3

A.—lb.

lated for party purposes, and should have treated it with the same contempt that I am convinced it will receive from every man, woman, and child in Auckland, except, I am bound to say, upon his own assertion, by Sir George Grey. 13. Were I as much inclined to take alarm at absurd rumors and newspaper canards as he seems to be, I might indeed inform your Lordship that, on more than one occasion, Sir George Grey himself has been reported to have indulged in dark and mysterious hints at the possibility of armed resistance to the law being resorted to by those who are opposed to the abolition of the provinces, and the same tone has been more frequently adopted by the Evening Star, a paper in Auckland which strongly supports his views ; but placing, as I do, entire reliance on the loyalty and good sense of the inhabitants of this colony, I have hitherto treated them as empty threats. As, however, Sir George Grey has seen fit to, make this formal complaint to your Lordship, I now distinctly charge him with being himself the first to give currency to a report similar to the one he has brought under your Lordship's notice, and in support of this accusation I enclose to your Lordship the copy of a letter which has been addressed by Mr. Dargaville to my Private Secretary, for my information. 14. Mr. Dargaville was at the time a member of the Provincial Council of Auckland, and the occurrence he narrates occurred about a year ago, before the meeting of the General Assembly, and consequently before the Abolition Bill was before the public. The circumstance came to my knowledge soon after it took place. 15. The conversation narrated by Mr. Dargaville is so identical with the language used in Sir George Grey's letter to your Lordship, that there can be little doubt that it must have been the origin of the report of which he now complains : it is therefore not so surprising that he should state, " I am so entirely satisfied of the honour and good faith of the paper from which I quote, that I feel sure there are substantial grounds for the statement it contains;" but, in my opinion, it would have been more ingenuous on his part if he had stated at the same time that he himself had been the first to give expression to such an idea. 16. Sir George Grey, when he wrote this letter to your Lordship, must, from his long experience as a Colonial Governor, have been perfectly aware of the fact that the Government of a colony have no control whatever over Her Majesty's forces, and that they could under no circumstances be brought into action, except through the intervention of the Governor himself. To suppose, therefore, that it could be possible for Her Majesty's ships to be used for the purpose of cannonading the City of Auckland, he must, in the first place, have presumed that I had entirely lost my senses before I could be induced to make such a requisition to the Officer in command of Her Majesty's ships; and in the second, that that officer must have been equally mad to comply with it. 17. I beg to append a memorandum from my Government, to whom I submitted Sir George Grey's communication. I have, &c, The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon, &c. NORMANBY.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1. His Honor Sir G. Geey to Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Noemanby. My Loed, — Superintendent's Office, Auckland, sth June, 1876. I have the honor to enclose a letter which I have .addressed to Lord Carnarvon, and which I respectfully request your Lordship to transmit to him by this mail. I have forwarded two copies to enable this to be done. I must apologize to your Excellency for sending this letter at so late an hour, but it was not until Saturday evening aud this morning that I was made aware of the important effect which was being produced by the circulation of the rumours of the probability of Her Majesty's forces being employed against the people of this colony in the manner stated in this morning's paper. For fear of any unfortunate or unavoidable delay, I propose to send one copy of my letter to Lord Carnarvon direct. Under the circumstances I have stated, your Excellency will, I trust, pardon this. I have, &c, Governor the Most Hon. the Marqus of Nonnanby, G.. Gbey. K.C.M.G., &c. &c.