D.—3

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reached me upon the 23rd December:—l. Immigration Commissioners' report. 2. Certified list of births and deaths. 3. Copy of a report of an investigation held as to certain charges made against the captain. Although, in consequence of a misconception of his instructions by the local Immigration Officer, the ordinary gratuity was paid, I do not think it at all desirable that this officer should again be employed in command of a ship conveying emigrants to this colony. I have to call your attention to the remarks of the Immigration Officer in his letter forwarding the Commissioners' report, where he sets forth the unsuitability of skilled artizans and mechanics as direct emigrants for the Bluff. I have, &c, C. C. Bowen, (in the absence of the Minister for Immigration). The Agent-General for New Zealand, London.

Enclosure in No. 38. Commissionees' Eepoet on Ship " Peter Denny." Invercargill, 30th November, 1875. The Commissioners boarded the "Peter Denny" immigrant vessel on the 6th ultimo, and found on inspection that the health of the immigrants during the voyage had*been remarkably good; the deaths, eight in number, resulting from ordinary causes, six of them diarrhoea (infants). The ship was especially clean, and the general requirements as regards space in the various compartments, hospitals, bath-rooms, closets, &c, under the charter, complied with. The distilling apparatus worked well during the voyage. The general conduct of the immigrants appears to have been good. The immigrants appeared to be a superior lot, physically and intellectually, and will doubtless prove a valuable acquisition to the colony. The only complaints were in regard to the quality of the flour, which was not quite as good as it might have been; the want of accommodation for baking, a complaint the Commissioners thought well founded, the oven being certainly too small; and a misunderstanding as to the number of quarts of water to be issued daily, which arose from the issuing officer having considered that while issuing the full complement a portion should be given on behalf of each immigrant to the cook for use in cooking the rations. The total number of adults landed at the Bluff was 211. Some, equal to twenty-seven adults, electing to go to Dunedin, were forwarded by the express steamer. While the Commissioners have much pleasure in recommending the following gratuities to be paid to the officers, constables, &c, all of whom discharged their duties creditably during the voyage, they feel it their duty to state that the captain was evidently suffering from the effects of drink on the day of the arrival of the vessel, and continued so up to the debarkation of the immigrants. We append copy of the report of the surgeon-superintendent of the vessel on this point, furnished at the request of the Immigration Officer, Invercargill, Mr. Pearson. Some of the immigrants, single men, insinuated that the captain had been excited by drink during the voyage, in complaining he had used blasphemous language in their compartment. As regards the other officers of the ship the immigrants spoke in the highest terms of their kindness and attention, and we have much pleasure in recommending for re-employment, should he desire it, Dr. John H. Clarke, the surgeon-superintendent, who, though this was his first trip in that capacity, must have fulfilled his duties with energy, sobriety, kindness, and ability, to have merited the high encomiums he received from those over whom he had exercised supervision. In conclusion, the Commissioners have to call special attention to a singular arrangement in connection with the single women's compartment—viz., that two doors opening into it from the saloon were not boarded up. From inquiry they found that, while one was unused throughout the voyage, the other was simply locked, the captain having possession of the key. That the captain of an immigrant vessel should have it in his power to visit this compartment at any time of the day or night without the cognizance of the surgeon-superintendent, or even matron, is a grave oversight; but when it is considered that it is not an impossible contingency that the key might have been obtained surreptitiously by any of the occupants of the saloon, the gravity of the mistake assumes such importance that the Commissioners cannot but express their surprise that the matter should have been overlooked at the inspection of the ship before leaving Home. As an additional evidence of the impropriety of allowing such ingress to the single women's compartment, we may mention that the door in question opened directly into the hospital, divided from their sleeping compartment by a curtain, while the matron's cabin was at the other end near the proper, and what should have been the only, entrance. The Commissioners have again, as in previous cases, to remark on the insufficiency of the divisions between the married people's bunks, they not being carried up high enough to secure decent privacy. Wm. P. Geigoe, L.E.C.S.E., &c. Tnos. Thomson. The Under Secretary for Immigration, Wellington. Walter H. Peaesox.

No. 39. The Hon. C. C. Bowen to the Agent-Geiteeal. (No. 22.) Sib, — Immigration Office, Wellington, 13th January, 1876. I have the honor to forward herewith the following documents relative to the ship " Adamant," which arrived at the Bluff upon 3rd December ultimo: —l. Immigration Commissioners' report. 2. Certified list of births and deaths. 3. Telegram reporting arrival of the ship and death of the captain.