272,625 0 0 2-1,020 0 0 16,363 10 7,656 10 0 0 24,020 0 0