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determination to prove my gratitude to your Lordship by earnestly doing my duty, to the best of my ability and judgment, in my new office. 3. The announcement of the appointment of Sir James Eergusson as my successor in New Zealand has been very favourably received in this Colony. 4>. I have made such arrangements, in pursuance of your Lordship's instructions, as Avill enable me to enter upon the Government of Victoria very shortly after the departure of Lord Canterbury and the arrival of my new Commission. During the interval which will elapse between my leaving and Sir James Eergusson reaching New Zealand, the Government of this Colony will be administered, in the terms of the Royal Warrant, by the Chief Justice, Sir George Arney, in whose ability, experience, and discretion, your Lordship may (I would venture to observe) repose full confidence. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. G. E. BOWEN.

No. 23. Copy of a DESEATCH from Governor Sir G. E. Bowen, G.C.M.G., to the Eight Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. (No. 14.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, — New Zealand, 18th February, 1873. With reference to my Despatch No. 20, of the 18th February, 1871, (especially paragraph 10,) I have the honor to transmit herewith copies of a Eeport by Mr. Beetham, Warden of the Lake Wakatipu Gold Fields, on the small and isolated settlement at Martin's Bay, on the West Coast of the Erovince of Otago. 2. It is the intention of the Government to provide more regular communication with this settlement. There is also a project for establishing bodies of emigrants from Norway, and also from the Shetland and Orkney Islands, on the magnificent Sounds of the West Coast and of Stewart's Island. 3. Berhaps your Lordship will direct a copy of this Despatch and of the enclosure to be forwarded to the Eoyal Geographical Society. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. the Earl of Kimberlev. G. F. BOWEN.

Enclosure in No. 23. Report by Mr. Warden Beetham on Martin's Bay Settlement. Referring to my report of even date herewith, on the subject of the track to Martin's Bay, I have now the honor to forward you some information as to the present state of that settlement —its requirements, and probable future prospects. You will doubtless possess exact information, from surveys already completed, as to the extent of land available for agricultural purposes. For the purposes of this report it may be roughly estimated at from 20,000 to 30,000 acres. From the point at which the track from Lake Wakatipu enters the Hollyford A'alley to the head of Lake McKerrow, a distance of about twelve miles, the land we passed through was of the finest quality, the soil in many places being twenty feet in depth. Nearly the whole of the land is flat, covered with valuable timber, and well watered. I should estimate the average breadth of the valley at three miles ; this does not include a considerable quantity of available land in the neighbourhood of Pike Creek and Lake Alabaster. The bush presents no great difficulties as to clearing, there being very little heavy undergrowth or supplejack to deal with. The climate of this valley must be magnificent. Lying, as it does, due North and South, it has the sun all day. This, in a valley of comparatively limited extent, such as the Hollyford, would result in a semi-tropical climate, were it not for the fact that the mountain range bounding the valley on its western side is covered by a succession of enormous glaciers, which descend in some instances within 1,000 feet of the river level; many of these ice masses are more than 1,000 feet in thickness, and are probably a mile in width, by three or four miles in length. The character of the vegetation resembles very closely that of the semi-tropical valleys of the North Island. The Western Range reaches an altitude of, I should say, at least 10,000 feet, throwing its glaciers completely into the bush line. These recesses of blue ice, surrounded by the luxuriant vegetation of the valley, and pouring, by numberless cascades, their glacial streams into the Hollyford River, the whole being backed up by high mountain peaks, broken by enormous fields of pure white snow, form a scene of indescribable grandeur and beauty. The Hollyford River is, with the exception of two or three rapids, navigable for a canoe throughout its whole length, and could be used for the purpose, driving to Lake McKerrow the valuable timber which abounds in the valley. AVhere it enters the lake it is probably about 400 yards wide and 20 feet deep, with a current of, say, four miles an hour.