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be appointed :" And whereas it is right and proper that Commissioners should be appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the allegations contained in the said petitions, and into the several matters and things therein set forth, and generally to give effect to the aforesaid resolution of the House of Eepresentatives : Now, therefore, know ye that I, George Augustus Constantino, Marquis of Normanby, Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, having full trust and confidence in your impartiality, ability, and integrity, do hereby, by and with the advice and consent of the Executive Council of the said colony, appoint you the said Henry Bunny, Joseph Giles, and Caleb Whitefoord, by all lawful ways and means and subject to the terms of these presents, to examine and inquire into the several matters and things set forth in the said petitions, and into the truth of any charges therein contained, in the manner hereinafter provided, and into all the facts and circumstances of the case, and generally in the premises ; and further that before you proceed to the investigation of such matters and things you require the charges against any person whomsoever to be clearly and definitely put into writing, and copies thereof to be delivered to the several persons concerned, and that you do not proceed with such inquiry until after the expiration of two days from such delivery, and that you will allow each and every person against whom any charges are preferred to be heard in answer to such charges or any of them ; and, with the like advice and consent, I do hereby require you, within sixty days* from the date hereof, or as much sooner as the same can conveniently be done (using all diligence), to certify to me under your hand and seal your proceedings, and your opinion touching the premises ; and with the like advice and consent I do hereby deelnre that this Commission shall continue in full force and virtue, and that you, the said Commissioners, shall and may from time to time proceed in the execution thereof although tho same be not continued from time to time by adjournment; and I declare that this Commission is under and subject to "The Commissioners' Powers Act, 1867," and "The Commissioners' Powers Act Amendment Act, 1872." Given under the hand of His Excellency the Most Honorable George Augustus Constantine, Marquis of Normanby, Earl of Mulgrave, Viscount Normanby, and Baron Mulgrave of Mulgrave, all in tho County of York, in tho Peerage of the United Kingdom ; and Baron Mulgrave of New Boss, in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland; a Member of Her Majesty's Most Honorable Privy Council; Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George ; Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over the Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same ; and issued under the Seal of the said Colony at the Government House, Wellington, this eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight Approved in Council. Forster Goring, Clerk of the Executive Council. * The time was subsequently extended to ninety days. I do hereby extend the period within which the Commissioners herein appointed shall scud in their report from ninety to one hundred and fifty days. Normanby, Approved in Council this twenty-ninth day of January, 1879. Governor. Fokster Goring, Clerk of Executive Council.

No. 2. Eeport of tho Commissioners. May it Please your Excellency,— Wellington, 28th May, 1879. We, the Commissioners appointed to inquire into the working and management of the Jackson's Bay Settlement, have the honor to report that we have completed the inquiry into the management of the special settlement at Jackson's Bay, which we were directed to undertake by the Commission of your Excellency's predecessor, dated the 18th day of November last; and it now remains for us to express our opinion on the several matters which have been brought under our notice. Our judgment upon them is based partly upon the facts proof of which is contained in the minutes of evidence attached to this report, and partly upon our own observation and knowledge of the special settlement itself, and of the facts relating to it. It will be understood that when, in this report, we make statements of facts not formally recorded in the evidence, but which have come under our own observation, we mean to assert that such facts are within the personal knowledge of at least one of us, and that we are all convinced of their truth. The inf requency of communication with Jackson's Bay, and the deficiency of accommodation there, rendered it necessary for some special arrangements to be made by the Government for the purpose of enabling the inquiry to be properly held. With this view, the steamer " Stella " was placed at our disposal, but much delay occurred before she became available for the work, and consequently, although our Commission bears the early date above quoted, it was not until the Ist of March that we were able to meet together at Hokitika. The original intention was that the inquiry should be begun at Hokitika and finished at Jackson's Bay; but, finding that the Government would be inconvenienced by the detention of the steamer during the whole of our proceedings, we interrupted our sittings at Hokitika and went on to Jackson's Bay, where we inspected the whole of the settlement, and took all the evidence that could be obtained there, after which we returned to Hokitika to complete our inquiry. By this means we avoided the necessity of keeping the "Stella" until our work was finished, and she was ablo to return at once to Wellington, instead of going on to southern ports, as was at first intended. We now proceed to set forth the matters with which we had to deal in such order as may best facilitate the apprehension of our conclusions, and the reasons for them.