11

A.—l.

No. 7.

Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby to the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon. (No. 8.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord, — New Zealand, 30th January, 1878. I have the honor to enclose a copy of a memoradum by the RegistrarGeneral embodying the information your Lordship has asked me to obtain for the Committee appointed by the Treasury to inquire into the subject of official statistics, also two printed copies of the New Zealand Statistics for the year 1876. I have, &c, The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon. NORMANBY.

Enclosure in No. 7. Memorandum by the Registrar-General. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary. The information requested by His Excellency may be summarized as follows : — 1. The statistical publications compiled by the Government of this colony are limited to the annual volume of Statistics, and the volume containing the results of the Census which is taken periodically. 2. There is not any distinct statistical department in the colony, but the compilation and preparation of statistics have been generally regarded as appertaining to the office of the Registrar-General, who has exercised a general control over the extent and character of the statistics to be compiled. The preparation of the above volumes has thus always been undertaken in that office, and the tables are either compiled therein from records of the department, or from returns specially applied for from public departments or private sources. The principal tables relating to trade, interchange, and finance arc supplied in a complete form to the Registrar-General by the Customs, Treasury, Postal, and Telegraph Departments respectively. 3. The volume of Statistics embraces information relating to population and vital statistics, with the causes of death; meteorology, trade and interchange, finance, accumulation and production, law, crime and education, and miscellaneous statistics relating to municipal boroughs, road districts, constabulary, volunteers, &c. A copy of the volume for 1876 is forwarded herewith. 4. The free circulation in this colony of these statistics amounts to about 400 volumes, of which about one-half are for Members of the General Assembly and official departments. About 76 volumes are forwarded to various parts of the Australian Colonies, a similar number to other British dependencies and foreign countries, and about 211 arc forwarded to Great Britain. The price of the volume being 155., the sales thereof are not worth noticing. Wm. 11. E. Brown, Wellington, Bth January, 1878. Registrar-General.

No. 8. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby to the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon. (No. 9.) Government House, Wellington, My Lord,-— New Zealand, 31st January, 1878. Referring to your Lordship's Despatch No. 44, 9th November, 1877, I have now the honor to enclose a copy of a memorandum which I have received from my Government, by which your Lordship will observe that, although inquiry has been made at the principal ports of the colony, the Government have been unable to obtain any information regarding the complaints made by Count Menabrea, that the colonial authorities had refused to arrest Italian deserters; and I can only express regret that any difficulties of the kind should have arisen. At the same time, until the receipt of Her Majesty's Order in Council of June, 18G3, the authorities here would have had no power to arrest Italian deserters, except under the Colonial Act. The Order in Council has, however, now been gazetted, and the same difficulty cannot occur again. I have, &c, The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon. NORMANBY.