D.—No. 26,

No. 1. Mr. E. "Wakefield to Mr. Staffoed. g IE Government Offices, Wellington, 10th August, 1869. I have the honor to inform you that I am directed by Mr. Fox to remind you that it is six weeks since he assumed office, and became entitled to the use of the Ministerial residence occupied by you. Mr. Fox will be obliged if you will place it at his disposal at your earliest convenience, and will be so good as to inform him in reply when you will he able to do so. I have, &c, E. W. Stafford, Esq., M.H.R., Wellington. . Edwaed Wakefield.

No. 2. Mr. Staffoed to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet. Sm— Wellington, 11th August, 1869. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of Mr. Wakefield's letter of yesterday's date, written by direction of Mr. Fox, in which Mr. Fox states that it is six weeks since he became _ entitled to the Ministerial residence occupied by me, and that he would feel obliged if I would place it at his disposal, and inform him when I will be able to do so. In reply I would observe, that the understanding with respect to the residence in question was, that the Minister who occupied it when a Session commenced should continue to do so until the Session terminated, although ho might cease to remain a Minister throughout the Session. This understanding was acted on in 1865 when I succeeded Mr. Weld, on which occasion I did not take possession of the house until some days after the Session terminated. I am, however, willing to give up the residence whenever the Government is ready to give up to me the house taken by me as a residence from Sir Charles Clifford, and at present occupied by the Governor. That house was at first proposed to be taken as a residence for a Minister, and a lease directed to be drafted accordingly, but on the draft lease being submitted to the lessor's solicitor, he objected to its being leased to the Crown, whereupon I determined to take it for myself, intending to occupy it whether I remained a Minister or not. (Accordingly a lease to me was made out, which has been duly executed since I resigned office.) Subsequent to my final decision, just as I was about to remove to that house, the Governor asked that it might be occupied temporarily by the Suite of the Duke of Edinburgh, and afterwards, during the present Session, by himself, instead of his living in the front part of the old Government House, which His Excellency had first proposed to do. In consequence of the Governor's request to the above effect, I delayed removing to the house which I had been anxious to do, both on account of its being a pleasant winter residence, and as having a good paddock for cows attached to it, and I am even now unwilling to cause any inconvenience to the Governor in the matter if His Excellency still desires to occupy it; but it will be seen that until that house is given up to me by the Government, it is necessary that I should continue to occupy my present residence. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. E. W. Staffoed.

No. 3. The Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet to Mr. Staffoed. S IE Government Offices, Wellington, 13th August, 1869. I have the honor to inform you that your letter of the 11th instant, relative to your occupation of the Ministerial residence, addressed to the Colonial Secretary, has been handed to me. With respect to the understanding to which you refer, that the Minister who resigned during the Session should occupy the Ministerial residence until the end of the Session, I would observe that I am not able to ascertain from the permanent officers of Government that such an understanding ever existed, nor do I exactly apprehend between whom it did or could exist. With reference to the case of Mr. Weld, I have been assured by a friend and colleague of his, that on the day when that gentleman left office, on the next day he offered immediately to place the Ministerial residence at your disposal, and that he left that house a few days afterwards, —facts which have possibly escaped your recollection. As, however, you state that you have been continuing to reside in the Ministerial residence on the faith of such an understanding, I do not feel disposed, at whatever personal inconvenience to myself, to disturb you in your present occupation until the end of the Session. I learn with great surprise that you claim the residence occupied by His Excellency the Governor on the ground that, long after His Excellency's occupation had commenced, and after you had left office, you inserted your own name in the lease as lessee. I find, from a perusal of the documents connected with the lease of that building, that you, expressly on behalf of the Government, negotiated for the lease, and that it was only on account of some technical difficulty raised by the legal adviser of

PAPERS RELATIVE TO MINISTERIAL RESIDENCE.