H.-1

meeting you shall elect one of your number to be Chairman, and, in case of the death or absence of any such Chairman, or in case of his inability to act, then that, at any of your meetings hereunder, one of your number may be appointed to be Chairman, as occasion shall require : And we do also by these presents give and grant unto you, at any meeting or meetings, full power and authority to call before you and examine such person or persons as you shall judge likely to afford you any information upon the subject of this our Commission, and to take such examination upon oath or otherwise as in your discretion shall seem meet, and to inquire of and concerning the premises by all lawful ways and means whatsoever: And we do further command and enjoin you that you take down the examination of the several witnesses that may appear before you, and reduce the same into writing • and such evidence, together with a full and faithful report under your hands and seals upon the several matters above referred to, transmit to us, on or before the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine : And we will and command that until the first day of July aforesaid, or until any previous date upon which you may be enabled to complete your labours, and shall have transmitted to us your final report, this our Commission shall continue in full force and virtue; and that you, our said Commissioners, shall and may from time to time, and at any place or places in our said colony, proceed in the execution thereof, and of every matter and thing therein contained : And, further, we do hereby declare and direct that all the powers, duties, and functions given to, imposed upon, or vested in you, the said Commissioners, may be exercised by any five of you sitting and acting together in accordance with these presents : And for your assistance in these presents we do hereby nominate and appoint the said William James Habens Secretary to this our Commission : And, lastly, we do hereby declare that these presents are intended to be subject to the provisions of "The Commissioners' Powers Act, 1867," and " The Commissioners' Powers Act 1867 Amendment Act, 1872," and are issued by the Governor of our said colony with the advice and consent of our Executive Council thereof accordingly. In testimony whereof we have caused these our letters to be made patent, and the seal of our said colony to be hereunto affixed. Witness our Right Trusty and Entirely-beloved Cousin and Councillor George Augustus Constantine, Marquis of Normanby, Earl of Mulgrave, Viscount Normanby, and Baron Mulgrave of Mulgrave, all in the County of York, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom ■ and Baron Mulgrave of New Ross, in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland; a Member of our Most Honourable Privy Council; (1.5.) Knight Grand Cross of our Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George; Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over our Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same; at Wellington, this twenty-third day of December, in the forty-second year of our reign, and in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight. By His Excellency's command. Normanby. J. Ballance. Approved in Council. Fred. Le Patotjrel, Acting Clerk of the Executive Council.

[Indorsement.] Victoria, by the grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith: To all to whom these presents shall come, and to our Commissioners named in our within Letters Patent, and the Letters Patent of similar import bearing date the eleventh day of February, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.— Greeting : Whereas we did in the within Letters Patent command and enjoin you our said Commissioners that the evidence taken by you, together with a full and faithful report under your hands and seals upon the several matters therein referred to, you should transmit to us on or before the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine : And whereas it hath been represented to us that, in order to enable you the more properly to fulfil the duties intrusted to you, it would be expedient to extend the period within which you-were required to transmit to us the said report as hereinafter provided : Now, therefore, we do hereby, with the advice of the Executive Council of the Colony of New Zealand, declare and appoint that notwithstanding anything in our said Commission contained, the time at or before which you shall, using all diligence, present to us your report as aforesaid, is hereby extended from the first day of July, one thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine, to the thirty-first day of March, one thousand eight hundred and eighty, until which date, or until such earlier date as you shall be able to conclude your labours, all the rights, privileges, and powers in our within Commission contained shall be and remain in full force and effect: And with the like advice we do hereby confirm the said Letters Patent, except as altered by these presents.

5