A.—4c.

No. 26. The Peemiee to the Agent-Geneeal. Eumoueed England arranging with Germany respecting Pacific Islands. Hope interests colonies. be amply protected. Please strongly represent this Colonial Office. 17th October, 1884. Eobeet Stout.

No. 27. The Agent-Geneeal to the Peemiee. Numeeous political events coming oblige England arrange both Germany France probably. Agents-General send joint telegram presently. 17th October, 1884. F. D. Bell.

No. 28. The Agent-Genebal to the Peemiee. Sie, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 17th October, 1884. I have just received and replied to your telegram of to-day about the rumours which had reached you of an arrangement between England and Germany. I have only time by this mail to say this : Watching incessantly, as I have long done, every movement in politics which seemed to affect the Pacific question, I have now become certain in my own mind, not only that events are tending more and more surely every day towards an arrangement with Germany, but that England must inevitably also make one with France. These events, moreover, are now moving with such increasing speed that you will hardly have time to consider their effect before you will find that decisions respecting them have been forced upon Her Majesty's Government—decisions which must be of momentous importance to all Australasia. In these circumstances, and having no doubt in my own mind that what I am speaking of will happen, I have felt a kind of stupor come over me at the prospect of the approaching interview of the Agents-General with Lord Derby. Our Governments do not seem to have made up their minds on any clear and united policy, and we are paralyzed ourselves because we do not know what our Governments specifically want. But the time is coming, or, rather, I ought to say, has come, when, if Lord Derby cannot take counsel with the Agents-General on some definite lines, he will simply have to dismiss them with courteous platitudes; and therefore I believe it to be a matter of paramount necessity at this moment that we should receive instructions for our guidance on some broad principles which the events of the last fifteen months have at last invested with an immediately pressing importance. A meeting of the Agents-General has been summoned for next Monday, when I propose to lay before my colleagues the view I take of the present state of the Pacific question, and shall induce them, if possible, to send a joint cablegram thereon to our Governments. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

No. 29. The Peemieb, Victoria, to the Peemibe, Now Zealand. I have much pleasure in communicating to you the following telegram received from the Colonial Secretary, Western Australia, viz. : " His Excellency the Governor wishes me to convey to you, and through you to the other members of the Committee appointed at the recent Intercolonial Convention to watch over Australian interests, his congratulations on the establishment of a British colony in New Guinea, a step which may be regarded as the first really substantial result of the unremitting zeal and energy with which you and your colleagues have for many months been advocating measures for securing the integrity of Australia." James Seevice, Melbourne, 21st October, 1884. Chairman of Convention Committee.

No. 30. The Agent-General to the Peemiee. Sie, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 23rd October, 1884. Major-General Scratchley, E.E., has been appointed to be Her Majesty's special Commissioner for New Guinea. The Imperial Government is now considering the nature and scope of the instructions he is to receive, and I hope to be soon in a position to give you confidential information thereon. One of the points already settled, however, is the formation of a Board of Advice r upon which the colonies contributing to the £15,000 will be represented, to consult with the Commissioner. General Scratchley will most likely leave England in the course of November. I have, &c, The Hon. the Premier, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

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