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question of requiring persons applying for certificates of competency as masters and mates to give up all previous certificates held by them. Copies of the correspondence in which this question was raised, and to which the Board of Trade letter refers, are also enclosed for the information of your Government. I have, &c, KNUTSEORD. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand. [Enclosures not printed.]

(New Zealand, No. 39.) My Lord, — Government House, 10th May, 1888. With reference to your Lordship's circular despatch of the 11th Eebruary last, enclosing a copy of a letter from the Board of Trade respecting the question of requiring persons applying for certificates as masters and mates to give up all previous certificates held by them, I have the honour to inform you that the practice recommended in Mr. Gray's letter has been followed in this colony since the year 1880, and that the new form of application (Examination 2) will be adopted as soon as possible. I have, &c, W. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS. The Right Hon. Lord Knutsford, &c.

Search for Wrecked Crews. (New Zealand, No. 35.) Sir, — Downing Street, 30th July, 1888. I have the honour to transmit to you herewith a copy of a letter from the Admiralty, with its enclosure, giving an account of the search made by the French man-of-war " La Meurthe " for the wrecked crew of the " Tamaris," and relating to the replacement on Hog Island of provisions in the interest of shipwrecked mariners. I have, &c, KNUTSEORD. Governor Sir W. F. D. Jervois, G.C.M.G., C.8., &c.

Enclosure. Sir,— Admiralty, 17th July, 1888. I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to transmit, for the perusal of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, extracts from a letter from the commanding officer of the French man-of-war "LaMeurthe," stating that he had replaced the provisions expended by the shipwrecked crew of the " Tamaris " on Hog Island. As the New Zealand Government provided these provisions in the interest of shipwrecked mariners, it will interest you to know that they have been used, and I am to suggest that a copy of the report from the commander of the " La Meurthe " should be communicated to them. I have, &c, The Under-Secretary of State, Colonial Office. Evan Macgregor. Sub-enclosure. Exteait du Rapport du Lieutenant de Vaisseau commandant l'Aviso Transport "La Meurthe" au Capitaine de Vaisseau commandant la Division Navale de l'Ocean Indien. Commandant, — . . . . Mais avant tout je dois vous renseigner sur le but principal de mon voyage, la recherche de treize naufrages francais, et vous informer que j'ai le regret de revenir sans eux. Les naufrages n'etaient plus sur les lies au moment de mon arrivee. Je dis, " n'etaient plus," car ils y ont habite pendant sept mois, et Ton ne s'etait pas trompe au Ministere en supposant qu'il s'agissait de l'cquipage du " Tamaris." Mais il a du perir dans une traversee qu'il a tentee pour se rendre d'une ile a l'autre de l'archipel a moins qu'il n'ait ete recueilli par un navire. Voici maintenant des renseignements absohrment exacts. Je les extrais d'une lettre signee " Majou, Capitaine du 'Tamaris,'" et que j'ai ouvee a l'ile aux Cochons le 2 Decembre : "Le Tamaris," trois mats en fer, de Bordeaux, par une brume epaisse a aborde l'ile des Pingouins le 9 Mars, 1887, a 2 heures du matin. II a coute a environ trois milles.dans le S.S.O. de l'ile, dont l'equipage s'est sauv6, et s'est di-ige, dans deux embarcations, vers l'ile aux Cochons.- Ils l'atteignirent le 11 Mars, n'ayant eu le temps d'emporter de le navire qu'un peu d'eau et 300 livres de biscuits. L'ile aux Cochons presente l'aspect le plus desole qui se puisse imaginer, aussi la joie des naufrages a-t-elle du etre vive lorsqu'ils aperjurent sur cette terre deserte une cabane, et dans la cabane les provisions et les vetements deposes par le navire-de-guerre anglais " Comus " en 1880.

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