A.—No. 1

30

DESPATCHES FROM THE GOVERNOR OE

" Ministers to hope that the offer of the Legislature may bo regarded as falling within the spirit " of the despatch of the Right Honorable the Secretary of State for the Colonies, No. 127, of 1868; " in which it is suggested that 'the Government and Legislature of New Zealand might have with- " ' drawn from the position thus taken by Mr. Stafford, and have sought, if they considered the " ' emergency so great, to retain the services of a portion of Her Majesty's Troops, while organizing " ' their own forces, on the conditions on which those troops are retained in the neighbouring Colonies.' " Ministers also hope that the offer of the Legislature will be considered as meeting the spirit of " Lord Granville's Despatch No. 62, of the 21st May, 1869, in which, it is implied that tho 18th " Regiment might have been left in the Colony if Mr. Stafford had accepted tho usual conditions, "or intimated that the Colony was prepared to ' make sacrifices ' satisfactory to the Imperial " Government. " The Legislature has now done this. It has pledged itself to pay whatever sum the Imperial " Government may choose to impose as the condition of tho temporary detention of the 18th " Regiment. " The Resolution of both Houses of the Legislature will, it is hoped, be considered sufficient to "justify an application to General Chute for the temporary detention of the regiment. Ministers " will propose to tho House of Representatives a Bill to make legislative provision for tho fulfilment "of this pledge, which there is no doubt the Legislature will pass. Want of time alone prevented the " Government bringing down a Bill instead of a Resolution." After fall deliberation, the Governor has decided that it would be improper on his part to obstruct the action of Parliamentary Government by declining to forward to General Chute and to Commodore Lambert respect.ivelj r, for the information of those officers, the above-mentioned Ministerial Memoranda and the Resolutions passed all but unanimously by both houses of tho Colonial Legislature. At the same time, it is the duty of the Governor to repeat the opinion which he endeavoured to impress on Ministers before the Resolutions were proposed, viz., that all action of this nature is now too late, and that General Chute has no choice but to carry out his orders. It has, indeed, been positively asserted here (though not by Ministers), that General Chute possesses discretionary powers as to the removal or otherwise of the 18th Regiment. No intimation, however, of the existence of such discretionary powers has been given to the Governor, either by the Imperial authorities or by General Chute himself. It will be recollected, moreover, that the Secretary of State has recommended the Colonial Government to attempt a peaceful solution of the existing complications—(l) By a prohibition of outlying settlements ; and (2) by a modified recognition, within certain districts, of the so-called Maori King —on a plan similar to that formerly suggested by Mr. Fox. (See Mr. Fox's "War in New Zealand," page 32.) With regard to the general question of Imperial assistance, tho Governor is strongly of opinion, looking to tho general tenor of the communications from the Colonial Office, that the Home Government will be disinclined —after all that has passed on tho subject—to allow any portion of the Queen's Troops to be stationed in New Zealand ; and that, if they should to any extent accede to tho earnest requests now made bj' the Colonial Ministry and Legislature, it will bo onlj' on the express understanding (sanctioned by an Act of the Colonial Parliament), that the cost of such troops will be defrayed by the Colony. Imperative orders will also probably be given to the same purport with those contained in the Secretary of State's Despatches of Ist December, 1866, and Ist Eebruary, 1867, which "in effect confine the Imperial Troops to the duty of garrisoning the main centres of population, " and leave to the Colonial Forces the conduct of active operations in unsettled or partially settled " districts." In a word, if this Colony should succeed in obtaining a certain portion of Imperial aid, it must probably bo prepared to accept, at the same time, a certain measure of Imperial control. The Governor has never underrated the moral impression which a small garrison of Imperial Troops is calculated to produce on both the hostile and the friendly Natives. But it is his duty earnestly to recommend Ministers not to relax, in the slightest degree, on the chance of retaining Imperial aid, the exertions already made, or which can be made hereafter, for internal, self-defence. Indeed the Governor feels convinced that the Imperial authorities would demand, as a necessary preliminary to granting assistance of any kind, clear proof that this community had done its utmost for its own protection. In particular, it would probably be necessary to show that the Militia had been called out for training and exercise throughout the North Island, and also that the Volunteers and other local forces, as well as the redoubts and stockades in the disturbed districts, had been placed on the most efficient footing which may be found practicable. The Governor is glad to know that Ministers entirely agree with him as to the necessity of the most strenuous exertions at the present crisis. Further, he wishes to take this opportunity of referring to his former Memorandum, showing the increased efficiency and economy which could bo realized by the organization of an Armed Constabulary for tho whole Colony (or, at all events, for the North Island), on a system similar to that of tho Royal Irish Constabulary, and of the excellent Police Forces now established in Victoria and in the other principal Australian Colonies. In the Despatches of General Cathcart, while Governor of the Cape Colony during the last Kaffir war, there will be found many practical suggestions respecting the kind of Police Force, and the nature of the redoubts and other defensive works, which are most suitable for a warfare closely resembling, in most respects, that waged by the rebel Maoris. There are other questions which the Governor has on several occasions discussed with the late and the present Ministers, but to which it seems now unnecessary to refer. In conclusion, it ne:ed scarcely be said that the Governor is most anxious to co-operate heartily with his Responsible Advisers in all measures calculated to secure the safety and to promote the welfare of New Zealand. He is fully aware, moreover, of the manifold difficulties, political and military, which surround the questions to which he has alluded. The main object of this Memorandum is to attempt to put in a clear light before the Colonial Ministers the views of the Imperial Government, now that it is desired to solicit Imperial assistance. Nothing can be further from the wish or intention