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ships' wish that Commodore Goodenough should resign his seat in the Executive Council of New Zealand, in which your Lordship concurs. 2. I shall doubtless shortly receive the Commodore's resignation, and in the meantime I have informed the Council of your Lordship's communication. They have requested me to state to your Lordship that in recommending me to offer the appointment to the Commodore, they were chiefly actuated by a desire that respect should be shown to the highest officer in Her Majesty's service, and that they had in view precedents of similar appointments of officers commanding the troops in the whole of the Australasian Colonies to the Executive Council of this Colony, if not to those of others. I have, &c, JAMES EERGUSSON, The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. Governor.

No. 30. Copy of DESPATCH from Governor the Right Hon. Sir J. Eergusson, Bart., to the Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. (No. 20.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, — New Zealand, 2nd April, ] 874. I have the honor to inform you, in reply to your Circular Despatch of the Ist August, 1873, enclosing a copy of the preamble and of six sections of a Bill introduced into the House of Lords by my Lord Blachford, with a view to make better provision for the transmission of property given in trust for Colonial Bishops, that this purpose is provided for in New Zealand by certain Colonial Acts passed in 1858, 1868, and 1872, copies of which I inclose. 2. I am informed by the Attorney-General that numerous parcels of land have been granted to the Bishop of New Zealand and his successors on divers trusts, and that some have been granted under the Land Regulations in force under the Royal Instructions and Charters of 1840 and 1846. 3. My Ministers do not anticipate that any difficulty will arise in providing for the transmission of such property as is referred to in your Lordship's Despatch. 4. I have caused a letter to be addressed to each Bishop of the Church of England in New Zealand, transmitting a copy of your Lordship's Despatch and of its enclosures, with a request that he will give information as to the real and personal property given to him, showing whether it has been given under local Ordinances, deed of trust, or otherwise; and that he will state whether he desires that any communication shall be made to your Lordship in reply to the second of your inquiries. 5. But, as some time may elapse before I receive replies from their Lordships, I think it right to reply so far without delay. I have, &c, JAMES EERGUSSON, The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. Governor.

Acts of Assembly, XVII. of 1858, VII. of 1868, and IV. of 1872.

No. 31. Copy of DESPATCH from Governor the Right Hon. Sir J. Eergttsson, Bart., to the Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley. (No. 21.) Government House, Auckland My, Lord — New Zealand, Bth April, 1874. I have the honor to inform you that the convict Joseph Thomas Sullivan, the particulars of whose case were stated in my Despatch No. 10, of 20th February last, having received a pardon conditionally on his leaving and not returning to New Zealand, emharked for London on the 31st ultimo, as a passenger on board of the ship " Hindostan." He has taken the name of Clark. 2. The prison authorities and police, to whom this man is well known, consider that it is very unlikely that he will engage in any kind of crime, but that,