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Hub-enclosures. Upon an Application from Mr. J. T. Arundel for a License to carry Native Labourers in the "Olive." To His Excellency the Governor. As I cannot urge any objection to this application, it is cast upon me by the Imperial Act and by constitutional relations to recommend you to grant the license. At the same time I must point out to your Excellency that the application is recommended on very slender grounds, that there is no power in this Government to see that it is worthily exercised, and that licenses of the kind may be made the cloak for improper practices instead of a means of preventing them. I think your Excellency should represent this opinion to the Secretary of State. 22nd March, 1887. . Julius Vogel. To the Hon. the Commissioner of Customs. In the minute addressed to you on the 21st instant by Mr. Seed, the permanent Secretary of the Customs Department, Mr. Seed gives several reasons why it appears that there is no objection to the granting of the license asked for. Moreover, you state that you " cannot urge any objection to this application." I have therefore signed the license. As regards the general question of granting applications for licenses of this description coming from citizens connected with New Zealand, it is to be observed that the officers of the Government of New Zealand are alone in a position to investigate the circumstances connected with such applications. It therefore necessarily becomes the duty of that Government to make all possible inquiries in each particular case, and, having done so, to advise whether there is any reason why an application for a license should or should not be granted. If any doubt exists as to the propriety of granting any particular application, I presume the Government would advise that the license should be refused. It is true that the Government of New Zealand has no power to see that the license, if granted, is worthily exercised; but this circumstance cannot be held to absolve that Government from forming a judgment on matters which the officers under their orders are alone in a position to investigate and advise accordingly. I have no objection to forward the question to the Secretary of State, but, before I decide on doing so, I shall be glad if the Government will consider further whether any useful object can be gained thereby. Dunedin, N.Z., 28th March, 1887. Wμ. F. Drummond Jeevois.

No. 2. Lord Knutsfokd to the Eight Hon. the Earl of Glasgow. (New Zealand.—No. 36.) My Loed, — Downing Street, 10th August, 1892. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir J. Prendergast's despatch No. 18, of the 16th May, with its enclosures, relating to the grant of a license, under " The Pacific Islanders' Protection Act, 1872," to the schooner "Ivanhoe," belonging to Mr. John Arundel. As Mr. Ballance, although objecting generally to the issue of licenses under the Act, left the matter in the hands of the Officer Administering the Government, the course taken by Sir J. Prendergast was, in 2ny opinion, the proper one in this case ; but I need hardly point out that strict inquiry should in all cases be made before a license is granted. You will shortly receive a circular despatch, which I am addressing to the Governors of the Australasian Colonies, sending copies of a correspondence which has taken place with Mr. Arundel on this subject. I have, &c, Knutsfoed. Governor the Eight Hon. the Earl of Glasgow, G.C.M.G., &c.

No. 3. Lord Knutsfokd to the Eight Hon. the Earl of Glasgow. (New Zealand.—No. 37.) My Lokd, Downing Street, 17th August, 1892. I have the honour to transmit to you herewith, for your information and for that of your Government, the enclosed copies of a correspondence which has taken place between Mr. Arundel and this department, connected with the subject of issue of labour licenses by the Governors of the Australasian Colonies under "The Pacific Islanders' Protection Act, 1872." I have, &c, Governor the' Eight Hon. the Earl of Glasgow, G.C.M.G.. &c. Knutsfoed.

Enclosures. Mr. John T. Akundel to Lord Knutsfoed. My Loed Auckland, 9th May, 1892. Eeferring to previous correspondence on the subject of labour licenses in the South Pacific required by " The Pacific Islanders' Protection Act, 1872," I beg to bring before your Lordship a fresh development in regard to the present Executive Government of New Zealand, which has