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solemn assurance was given that the prisoners should be tried in January or February of the present year lam further informed that, by another Bill, the trial of these unfortunate Maoris is again postponed for a further period of twelve months. Thus, men who are iu custody for having committed trespasses in assertion of what they believe to be their own rights, and against ■whom, I am credibly informed, no other charge is pending, are actually being detained in prison for a term of two years without trial. My informant writes me that this prolonged imprisonment is likely to cause the death of many of these unfortunate men, and that one of them actually died in gaol on the 22nd July last. lat present venture no comment on this; but appeal to you, if the facts are as I state them, to at once take some action on behalf of these men, who are all, I am credibly informed, absolutely ignorant of the English language, and utterly defenceless against this wrong. I have, &c., The Right Hon. M. E. Grant-Duff, Charles Bradlaugh. Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies.

No. 2. Governor the Hon. Sir Arthur Gordon to the Bight Hon. the Earl of Kimberley Government House, Wellington, My Lord,— New Zealand, 29th December, 1880. I communicated to my Responsible Advisers your Lordship's Despatch No. 36, of the 22nd October, and have received from them a memorandum which they desire me to transmit to your Lordship as an answer to it. 3. Of that minute and its annexes I have accordingly now the honor to enclose a copy, but Ido not consider that lam thereby relieved from the duty imposed on me by your Lordship of myself " preparing a full report respecting " the Native disturbances of 1879 and 1880, and the measures taken by the " Government of New Zealand in consequence of them." This I shall do as soon as I have procured the requisite data, which, in some cases, I do not find it altogether easy to obtain. I have, &c, The Right Hon. the Earl of Kimberley ARTHUR GORDON

Enclosure in No. 2. Memorandum for His Excellency. Ministers present their respectful compliments to the Governor; and return to His Excellency the Despatch from the Secretary of State for the Colonies enclosing a letter from Mr. Bradlaugh, M.P., making statements respecting the arrest and detention of certain Maoris, as to which statements Lord Kimberley requests that he may be supplied with such information as will enable an answer to be given to them, in Parliament if that course should be considered desirable. 2. Believing that Her Majesty's Government would prefer to obtain from existing official documents all the information they contain on the subject, Ministers have the honor to enclose duplicates of Acts of the Assembly, papers presented 1o Parliament, &c, relating to the difficulties on the West Coast of the North Island; and to add to those documents a memorandum by the Native Minister (Mr. Bryce) on the causes which justify the detention of the prisoners. 3. The papers enclosed are— (1.) The Maori Prisoners Trials Act, 1879: (2 ) The Confiscated Lands Inquiry and Maori Prisoners Trials Act, 1879: (3.) The Commission issued under the above-mentioned Act: (4.) Proclamation by the Governor at the time the Commission was issued: (5.) The Maori Prisoners Act, 1880: (6.) The Maori Prisoners Detention Act, 1880 : (7.) Reports and Proceedings of the West Coast Commission: (8.) The West Coast Settlement Act, 1880: (9.) Eeport from Hansard of what passed in the House of Representatives relating to the alleged promise by the Governor as to the time at which the prisoners should be tried : (10.) Extracts from a memorandum by Sir Hercules Eobiuson on the same subject: (11.) The Native Minister's letter to Wiremu Kingi, on the release of that Chief from prison: (12.) Commission to the Hon. Sir William Eox, K.C.M.G., for the settlement of promises made to the West Coast tribes, and of claims made by them: (18.) The Native Minister's memorandum " On the Causes which justify the Detention of the West Coast Maori Prisoners." 4. The Maori Prisoners Trials Act, 1879, was introduced and passed by the late Government: the Confiscated Lands Inquiry, &c, Act, 1879, was introduced and passed by the present Government during a subsequent session, a general election having taken place in the interval.