A.—2.

I shall communicate these results to the Secretary to the Gilchrist Trust, and I have no doubt that he will forward to you an official notification of the award of the Gilchrist Scholarship to Mr. Salmond, whose private address is Leith Street, Dunedin. I have, &c, Arthur Milman, E. G. W. Herbert, Esq., Colonial Office. Eegistrar.

No. 15. The Secretary of State for the Colonies to His Excellency the Administrator. (New Zealand. General.) Sir,— Colonial Office, Downing Street, 14th October, 1882. I have the honour to draw your attention to my Circular Despatch of the : Bth of July, 1881, desiring to be informed whether your Government wishes to' be included in the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and the Eepublic of the Equator, which was signed at Quito on the 18th of October, 1880; and I have to request that you will be good enough to furnish me with an answer to that Despatch at an early date. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government KIMBEELEY. of New Zealand.

Reply, A.-1, No. 22,

No. 16. The Secretary of State for the Colonies to His Excellency the Governor. (New Zealand, No. 47.) Sir, — Downing Street, 2nd November, 1882. I have the honour to transmit to you, to be laid before your Government, a copy of a petition addressed to the Prince of Wales by certain discharged soldiers, respecting an alleged promise of grants of land by the New Zealand Government. I request that you will be so good as to furnish me with a report from your Government on the subject. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government KIMBEELEY. of New Zealand.

Reply, A.-1, No. 23,

Enclosure. Petition from Discharged Soldiers to the Prince of Wales. Sir, — Wanganui, New Zealand, Bth September, 1882. May it please your Eoyal Highness to be so kind to accept this our petition for a grant of sixty acres of land, which the New Zealand Government promised to give to each Imperial soldier that would remain in the Colony ; and upon this promise we took a free discharge, at our own request, to settle upon the land and assist the Government from being attacked by the Native rebels. If there was no land to be given we would not have taken our discharge in the Colony; we would have gone Home with our regiments. The Act for granting land to discharged soldiers was not cancelled until after the Imperial army had left the Colony. We petitioned the New Zealand Government for the land, and the Government said they could not grant us any land. The Government did not treat the rebel Natives in such a manner. The rebels received large reserves, but the soldiers that fought their battles have been refused a small portion—sixty acres. If it had not been for the ten thousand Imperial soldiers, commanded by the brave Generals Sir D. A. Cameron and Trevor Chute, that crushed the Native rebellion, the New Zealand Government's Militia and Volunteers would have been defeated by the Native rebels of New Zealand; then the savage Maoris would have murdered and massacred the Europeans in all parts of the Colony. The New Zealand Government has treated us very unjustly. We, the undersigned loyal subjects, late of Her Most Gracious Majesty's Imperial Army, most humbly solicit your Eoyal Highness's superior aid in bringing our grievances before your Imperial Parliament, and, if your Eoyal Highness cannot obtain for us the land we seek, we trust you will procure for us a passage home to England. And your petitioners will ever pray,

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