A.—2

24

vention of 12th of October, 1860; Second Supplementary Convention of 16th of November, 1860; Treaty of Commerce and Navigation of 23rd of July, 1873; Convention Supplementary to ditto of 24th of January, 1874; and Declaration relative to Expertise of 24th of January, 1874. This notice will take effect on the Ist of January, 1880.

No. 31. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. Sir Michael Hicks Beach to the Officer Administering the Government of New Ze/Uuand. (Circular.) Sir, —■ Downing Street, 27th January, 1879. I have the honor to transmit to you, for information and publication in the colony under your government, a copy of an Order of the Queen in Council of the 30th December last, under the Merchant Shipping Act, modifying a previous Order in Council of the 29th of Eebruary, 1868, exempting from remeasurement in this country Danish vessels the certificates of Danish nationality and registry of which are dated on and after the Ist of October, 1867. It appears that the Board of Trade did not furnish this department, as in the present instance, with a copy of the Order in Council of the 29 th of Eebruary, 1868, for transmission to the various colonial Governments: I therefore enclose copies of that Order, which (if not already published in the colony) should be published at the same time as the amending Order. I have, &c, M. E. HICKS BEACH. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand.

Enclosure in No. 31. At the Court at Osborne House, Isle of Wight, the 30th day of December, 1878. Present: The Queen's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. Whereas by "The Merchant Shipping Act Amendment Act, 1862, " it is enacted that "whenever it is made to appear to Her Majesty that the rules concerning the measurement of tonnage of merchant ships for the time being in force under the principal Act have been adopted by the Government of any foreign country, and are in force in that country, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Order in Council, to direct that the ships of such foreign country shall he deemed to be of the tonnage denoted in their certificates of registry or other national papers, and thereupon it shall no longer be necessary for such ships to be remeasured iu any port or place in Her Majesty's dominions, but such ships shall be deemed to be of the tonnage denoted in their certificates of registry or other papers, in the same mariner, to the same extent, and for the same purposes, in, to, and for which the tonnage denoted in the certificates of registry of British ships is to be deemed the tonnage of such ships :" And whereas by "The Merchant Shipping Act, 1876," it is enacted that when "Her Majesty has power under cThe Merchant Shipping Act, 1854/ or any Act passed or hereafter to be passed amending the same, to make an Order in Council, it shall he lawful for Her Majesty from time to time to revoke, alter, or add to any Order so made :" And whereas by an Order in Council dated 29th day of February, 1868, Her Majesty, to whom it was made to appear that the said rules for the measurement of the tonnage of merchant ships had been adopted by the Government of His Majesty the King of Denmark, was pleased to direct that the ships of Denmark the certificates of Danish nationality and registry of which were dated on and after the Ist October, 1867, should be deemed to be of the tonnage denoted in the said certificates of Danish nationality and registry : And whereas certain modifications have been recently made in the rules concerning the measurement of tonnage of merchant ships in force in Denmark, whereby, from and after the Ist day of October, 1878, the allowance for engine-room in certain steamships will be estimated in a mode differing from, that in force in this country : And whereas it has been made to appear to Her Majesty that it is desirable to alter the said Order in Council, so far as the same applies or relates to the mode of estimating the allowance for engine-room in Danish steamships : Her Majesty is hereby pleased, by and with the advice of her Privy Council, to direct, as regards Danish steamships, that if the owner or master of any merchant ship belonging to the said Kingdom of Denmark, and measured after the said Ist day of October, 1878, which is propelled by steam or any other power requiring engine-room,