AGENT-GENERAL, LONDON.

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D.—No. 1

their passage. The Government do not see their way to giving them free passages, and think it should be fixed at one-third the cost, or say £5. This is the amount which persons emigrating from the United Kingdom to Napier are required to pay, either by themselves or their friends. The Government think that passage money, at the rate of £5 per adult, should be paid before embarkation, or at any rate, that a promissory note should be given for the amount, to be paid in the Colony by instalments within the first year or two years after arrival. Single women can, however, have free passages; but single men, not actually members of families, should certainly be required to pay in cash at least onethird of the cost of their passage, and if this is done, the limitation imposed on their immigration under paragraph 8 can, to a moderate extent, be extended, as they will bo usefully absorbed by the settlers in all parts of the Province. Still, however, as the obliging the immigrants to pay their own passages may imperil the whole scheme, and as the Government regard the establishment of pioneer settlements in the Seventy-Mile Bush by so suitable a people as Scandinavians as a matter of great importance, it has been resolved to leave the question of passage money to your discretion. 13. In order to assist you in seiecting these immigrants, the Government have arranged with Mr. Eriberg, an intelligent Norwegian settler of Hawke's Bay, to proceed to your address by next mail. He is a Hawke's Bajr settler of several years' standing, has travelled through the Seventy-Mile Bush, and, being conversant with colonial life, will, I have no doubt, be able to render you assistance in promoting Scandinavian immigration to New Zealand generally. With reference to the terms of his engagement, I will inform you in a separate memorandum. In communicating to you the above outlines, the Government will be obliged by your adhering to them as closely as you may find circumstances permit; but you are authorized to modify them where necessary. While the Government are anxious to avoid raising undue expectations before starting, they are no less anxious to prevent disappointment to the immigrants after arrival: with this view they deem it desirable that the conditions you finally determine upon should be printed and circulated, and that copies and translations should be early forwarded to this department, so that steps may be taken here to fulfil whatever conditions you may promulgate. With reference to the settlement of Highlanders in the Ruataniwha Block, I am not able to give you equally definite instructions. The block contains 20,000 acres, but only one-half of it would be laid out as a settlement. The size of the sections, and the mode of laying them out, will be the same as those in the Seventy-Mile Bush; but as the block is six miles removed from the public works, the immigrants will have mainly to depend for employment on the neighbouring settlers. The Government are prepared to authorize you to place the block of 10,000 acres at the disposal of any parties willing to colonize it on such terms as you might be able to arrange ; or, if this is not practicable, it is open for the location of such Western Highland and other Scotch families as you may find willing to occupy it, on conditions similar to those offered to the Scandinavians, except that of employment on public works immediately contiguous. Tou are authorized to select and send out 100 families for this purpose. The character of this block is described by His Honor the Superintendent of Hawke's Bay as follows : — " The Ruataniwha Block, of about 10,000 acres, is bush land, situate at the base of the Ruahine Range, and between the spurs of the Ruahine and the open plain of the Ruataniwha. There are already a considerable number of small settlers scattered along the edge of the bush, whose holdings join the block proposed to be given. The land is good, and either flat or low hills. The adjoining district is settled, and the road connecting it with Napier is excellent. The proposed railway from Napier to Wellington would be within a few miles." I have already forwarded to you a sketch plan of the Ruataniwha Block, and I now enclose a small sketch map of the Province, showing it and the line of road through the Seventy-Mile Bush ; but the probable localities of the three settlements in the latter are only approximately indicated thereon. W. Gisborne.

No. 4. Memorandum for the Agent-General, London. (No. 50, 1871.) Public Works Office, Wellington, 25th November, 1871. Referring to my memorandum No. 38, of 28th October last, in which I explained fully the views of the Government in reference to the proposed settlements in the Seventy-Mile Bush, I have now to inform you that Mr. Bror Eric Eriberg, a Scandinavian settler of several years' experience in Hawke's Bay, has been directed to proceed to London and act under your instructions in procuring Scandinavian emigrants proposed to be located thereon, and to assist in the promotion of Scandinavian immigration generally, in terms of his letter of appointment enclosed. Mr. Eriberg leaves by the present mail; but as it will be of advantage to him in his undertaking if he visits one or more of the settlements of his countrymen in America, he may probably on that account be detained a short time en route. W. Gisborne.

Enclosure in No. 4. The TJnder-Secretart, Public Works, to Mr. B. E. Eriberg. Sir, — Public Works Office, Wellington, 10th November, 1871. I am directed by Mr. Gisborne to inform you that, on the recommendation of His Honor Mr. Ormond, the Superintendent of Hawke's Bay, the Government have determined to avail themselves of your services in procuring Scandinavian immigrants for that Province, and especially for certain proposed settlements in the Seventy-Mile Bush. Tou have been verbally informed of the general conditions to be adopted in locating Scandinavians on the three blocks to be laid out for settlement; and, from the instructions to the Agent-General, in 2