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proceeding satisfactorily, and as you have not been hampered by any stringent instructions, but the details of management left very much in your hands. I fear that in your anxiety to make the Immigration scheme self-supporting, and thereby to lessen its cost, the regulations adopted have not been sufficiently liberal. I have indeed reason to believe that the supply of immigration is greatly checked by the requirement of the regulations that each immigrant should pay the cost of joining the ship at the port, of bedding and of outfit; and you are therefore authorized to relax either in part or altogether these regulations, and you will decide at your discretion whether the additional expense so incurred by the Government should be added or not to the amount of the immigrants' promissory note. I must again impress upon you that the speedy introduction into the Colony of a suitable body of immigrants is the first consideration ; the expense must be regarded of secondary importance, so long as it remains within reasonable limits. It seems doubtful whether the remuneration of 10s. per head for immigrants obtained, at present paid to the local agents, is sufficient to secure their active services, more especially as in the case of foreign emigrants a payment is sanctioned of £1 per head. It has been represented to the Government that were the remuneration raised to 155., these officers would find it worth their while to devote more attention to the matter, and in many cases to make it their business, in which case a supply of immigrants equal to the requirements of the Colony might fairly be expected to be obtained. The Government have also been informed that the payment of this fee upon the number of actual adults, and not on the number of statute adults contained in a family, has operated as a check upon the emigration of families, as the agents, finding the payment made to them in such cases disproportioned to the trouble incurred, have in many cases discountenanced the forwarding of families. The payment therefore, in future, should bo based upon the number of statute adults contained in each family. With regard to this question, however, as with that of other alterations in the regulations relieving the emigrant of expense, the ultimate decision as to the course to be adopted must still rest with yourself; but you will understand that the Government desires that you should feel yourself unfettered in the exercise of a wide discretion in pursuance of the ultimate object of a large and immediate addition to the population of the Colony. As it is probable that the immigrants to be introduced by the Messrs. Brogden will include an unduly large proportion of male adults, care must be taken to equalize as far as possible the sexes of the immigrants. No consideration of expense should be allowed to stand in the way of the attainment of this object, and I should recommend that a fixed pecuniary remuneration be offered to married heads of families for every eligible single woman they can induce to accompany them. This would remove the objection often very properly felt by single women to undertake a long voyage without a. suitable protection, and would secure the active co-operation of intending immigrants in obtaining for the Colony the much needed supply of women adapted for domestic service and for the requirements of the very large unmarried male population upon the Gold Fields. With regard to the ensuing year 1573, I have most urgently to request that no exertion may be spared to forward at least 8,000 statute adults, exclusive of nominated immigrants and of those sent out under arrangement with Messrs. Brogden ; this number to arrive within the year. The absence of a proportionate supply of Irish in the Government immigration hitherto has been unfavourably commented upon in the Colony. You are therefore requested to take the necessary steps to secure that the emigration from that part of the United Kingdom shall bo proportioned to the population of Ireland as compared to that of Great Britain. You have already been instructed by telegram to open a central agency at Dublin. I trust that this has been done, and that henceforth a fair supply of Irish immigration will be secured. By this mail, under separate Memoranda, are forwarded the report of a Royal Commission appointed to inquire into the deaths of ten infants on board the ship " Bebington " during the voyage to Wellington; also, the report of the immigration Officer at Auckland on the ship "City of Auckland." The evidence before the "Bebington " Commissioners discloses several grave defects in that vessel as a passenger ship, and to those defects, but especially to the want of light and ventilation, the mortality seems to have been mainly attributable. Without going into the details of the question which these and other reports have opened up, it is sufficiently evident, from the fact of these constant inquiries being necessary, and from the reports in which they result, that a radical change in the shipping arrangements is requisite to secure the comfort and health of our immigrants. Under the present system it would appear evident that the contractors endeavour to work up to the greatest possible economy of space, labour, and provisions, satisfied if they manage to keep just within the letter of their contract and of the Passenger Act, and give a bare or superficial compliance with the regulations of the Emigration Commissioners. This course naturally results in what has been so justly complained of—insufficient ventilation, overcrowded space, incomplete cooking apparatus, incompetent cooks, badly placed hospitals, ill-fixed fittings, and many other defects which do not become apparent till the actual experience of the voyage shall have discovered what is wrong, but any one of which may, under unfavourable circumstances, inflict much discomfort or produce great mortality during the voyage. Eeferring again to the case of the ship " Bebington," I would recommend that in future every care should be taken to procure the services of a competent cook for the immigrants, and of a trustworthy person to act as steward in charge of and issuing immigrants' stores ; and in order to secure competent men of good character, a liberal payment should be allowed to both of these officers. With reference to the charter of vessels for freight or passage of emigrants, the Government i» decidedly of opinion that no lengthened arrangements should be made either with Messrs. Shaw, Saville, or with any other firm, but that each chip should be arranged for as it may be required, with a view to the number and character of the immigrants. In no case should any vessel be chartered which, is not classed Al at Lloyds. Upon this point I may observe that the Government has learnt with, regret, that the " Palmerston," now long overdue at Port Chalmers, waß not even in the second class. The Government desire that you should be distinctly instructed not to forward immigrants by any vessel which would not be approved of for such a purpose by Her Majesty's Emigration Commis3—D. 1.