A.—No. 1.

6

DESPATCHES FROM THE GOVERNOR OF

Enclosure 1. Speech. See Journals of the L.C.andH. ofR., 1870, p. 4. Enclosure 2. Address of Legislative Council. See Journals of theL.C.,1870,p.5. Enclosure 3. Address of House of Representatives See Journals of the H. of R,, p. 7, 1870. Governor of N.Z. to Sec. of State, No. 77, of July 1, 1869.

Enclosure 1.

No. 3. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. (No. 60.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, — New Zealand, 20th June, 1870. I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of the Speech with which, by the advice of my Ministers, I opened, on the' 14th instant, the Session for , 1870 of the New Zealand Parliament. I annex copies of the Addresses in Reply presented to me by the Legislative Council and by the House of Representatives . respectively. 2. There will be transmitted by every mail, as during the Session of last , year, copies of the New Zealand Hansard, in which (as I have previously intimated) will be found corrected reports of the Debates in the Colonial ! Parliament; full discussions, from every possible point of view, of the condition and prospects of this Colony; and the opinions of the present and of former 1 Ministers, and of the other leading men of all parties. Printed copies of the Papers laid by the Colonial Government before Parliament (many of which contain valuable and interesting information), and the principal newspapers published in New Zealand, will also continue to be forwarded, as hitherto, by every monthly mail. I have, &c, The Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. G. P. BOWEN.

No. 4. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir G. F. Bowex, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. (No. 61.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, — New Zealand, 21st June, 1870. I have the honor to report that Mr. Henry Sewell has joined the present Ministry as Minister of Justice ; an office and title for which there are precedents in Victoria and (as I am informed) elsewhere. The Attorney-General of New Zealand is, at present, a permanent official, without a seat in the Legislature ; and in the opinion of my Constitutional Advisers, it is desirable to have a lawyer by profession as Responsible Minister at the head of the Legal and Judicial Departments, to explain and defend in Parliament the measures of the Government, especially those affecting the above mentioned departments. 2. Mr. Sewell took the usual oaths as a Member of the Executive Council on the loth instant. He has recently returned from a prolouged visit to England; but, as your Lordship is doubtless already aware, he was among the principal founders of Canterbury, and was afterwards an influential Member of the Ministry formed by Mr. Weld, and of other Colonial administrations. I have, &c, The Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. G. F. BOWEN.

No. 5. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G. (No. 62.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, — New Zealand, 22nd June, 1870. I have been requested to transmit, in pursuance of the Colonial Regulations, the enclosed Petition addressed to the Secretary of State for War by certain discharged soldiers settled in the Province of Taranaki, in New Zealand, and praying for " the gratuity allowed to discharged soldiers by Her Majesty's " Regulations in the Soldiers' Account Book, at page 7." 2. I have no means of ascertaining here how far the Petitioners are entitled to the gratuity 'which they claim by the existing Regulations of the War Office ;