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which we shall feel obliged by your looking over. We have marked certain parts of the report and of the evidence, which appear to us to be decidedly misstatements as affect ourselves as charterers of the ship, and your own officers. Captain Harrington says that " No inspection of the stores and water took place as required by the Act," —this we know you can give a total denial to. Then Captain Harrington, or rather the surgeon, Mr. Leigh, alleges that the medical inspection was loosely conducted, and that all the passengers were not brought forward. The evidence, however, of the interpreter contradicts this. We shall feel obliged by your stating that the inspection was conducted in the ordinary manner, and that all the passengers were duly inspected at Gravesend by your medical officer. The next point is the ventilation. Captain Harrington nays " The ventilation I never thought sufficient, and therefore increased it by opening the whole of the main hatch ; a very small portion, about two feet square in one corner, having been passed as sufficient by the Inspector in London, against my objections urged at the time." Also in another place: " I employed men at my own expense to put the fittings in order, and paid their passage from Gravesend where the fittings were inspected." Now, we have to ask you if, of your own knowledge, you do not recollect that Captain Harrington, in the first place, put every obstacle in our way as to the ventilation, and would not allow us to make such openings as we considered necessary ; and that, in consequence of his standing out in the matter, we had to apply to you, and that you had to exercise your authority to compel Captain Harrington to supply such ventilation as you considered necessary; and further, that it was in order to carry out this compulsory work that he took men to Gravesend, as you would not pass the ship until it was done. There is one other paragraph in the report which shows that the mode of procedure here, with regard to clearance of emigrant ships, is entirely misunderstood in the Colony. Captain Harrington says that he had no certificate of clearance, and the Commissioners imagine, therefore, that " One of the most important requirements of the Act, respecting the fitness of the vessel, does not appear to have been observed." We shall feel obliged by your informing us if we are not right in stating that the certificate of clearance, when given by you, is not handed to the captain, but is lodged with the Customs here, as an authority to them to clear the ship and allow her to proceed to sea; and that in the case of the " England," this certificate, that all the requirements of the Act had been complied with, was duly signed by the clearing officer at Gravesend, and was then deposited with the Customs officials in the ordinary course. We trouble you with the perusal of this voluminous report and evidence, as one of the conclusions the Commissioners arrive at is that " Some of the inspections by the Imperial authorities are apparently mere matters of form." As we know so well to the contrary, we think it only right that a distinct denial should go out to the Colony that matters were at any time loosely conducted with regard to the " England," or that we in any way failed in our duty to the emigrants as imposed on us by tho Passengers' Act. We are, &c, Captain Forster, Jt.N. Shaw, Saville, and Co. Government Emigration Office, Fenchurch Street, London.

Enclosure 2 in No. 2. Captain Fohsteb. to Messrs. Shaw, Sayille, and Co. Government Emigration Office, 65, Fenckurch Street, Dear Sirs, — 17th August, 1572. I return with thanks the report of the inquiry made in .New Zealand on the ship " England " bringing immigrants from London. In reply to your letter, as regards the surveys of provisions and water, Captain Harrington was' totally in error. The surveys on the " England's " stores were made in the East India Docks in the usual way, the surveying officer selecting from the bulk the packages to bo opened for his inspectiou. The whole of the supplies proved, I observe, of the usual good quality. The medical inspectiou of the whole of the passengers and crew was conducted in the ordinary manner; —it occupied a longer time than usual, many of the queries of the Medical Inspector having to be put to the emigrants through the interpreter. Fourteen days elapsed from the inspection to the appearance of the disease ; —it must, therefore, at the time of the inspection, have been latent and indiscoverable by any personal examination. Difficulties were made about ventilation. My requirements were kept so long in hand, that at the last moment men had to be sent to Gravesend to complete them before the final inspection. The reference to the clearance certificate further indicates, it seems to me, Captain Harrington's misconception. You, as the authorized Passenger Brokers, requested that I should order a survey on the ship "England," under the Passengers' Act; and so, in the regular way of business, you continued, in all transactions with this office, to represent the ship. The clearance certificate required by the 11th section of the Passengers' Act was therefore given to you when the emigration officer signed the passenger lists, to enable you to clear the vessel at the Custom House, under the Passengers' Act. _^~ The surveys and inspection held by this office on the ship " England," and on her outfit and stores, were, I believe, as carefully conducted as on the other numerous vessels making the same voyage with the most favourable results. I have, &c, Messrs. Shaw, Saville, and Co., Leadenhall Street. Thos. Fobstee.