DESPATCHES EROM THE GOVERNOR OE

A.—No. 1

40

No. 37. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor Sir G-. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. (No. 125.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, — New Zealand, 21st December, 1871. I am requested by my Responsible Advisers to transmit herewith a Ministerial Memorandum, which forwards a copy of a letter from the Coroner at Dunedin, to the Attorney-General of New Zealand, covering the evidence taken at an inquest held on the body of a Chinaman, late a passenger on board the barque " Guiding Star," from Hong Kong to Dunedin, together with the rider appended by the jury, on that occasion, to their verdict. 2. I am confident that the Government of New Zealand is desirous to cooperate, to the full extent of its powers, with the Imperial Government and with the Colonial authorities at Hong Kong, in preventing and punishing abuses in the Chinese passenger ships, such as appear to have taken place in the case now referred to. I have, &c, The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. G. E. BO WEN.

Memo, by Mr. CKsborne.

Enclosure in No. 37. Memorandum by Mr. Gisboene. Ministebs have the honor to forward to His Excellency the copy of a letter from Mr. T. M. Hocken, Coroner, Dunedin, covering the evidence taken at an inquest held on the body of a Chinaman, late a passenger on board the barque " Guiding Star," from Hong Kong to Dunedin, —together with the rider appended by the jury on that occasion to their verdict. His Excellency is respectfully requested to forward, in accordance with the desire of the jury, these enclosures to the Bight Hon. the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and to draw the attention of Lord Kimberley to that portion of Mr. Hocken's letter which refers to the large number of Chinese that lately arrived in Dunedin. "Wellington, 18th December, 1871. W. Gisboene. Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure in No. 37. Mr. T. M. Hocken to the Hon. the Attoeney-Geneeal. Sic, — Coroner's Department, Dunedin, 12th October, 1871. I have the honor herewith to forward the proceedings of an inquest held by me on the body of Chang Man, late a passenger on board the barque " Guiding Star," which has recently arrived at this port from Hong Kong. I forward them without delay, inasmuch as the jury expressed a wish that a copy of the rider appended to their verdict should be transmitted to the Imperial Government. It was extremely difficult to reduce a large portion of the evidence to writing, as the Chinese Interpreter spoke English indifferently, and therefore translated the evidence of the Chinese witnesses so badly that it was almost impossible to reproduce it. It was however quite available at the time for the jury, and abundantly showed how insufficiently —amongst other things—proper food and provision for warmth had been supplied to the ship. I may mention that of the 266 Chinese passengers, 37 died on the passage, 10 more died within a week or thereabouts after their arrival in port, 30 are at present under treatment in the Dunedin Hospital, and of these several will pretty certainly die. Besides this, most of the others were much emaciated and half starved, and had great difficulty in tottering from the landing-place on. their arrival. I have, &c, Thomas Moeland Hocken, The Hon. the Attorney-General, Wellington. Coroner.

Otago, Dunedin, Colony of New Zealand, to wit. An Inquisition taken for our Sovereign Lady the Queen, at the Hospital at Dunedin, of Otago, in the said Colony, on the 11th day of October, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eeventy-one, before Thomas Morland Hocken, one of the Coroners of our Sovereign Lady the Queen for the said Colony, on view of the body of Chang Man, then and there lying dead, upon the oath of John Carroll, George Humphrey, Patrick McKenzie, Richard Mulvine, John Johnstone, Edwin Jennings, John Fogo, Samuel Doodeward, Charles Muir, George Forman, Thomas Waddell, George Meoll, Thomas Carr, Alexander Sligo, and Thomas Hudson, good and lawful men. of the neighbourhood, duly chosen, and who being then and there duly sworn, and charged to inquire for our Lady the Queen when, how, and by what means the said Chang Man came to his death, do upon their oaths say, that the said Chang Man did labour and languish under a grievous bodily disease, to wit bronchitis and tubercle of the lungs, of which diseases the said Chang Man then speedily died at the Dunedin Hospital, on the 9th day of October, in the year aforesaid ; and so the jurors aforesaid, upon