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take in the event of the Agent-General refusing to comply with the proposals submitted to him. But I stated to him generally what the purport of these instructions was, but with their precise nature I did not conceive that he had any concern. To this letter I received no answer whatever, and the Agent-General's silence was in no way occasioned by his absence, for I am quite aware of the fact that after receipt of my letter he endeavoured to induce a London firm to put on occasional vessels from Glasgow, and that thia was refused by them. For reasons known only to himself, he made no overtures to Messrs. P. Henderson and Co. In this state of matters I again wrote, of this date, to the Agent-General, expressing my willingness, if desired, to go to London to commune with him, but no notice was taken of my letter. Seeing, t. however, that the season was passing, I finally wrote to the Agent-General, of this date, to the effect that I held his declinaturo to notice my letters as a refusal on his part to consider the proposal submitted to him, and my intention to act accordingly. To this letter I received an answer; but for its terms I beg to refer your Honor to the enclosed copy of the whole correspondence that has passed between us on the subject. In this letter the Agent-General entirely ignores the proposal submitted to him, and, besides insinuating in the broadest terms that I had been guilty of misrepresentations to your Honor, charges me with wilfully keeping back a part of your Honor's letter, for the purpose of preventing him detecting these misrepresentations. How the A gent-General, considering the important office he holds, should have allowed himself to express himself in tho terms he has thought fit to use, lamat a loss to understand. He had no right to expect that I should send him a copy of your Honor's letter, nor was I in any way bound to do so. In sending him a very full extract, I conceived that I was dealing most openly and fairly towards him; but, as the event has turned out, it might have been as well had I sent him a statement of the purport of the letter. At the same time, had he believed in the truth of the charges he makes, it was plainly his duty, having regard to the important interests involved, to have stated them at the time he received my first letter ; but it is pretty evident no such idea then occurred to him, and it was only when he found that I had rightly interpreted his silence, that he had recourse to the method adopted by him of evading all consideration of the question. It is needless for me to pursue the matter further. Tour Honor has all my letters before you, and can judge what truth there is in the Agent-General's insinuations ; but, independently of these, nothing more is required to show their groundlessness than a reference to the facts stated in your Honor's letter to me, which are undeniable. Though for a long time I have been of opinion that the present system was injurious to the interests of Otago, I refrained, probably too much, from expressing my convictions to your Honor. I did so, however, in the beliefjthat the A gent-General's views and procedure were in accordance with, his instructions, framed with the consent and approval of the several Provinces. I have no doubt it was a mistake not to take advantage of the existing agencies of individual Provinces, and to confine their exertions to the procuring of emigrants for the Provinces of which they had some knowledge, and in which they felt some interest, instead of prohibiting them from giving any one Province a preference over the other, an injunction which could hardly in the nature of things be observed. It appears to me impossible for the Agent-General long to continue to refuse to send Scotch emigrants from the Clyde; but if he has any intention of altering his plan he has not informed me, and I think your Honor will see that his last communication to me left me no choice but to open communication with Messrs. Patrick Henderson and Co., for a separate line of ships from the Clyde to Otago. It would have been most satisfactory had the Agent-General consented to take this step himself, as there seems to me to be no reason whatever to think that that would have been in any way inconsistent with his general arrangements. I have accordingly entered into an arrangement with Messrs. P. Henderson and Co., and have the honor to enclose a copy of their letter to me of 27th ult., setting forth its terms. I trust these will be approved of by your Honor, as the best that it was in my power to make in the circumstances. The season, however, is now unfortunately near its close, and, as experience fully shows, it takes a very considerable time before advertisements resumed after so long a period of withdrawal take effect on the public mind. I fear much cannot be expected to be done before next season. The first ship, the " "Wild Duck," is fixed to sail on 15th December, and no effort will be spared to procure as large a number of suitable emigrants as possible. With regard to the terms on which these are to be sent out, the subject is one of much difficulty, but on the whole, after consideration, it has appeared to me to be the wisest course for the remainder of the season to adhere in a great measure to the terms formerly acted on, till it be seen to what extent applications are received, and what classes are most likely to take advantage of them, so that I may be better able to judge ere the season opens in spring, what changes may be advantageously made. A payment of £5 per statute adult would, I have no doubt, particularly in the case of families, act as a prohibition to most Scotch emigrants. This view was confirmed by Mr. Seaton in a conversation I had with him a few days ago. He informed me that a large number of Scotch emigrants whom he sawwere desirous to go to Otago in preference to any other place, but the terms required were such as they could not comply with, and nearly all of them went to Canada. I regret that the seeds, a list of which was enclosed in your Honor's letter <jf sth June last, and which were ordered in accordance with your Honor's instructions from Messrs. Veitch and Son, of London, cannot bs supplied by that firm. They say that there are only two or three of the seeds that they could procure, and that there would be even considerable difficulty in supplying these. I have the honor to enclose herein first of bill of lading and copy invoice of the books for Public Libraries ordered in your Honor's letter of sth June, and which were forwarded by the ship " City of Dunedin " from Glasgow, on 20th September last. Messrs. Patrick Henderson and Co. are quite willing to send two ships to the Bluff, and land emigrants there. I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent, Otago, N.Z. John Avid.

Sept. 10, 1872,