H.—29a.

2

No. 3. Mr. G. S. Coopee to Mr. G. B. Wobgan. Sic,— Native Office, Wellington, Bth January, 1873. Referring to your letter of the 9th December last, I am directed by Mr. McLean to enclose, in compliance with your request, a copy of that part of Lieut.-Colonel Russell's report which refers to the charges brought against you in reference to your conduct in the performance of the public duties confided to you. I am at the same time desired to add that the Government has arrived at the conclusion that your services will not be required for a longer period than two months from this date, which will give you time to wind up the duties on which you were engaged in connection with the confiscated lands, and to close the account standing in the joint names of Mr. R. Pharazyn and yourself. I have, &c., G. S. Coopee, G, B. Worgan, Esq., Wanganui. Under Secretary.

No. 4. Mr. G. B. Woeoan to the Hon. the Native Ministee. Sic, . Wanganui, 15th January, 1873. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of official letter from the Under Secretary, dated, Bth instant, enclosing at my request copy of portion of Colonel Russell's report, and informing me that my services will not be required for a longer period than two months from the date of that letter. In reply to the second portion of this letter, I have to call the attention of the Government to the arrangements made with me, whereby I was induced to give up my business ;n Hawke's Bay for the purpose of accepting employment under Government. The terms of that agreement were briefly these: I was to receive employment for at least five years certain, at the rate specified and agreed to, of which term from two to three years were to be spent on the "West Coast, and the remainder elsewhere ; that I should not bo classed in the Civil Service ; and, finally, that I was guaranteed against any loss. Having accepted these terms, I proceeded at once to Wanganui, and commenced work upon the duties intrusted to me, and have continued to discharge the same to the present time to the best of my ability and judgment, and with the utmost zeal. I have been put to great expense and inconvenience, besides loss to a large extent in business; adding the cost of removal of my family to the expenses incidental thereto, I find myself at the present moment at a direct personal loss of upwards of £400. Having incurred this direct expense, and sustained, moreover, a much larger indirect loss, it will not be a matter of surprise to the Government that I refuse to accept the notice I have received. In full reliance on the honor of the Government, I have fulfilled so far the terms of my contract, and am prepared to fulfil it to the end of the term agreed for. Although, in accepting an engagement witli the Government, I was actuated by motives far removed from any pecuniary considerations, I must, in justice to my family, now treat it purely as a matter of business. I am engaged in writing a reply to the opinions expressed, by Colonel Russell in his report, and necessarily at length. I had in the meantime submitted the report to Mr. Robert Pharazyn, late Confiscated Land Commissioner, and enclose copy of notes showing his opinions. There are always two sides to a question; and knowing the utter falsity of the charges brought against me, it cannot reasonably be supposed that I shall sit down quietly under such a weight of misconstruction and injustice. I distinctly aver that I have had no opportunity afforded me of making explanations; and Colonel Russell, although ho proposed sparing a day to go over the maps and enter upon the merits of the several cases, and have a discussion with me on the several points at issue, went away without giving me any chance of doing so, leaving my solicitor, myself, and, I firmly believe, every one else who had paid any attention to the case, under the belief that the evidence was of so trumpery a character that it needed no explanation from me before dismissing it as worthless. Whatever course I have taken here has been in perfect good faith, and I had every right to expect my action would have been accepted without question as so taken. Whatever fault might be found with my judgment, I contend the Government can take no exception to my intentions. I asked for an inquiry, and did not get one. Colonel Russell notoriously undertook the task of prosecution. I was called on for no defence, asked for no explanation ; a number of allegations were suddenly raised, upon a series of difficult questions, contained within a mass of correspondence chiefly remarkable for evidence of conflicting interests and cross purposes; questions which I had waded through with anxious, painstaking thought; questions which were debated again and again with my brother officer, Mr. Robert Pharazyn, an independent gentleman of unblemished honor and integrity, and without whose loyal support and assistance, and honestly-tendered advice, I would have shrunk from incurring the responsibilities I did, in an honest effort to promote the interests of the Government. I believed then, and I believe firmly now, that the course I pursued tended entirely to further those interests, and was, with the end I proposed in view, the only practicable business way of meeting the cases at issue. In conclusion, I solemnly protest against the opinions expressed by Colonel Russell, as founded on a total want of acquaintance with the subject; as totally at variance with the evidence; as opposed alike to justice and contrary to truth; and, finally, to use his own words, of such a nature that " upon