A.—No. la.

DESPATCHES EROM THE SECRETARY OE STATE

36

You have already been informed orally, but his Lordship desires me to repeat in writing, that Her Majesty's Government will be prepared to submit a Bill for this purpose to Parliament, the money being raised on such rates and in such proportions as may be agreed upon, —subject to proper conditions as to the repayment, and under an assurance that it will be spent as raised on the purposes above mentioned. Lord Granville has much pleasure in communicating to you this decision, and requests that you will be good enough to place yourself in communication with the Lords of the Treasury, to whom he has sent a copy of this letter, in order to arrange the necessary details. I am, &c, The New Zealand Commissioners. Feedeeic Eogees.

Enclosure 4 in No. 55. Sir F. Eogees to the Seceetaey to Treasury. Sic,— Downing Street, 18th May, 1870. I am directed by Earl Granville to transmit to you, for the information of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, the enclosed copy of a letter which his Lordship has caused to be addressed to the New Zealand Commissioners, on the subject of a proposed guarantee by the Imperial Parliament to enable the Colony of New Zealand to raise a sum of £1,000,000, to be expended during the next ten years in the construction of roads and for the introduction of settlers. I have, &c, The Secretary to the Treasury. F. Eogees.

The New Zealand Commissionees to the Eight Hon. the Earl Geantille. [Not enclosed in Earl Granville's Despatch.] Mx Loed, — Charing Cross, 19th May, 1870. ' We have had the honor to receive your Lordship's communication of the 18th, and in compliance with your desire shall place ourselves in communication with the Lords of the Treasury, in order to settle the details necessary for carrying out the arrangement to which the Bill to be laid before Parliament is intended to give effect. Permit us to thank your Lordship, on behalf of the Colony, for the concession Her Majesty's Government have been pleased to make. A long series of discussions, arising out of a war in which the Imperial and Colonial Governments had been jointly concerned for ten years, had unhappily caused misunderstanding between them, and much bitterness of feeling among the settlers. The General Assembly believed this would be set right by personal communication in a kindly and conciliatory spirit; and they desired nothing so much as that all grounds of complaint on both sides should be forgotten, and the relations between tho two Governments be secured on. the footing of the most hearty friendship and co-operation. If we have not been able to induce your Lordship to regard in the same I light as the Assembly did the question of military assistance, still the chief object of our mission has been I gained. It is not a mere matter of money that has been arranged —a lasting tie has been made between the two Governments, by their engaging together in objects in which the nation has a common interest with her dependency; in the peopling of a new country which is one of her great offshoots, in the opening up of that country by roads, in the reward by the steady and permanent employment of those Native allies who have so faithfully served the Crown, above all in the weaning of the turbulent and disaffected tribes from warlike habits to peaceful industry. Tho pursuit of these objects during many years to come, though this can in practice only be done by the Colony, will afford frequent opportunities for the sympathy of the Imperial Authority ; and if the result shall be, as we believe it will, to bring prosperity to both Islands, there will be quite as much pleasure to us as to you in remembering that you helped us in the means which will have brought it. It is this common interest and object, and not only the saving of annual interest upon the loan, which will make tho present arrangement received with satisfaction throughout New Zealand. If we might add another word for ourselves, it would be to say how very much we have felt the personal kindness which your Lordship has shown us, and your patience and courtesy in the many interviews by which long written communications have happily been avoided. We have, &c, I. E. Featheeston, The Eight Honorable Earl Granville, E.G., &c. F. D. Bell.

No. 56. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. Earl Granville, E.G., to Governor Sir G. E. Boaven, G.C.M.G. (No. 56.) Sir, — Downing Street, 6th June, 1870. I forwarded to the General Post Office a copy of your Despatch No. 20, of the 11th Eebruary, Avith its enclosures, relating to the contract Avhich had been concluded by the Government of New Zealand with the United States Consul at Sydney for the conveyance of the mails once a month betAveen Sydney, Auckland, and San Erancisco; and I transmit to you T for your information, a copy of a letter