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No. 60. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Eight Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach to the Oeeicer Administering the Government of New Zealand. (Circular.) Sir, — Downing Street, 25th July, 1879. I transmit to you a copy of a report on the Leper Asylum at Mahaica, in British Guiana, with an appendix on the use of guyin oil in leprosy. I regret that the copy enclosed does not contain photographs of the cases referred to; but I trust, nevertheless, that it will be of value to the medical officer charged with the care of the leprous poor in the colony under your government. I have, &c, M. E. HICKS BEACH. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand. [The enclosures to the above despatch are filed in the Colonial Secretary's Office.]

No. 61. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Eight Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach to the Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand. (Circular.) Sir, — Downing Street, 28th July, 1879. I have been requested by Lord Cranbrook to transmit to you a copy of the accompanying letter from the Government of India, and enclosures, on the subject of the expenses incurred on account of stowaways left behind by ships in British India, with the view of obtaining information as to the course pursued in such cases in Her Majesty's colonies. I am informed by the Board of Trade that stowaways, when landed in this country, become a charge on parochial funds, and that they cannot be held to be "seamen" within the meaning of "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1851." I should be much obliged if your Government would furnish me with the information desired by the Government of India, and, in the event of your transmitting to me any printed documents, I should be glad if they could be sent in triplicate. I have, &c, M. E. HICKS BEACH. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand.

Enclosure in No. 61. Copy of Letter from Government of India, dated 10th January, 1879.—N0. 1 (Commerce and Trade). We have the honor to forward copy of a letter from the Government of Bengal, soliciting instructions in respect to the course which should be taken in dealing with stowaways left behind in British India, together with our reply thereto, which states at length how the law on the subject appears to us to stand as we are at present advised. 2. Your Lordship will gather therefrom that in our law no special rules have as yet been laid down for the treatment of stowaways left in this country. We have failed to discover any statutory provisions relating to them, except those providing for their punishment. We shall therefore be glad if your Lordship will be pleased to ascertain the procedure adopted in similar cases by the authorities at British and colonial ports. Bearing in mind that the necessity for relieving persons of the class described really originates in the carelessness of masters of vessels, who fail to detect their presence on board before leaving port, we think it undesirable that the expenses incurred should, as is required by the present state of the law, be borne by the Indian taxpayer.

Sub-Enclosure 1 to Enclosure in No. 61. Letter from Government of Bengal to Government of India, dated 11th November, 1878. In submitting copy of a letter from the Conservator of the Port of Chittagong, in which it is reported that, of three stowaways who were brought to Chittagong on board the ship Durham, two were provided with employment on other ships, and the third was put on shore without means of subsistence by Mr. Charles Seymour, the master of the ship, I am directed to say that