D.—2

13

In the month of April, 1874, you chartered of Messrs. "Willis and Son their ship the " Zenobia," for the conveyance of emigrants to New Zealand, reserving to yourself the power to cancel the charterparty if the ship should not arrive by the 20th May, and to reject the ship if she should not comply with the requirements of your Government. The ship arrived at Falmouth for orders early in May, and went to Holland to discharge her cargo, but did not arrive at the port of London until the 26th, on which day your Despatching Officer's assistant, happening to be at the docks, saw her and went over her; and Mr. Smith, your Despatching Officer, reported to you that she had originally been a paddle-wheel steamer, and had a break in her 'tween-decks forward of where the paddle-shaft formerly was, and on that part of the deck she had not the required height, namely, 7 feet from deck to deck ; and as she had large wooden beams, which would materially reduce the ordinary space between the tiers of berths, he did not consider her an eligible ship for the service. A notice was thereupon given to Messrs. Willis, whereby you exercised your right to cancel the charter-party on the ground of the ship not having arrived in time ; but it was explained to them that your reason for taking this step was that she was not suitable for the service. Messrs. Willis insisted that the vessel on reaching Falmouth had virtually arrived within the meaning of the charter-party, and that you had no power to cancel it, and required you to take up the vessel, which you were obliged to decline to do, having regard to the instructions you had received from your Government. Messrs. Willis immediately brought an action against you, claiming damages for breach of the charter-party, in which some questions were raised by demurrer on both sides, which demurrers on argument were decided in your favour last January ; and after a long delay, occasioned by the number of heavy cases before this, the action came on for trial on its merits on the 27th ult. We retained as counsel on your behalf Mr. Day, Q.C.,Mr. Watkin Williams, Q.C., M.P., and Mr. Dennistoun Wood, who on consultation gave us great hopes of success, although, on account of the conflicting opinions of ship-brokers and mercantile men as to the meaning of the word "arrive " for the purpose of a charter-party, it seemed doubtful whether Messrs. Willis might not establish by evidence that the arrival of the ship at Ealmouth was a sufficient arrival to satisfy the charter-party, especially as she was berthed for examination and repairs according to the charter-party within a reasonable time after the 20th May; and although, from no specific regulations having been laid down defining the requirements of the New Zealand Government, it seemed doubtful whether we could establish these as being sufficiently notorious to bring the knowledge of them home to Messrs. Willis at the time they entered into the charter-party. When the case came on for trial the Judge expressed himself clearly of opinion (and so afterwards directed the jury) that " arrival " meant arrival within the port of loading, i.e. London, and that, the ship not having arrived by the 20th May, you had perfect right to cancel the charter-party, unless after that day you had so. acted as to induce Messrs. Willis to believe that you did not intend to exercise that right, and they, acting under that belief, had been induced to take some step either for your benefit or prejudicial to themselves; and he was of opinion (and so afterwards directed the jury) that, to justify your rejecting the ship on the ground of her not complying with the requirements of the New Zealand Government, specific reasonable requirements must have been made to the shipowner, and he must have bad the opportunity given him of meeting those requirements if possible. To meet the latter point, Messrs. Willis endeavoured to prove by their ship's carpenter that the height between decks could have been made suitable ; and to meet the former point they brought forward an advertisement which had accidentally not been withdrawn, which had been published by the New Zealand Shipping Company after the 20th May, giving the list of ships about to be despatched to New Zealand. After a very clear summing up by the Judge, the jury, without leaving the box, gave a verdict in your favour, thus fully justifying all that you had done in the matter. The costs of the action will be taxed as soon as we can get an appointment, and some of those costs, which have been included in our accounts and paid to us, "will be paid by Messrs. Willis and Son. The sums, however, which will be allowed against the plaintiff will bo strictly limited to party and party costs, so that many charges proper, as between solicitor and client, will not be paid by them. We think it right to Mr. Smith, your Despatching Officer, to report that he rendered very important service in. getting up the case for the defence. We have, &c, I. E. Featherston, Esq., Agent-General for New Zealand. John Mackbell and Co.

No. 22. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Ministeb for Ihmigeation. (No. 901.) 7, "Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sib,— 23rd December, 1875. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 227, dated 25th October, 1875, forwarding copy of a memorandum from the Immigration Officer at Auckland, reporting that the matron of the " British Empire " was, at the date of his letter, about to leave the colony for Victoria; and directing me to make inquiry into her statement of the circumstances under which she accepted her appointment. I have examined the correspondence in this case; and I cannot find that Mrs. Drake avowed her intention of settling elsewhere than in New Zealand. You will observe that Mr. Ellis remarks in his letter that " Mrs. Drake declines to state that any of the London emigration officials to her knowledge was actually cognizant of her intention." I have forwarded a copy of Mr. Ellis' statement to Miss Tipple, the Secretary of the British Ladies' Female Emigrant Aid Society, with a request to that lady to inform me whether she was aware of Mrs. Drake's intention as revealed in the correspondence under acknowledgment; and a copy of her reply shall be forwarded to the Government.