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Cobkespondence between John Auld, "W.S., Edinburgh, Agent for the Provincial Government of Otago, aud I. E. Featherston, Esq., 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, London, Agent-General for New Zealand. Sib, — 21, Thistle Street, Edinburgh, 2nd September, 1872. I regret exceedingly that I had not the pleasure of seeing you when in London last week, and that circumstances prevented me from remaining there until your return. A considerable time ago I wrote to the Superintendent of Otago for his advice and instructions as to the maintenance of the Agency for the Province here, as that was indispensable from the change which had taken place in regard to emigration, and it was only in the course of last month that I received a communication from His Honor in reply. As the letter is one of considerable importance, and its contents quite unexpected by me, I naturally feel considerable difficulty on the subject, and think it best that you should be acquainted with its terms so far as material. I therefore enclose an excerpt from it, and after you have considered it, I shall be glad to hear your views on the subject. You will readily believe that it would be extremely unpleasant to me to be put in any way in collision with you on the subject of emigration ; but it is proper that I should state that, in the event of my being unable to make any arrangement with you, I am authorized by His Honor to make separate arrangements for the despatch of one vessel monthly from the Clyde. It appears to me, however, that the withdrawal of all vessels from the Clyde is the chief source of complaint; and if this should bo resumed by you, it is not improbable that all parties would be satisfied, assuming that they could be despatched at sufficiently short intervals. It would afford me great pleasure if you could see your way to make some such arrangement as would remove His Honor's objections. Ido not know how far it is consistent with your own instructions to adopt or sanction the whole plan proposed by Hie Honor, which, of course, would be most satisfactory; but if it is not, I trust some such arrangement may be made as will meet his views satisfactorily, and I would be very glad to communicate such to him. I have, &c, John Auld. Sic,— 21, Thistle Street, Edinburgh, 10th September, 1872. I am anxious to hear from you in regard to my last communication, enclosing extract from the Superintendent's letter to me. I have another letter from him on the same subject two days ago, and I should like to be able to write to him explicitly by the first out-going mail. A personal interview with you may not be necessary, but if you desire it, or deem it necessary, I shall be prepared to go South. I have, &c, Dr. Featherston. John Atjld. Sib,— 21, Thistle Street, Edinburgh, 20th September, 1872. Not having heard from you in reply to my two last letters, I assume that you decline to make any arrangement to give effect to the Superintendent's expressed views, and thus, consequently, I am shut up to make separate arrangements for the passage of emigrants from the Clyde. I have, &c, I. E. Eeatherston, Esq. John Auld. Sic,— Cotfield House, Gateshead, 22nd September, 1872. I must apologize for not having sooner acknowledged your last two letters, but owing to family events I have been frequently out of town. As you have only given me extracts from the letter addressed to you by the Superintendent of Otago, I am not in a position to notice the misrepresentations of which you apparently have been guilty. But I beg to assure you that I have neither the wish nor intention to interfere with any instructions the Superintendent may give you, as Agent for the Provincial Government of Otago. I have, &c., John Auld, Esq., W.S., Edinburgh. I. E. Featheeston. Sib,— 21, Thistle Street, Edinburgh, 23rd September, 1872. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of yesterday's date, which I regret to observe negatives all idea of any arrangement being made by you for carrying into effect the proposal contained in His Honor's letter of 3rd Juno to me, and of which proposal 1 sent you a full copy; or even of admitting an interview to consider that proposal. In your letter you are pleased to say, "As you have only given me extracts from the letter addressed to you by the Superintendent of Otago, I am not in a position to notice the misrepresentations of which you apparently have been guilty." This extraordinary statement has taken me not a little by surprise, and, notwithstanding that our previous communications have beeu uniformly pleasant, I must take leave to state that the offensive insinuation you make against me is unfounded and uncalled for, and I utterly repel it. I was under no obligation whatever to give you a full copy of His Honor's letter, or even an extract from it. It was enough for me to state his proposal accurately, and, to prevent any mistake, I gave it to you in his own words. With the rest of the letter you had no concern; but you were made aware that it contained instructions to me to organize a separate emigration from the Clyde to Otago in the event of your declining to agree to the proposal made, and of which you had a full copy. What connection these instructions had with any alleged misrepresentations I cannot conceive. They refer to a matter of the future and not of the past, and I had not the least intention of consulting you how I should carry my instructions into effect. lamat a loss to know on what ground there was any call