A.—No. 1b

2. It is with much concern that I now find the Reports and official documents which I havo sent home described as insufficient; for my Despatches will show that I have conscientiously laboured, sparing no personal risk or toil, to make myself thoroughly acquainted with this country (a great portion of which I have already visited), its inhabitants of both races, and the general posture of its affairs. I would venture further to observe that my exertions in these respects have been recognized in seA reral Despatches from the Colonial Office. 3. In addition to the mass of information contained or referred to in the enclosures, I beg permission to submit the following explanatory remarks :— A. It Avill be seen that the accompanying official papers deny, on high authority, the accuracy of the allegations Avhich appear to have been made in the newspapers, and otherwise, respecting the prisoners avlio escaped last year from the Chatham Islands. It will be recollected, of course, that they were sent there long before the beginning of my connection with New Zealand, and, as it will be perceived from one of the Parliamentary Papers, by order of the Colonial Ministry of that day. The position of these men Avas one of the first questions into which I felt it my duty to make inquiry immediately after assuming my present office on sth Eebruary, 1868; and in one of my earliest Despatches I transmitted home all the information which I could procure on the subject. After a diligent search, no record could be found (as I am assured) at the Government House shoAving that my predecessor, Sir George Grey, had ever been formally consulted by his Ministers in this matter, or that ho had ever made any Report whatsoever upon it to the Secretary of State. It is not for me to explain this part of the conduct of my able predecessor. It has been suggested, hoAvever, that Sir George Grey desired to avoid the appearance of prejudging the decision of the Colonial Parliament and Courts of Law on questions which Avere certain to be debated in the former, and might probably become the subject of proceedings in the latter. Eor it has frequently been remarked here that the Habeas Corpus Act has never hitherto been suspended in New Zealand during the Maori war, Avhich has uoav continued, with little intermission, for the last nine years, as it Avas in Ireland during a lengthened period on account of the far less bloody and dangerous outbreaks of the Eenians. Consequently, it AA ras always open to any person, Avhether Maori or European Philo-Maori, who should doubt the legality of the detention of these prisoners, to appeal to the Supreme Court of the Colony. It has been further suggested that Sir George Grey felt convinced by his long experience that it would be well nigh impossible for Parliamentary Government in a Colony to be carried on with success, or Avith honor and advantage to the Queen's service, "if the Governor " were to convert his official Despatches (which may be published at any time in " the Parliamentary Papers) into a running commentary of criticism on the actions " of his Responsible Advisers in the execution of their Constitutional functions." Eor my own part, I shall always continue to guide myself in this respect (except in extreme cases, or Avhen otherwise instructed) by the principles laid down by successive Secretaries of State for the Colonies, and which may be said to be summed up by Mr. CardAvell, when he wrote as follows : —" I must express an " earnest hope that, in future, the daily business of the Colony may be transacted " between the Governor and his advisers under relations of mutual confidence, and "in a friendly and cordial spirit, rather than by means of adverse Minutes, " treasuring up records against a future time, and involving great and deplorable " delay in the conduct of present and pressing affairs." B. Eull Reports of the commencement and progress of the fresh disturbances on the East and West Coasts of this Island respectively, and Minutes showing the views and proceedings of the Colonial Government in consequence of those outbreaks, Avere duly forwarded at the time in my Despatches Nos. 78 and 79, of the Bth August, 1868, and thereafter by every monthly mail. I beg also to solicit attention to the detailed information respecting these events now supplied, with reference to your Lordship's Despatch, No. 30, by the Department of Native Affairs. Many persons here —and lam myself inclined to this opinion—consider it unfortunate, under the peculiar circumstances of this country, that Major Biggs, the Resident Magistrate at Poverty Bay, did not await instructions from the Central Government before he in any way interfered with the prisoners escaped 5

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AND THE GOVERNOR OE NEW ZEALAND.