A.-1, No. 14.

Eeply, A.-l, No. 38,

A.—2.

am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to send herewith, for the information of the Earl of Derby, an extract from a report which my Lords have received from the Deputy-Master of the Mint, and I am to request that the same may be communicated to the Colonial Government of New Zealand. My Lords concur with the Deputy-Master in opinion that, as there are no local Currency Acts in New Zealand, it is desirable that the whole Imperial Act should become law, rather than portions of it. This will be in accordance with what has been already done in South Africa and Fiji, and can hardly cause any practical inconvenience, as the sections which the Government of New Zealand propose to omit will be simply inoperative in the Colony. I have, &c, The Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office. E. E. Welby.

Sub-Enclosure. Extract from a Letter from the Mint, dated Ist February, 1883. " It would appear desirable that the Coinage Act should generally be made law in Colonies in which the Imperial coinage is alone current; and that Act has, as their Lordships are aware, been already applied in its entirety to the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, and Fiji, by Orders in Council of the 29th November, 1881. " The case of New South Wales, to which reference is made in Mr. Bramston's letter, is somewhat exceptional, as there is a branch of the Eoyal Mint at Sydney; and, for the reasons given in my report of the 13th December, 1881, it seemed advisable that the question of applying the Act to that Colony and to Victoria should be specially referred to the Deputy-Masters of the Mint at Sydney and Melbourne, a course which has been adopted under their Lordships' order of the 13th December last. "In New Zealand, however, no such special circumstances exist, and there would appear to be no reason why the whole of the Act should not be applied to it, as has already been done in the case of the Cape, Natal, and Fiji."

Enclosure 2. The Colonial Office to the Treasury. Sir, — Downing Street, 20th January, 1883. With reference to the letter from this department of the 27th November last, relative to the proposed extension of the Imperial Coinage Act, 33 Vict., cap. 10, of 1870, to New South Wales, I am directed by the Earl of Derby to transmit to you, for the consideration of the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, a copy of a Despatch from the Acting Governor of New Zealand, enclosing a memorandum by the Premier, suggesting that sections 4, 5, 6, and 7, and that part of section 18 of the Act that relates to British Possessions, should be brought into operation in New Zealand. I am also to enclose, for the information of their Lordships in dealing with the question, a copy of a Despatch received in 1879 from the Governor, with reference to the monetary legislation in force in the Colony, I have, &c, The Secretary to the Treasury. J. Bramston.

No. 40. The Secretary of State for the Colonies to His Excellency the Governor. (New Zealand, No. 15.) Sir,— Downing Street, sth March, 1883. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 85, of the 3rd of November last, respecting the efforts of certain persons at Timaru to save life from drowning during a storm on the 14th of May last. In accordance with the wish of your Ministers, the papers enclosed in your Despatch were communicated to the Eoyal Humane Society ; and I now have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Government, a copy of a correspondence which has passed between the Society and this department. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government DEEBY. of New Zealand.

Enclosure. The Colonial Office to the Eoyal Humane Society. Sir, — Downing Street, 19th December, 1882. I am directed by the Earl of Derby to transmit to you, to be laid before the Eoyal Humane Society, a copy of a Despatch, with its enclosure, from the Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand, respecting the efforts of certain persons at Timaru to save life from drowning. I have, &c, The Secretary, Eoyal Humane Society. J. Bramston.

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