A.—No. 1.

52

DESPATCHES EROM THE GOVEENOB OF NEW

seen, Commodore Lambert felt it to be his paramount duty, under the circumstances, and without reference to myself or to any other civil authority, to enforce obedience on the part of a naval officer in his command, to the positive orders of the Admiralty. 12. It will also be perceived that General Chute did not deem it necessary to consult me beforehand respecting his plan of removing one wing of the 18th from New Zealand for distribution in Australia, instead of redistributing there, in pursuance of his instructions, the 14th Regiment; otherwise it would have been my duty to have pointed out to him that his scheme appeared to be a half measure, scarcely in accordance with the views of Her Majesty's Government, which had decided, since the control of Native affairs had been transferred to the Colonial Ministers, to relieve itself of even the semblance of Imperial responsibility that might be connected with the presence of any portion, however small, of the Imperial troops. It is obvious that any Imperial responsibility which can possibly be connected with the ten companies distributed in four of the towns of this Colony, must remain connected with the five companies which General Chute intended to leave at Auckland and Wanganui ; whereas the removal of the detachments holding Napier and Taranaki, while those places are threatened by the rebels, and so soon after the massacres recently perpetrated in their neighbourhood, could hardly fail to be followed by deplorable results. In other words, General Chute's policy, without benefitting Imperial interests, would seriously endanger Colonial interests. 13. It appears to me that if Sir Trevor Chute considers himself at liberty, without fresh instructions from home, to alter that distribution of the troops in New Zealand which has been expressly sanctioned by the Secretaries of State for War and for the Colonies, he should temporarily return here, where he can inform himself on the spot of the progress of events, and not issue his orders from so great a distance as Melbourne, with which communication is neither frequent nor regular, and from which it is seldom possible to obtain a reply to a letter in less than a month. At the present crisis, every week may bring a new Maori outbreak in some unexpected quarter, and a fresh massacre of British subjects, with their wives and families. I need scarcely add, that General Chute will always continue to receive every official and personal courtesy and hospitality from me. 14. Again, it appears that the orders issued by the War Department for the redistribution of the 14th Regiment in Australia, on the departure of the 50th Regiment, cannot produce any material inconvenience; for the Governments of all the principal Australian Colonies have signified their desire to dispense altogether with the troops stationed there, if those troops should be required for the safety of their fellow-subjects in New Zealand, while some of those Governments wish to discontinue the payment of the military contribution. 15. In conclusion, 1 beg permission to repeat what I said in my previous Despatch on the subject of the removal of the troops (No. 18, of the Bth February ult.), viz., that "it is of course the paramount duty of a Colonial " Governor, as the local Representative of the Queen, after honestly and fully " reporting the facts of the case under consideration, and submitting his own " opinion upon it, to carry out loyally, and to the best of his ability, the instruc- " tions of Her Majesty's Government." But it is clearly impossible for any Governor, placed (as I am) at the distance of half the circumference of the globe, and in a position of unprecedented difficulty, to carry out the views of the Imperial Government, unless they are fully and regularly communicated to him. I venture, therefore, to express my earnest hope that care will be taken for the future to furnish me, at the earliest convenient period, with full instructions respecting the course to be pursued in all matters involving Imperial interests, and with copies of all orders affecting this Colony which may be issued, either by telegraph or otherwise, to the Naval and Military authorities on this station. I have, &c, The Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. G. F. BOWEN. P.S. I trust that a copy of this Despatch will be sent to the Secretary of State for War.

Secretary of State to Governor of New Zealand, No. 6, Jan. 18, 1868, No. 117, Not. 6, 18G8.