33

D.—2

Enclosure 2 in No. 48. Admiral Hall to the Agent-General. Sir, — Admiralty, 20th March, 1880. T am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this day's date, enclosing an extract from the Times relative to a statement made by the captain of the British ship " Vancouver" that he had observed lights on Amsterdam Island. My Lords desire me to inform you in reply that a telegram lias been sent to the Cape of Good Hope, directing H.M.S. " Raleigh," now on her way to Sydney, to examine Amsterdam Island in case of any shipwrecked crews having landed there. The " llaleigh may be expected to arrive at the Cape of Good Hope about the middle of April. I have, &c, The Agent-General for New Zealand, London. Robert Hall.

By Authority : G-eobge DmsiiUitT, Government Printer, Wellington. —1880. trice Is. 6d.] 5—D. 2.