3

0.—7

No. 6. Mr. W. Mullins to W. Kennaway, Esq. Deab Sir ,— 41, Coleman Street, E.C., 24th March, 1891. The paragraph in your letter of 27th April last was incorrect in several respects, and I ought to have called your attention to it at the time. Without going into the matter in detail, it is due to Mr. Eees to say that I did not intend to convey that I had any legal claim upon Mr. Eees; but I understood him to wish to give me an advantage with reference to acquiring some of the land in question, which would, in fact, recoup me what I had paid to the Association for my shares. I did not intend to make, and do not make, any imputation upon Mr. Eees personally. I am, &c, Willoughby Mullins. W. Kennaway, Esq., New Zealand Government Offices, Victoria Street, SW.

No. 7. Mr. W. Kennaway to W. Mullins, Esq. Dear Sir,— 13, Victoria Street, S.W., 31st March, 1891. I am directed by the Agent-General to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 24th instant, which is very different from what you promised him you would write at the interview you had with him some days ago. At that interview you admitted the truth of Mr. Eees's statements affecting yourself. You acknowledged that the statements you had made to the Agent-General in April last year were without foundation ; that instead of your ever having paid £500 to Mr. Eees himself, you had paid it to an association called "The Co-operative Colonising Association (Limited)," then being promoted, as the price of five hundred shares ; that you had yourself been an active member of the Council of that Association ; that the £500 had been expended with your knowledge and sanction for the purposes of that Association ; and that these facts had all been concealed by you from the Agent-General. Upon your making these admissions the Agent-General called upon you to express your regret for the gross injustice you had done to Mr. Eees, and you promised to do so. Instead of that you merely say that you did not intend to make any imputation against Mr. Eees personally. Surely on reflection you will see that it is not permissible for any one to take such a course, and. the Agent-General once more invites you to express your regret for having misrepresented the case, as you did at your interviews with him last year.

I am, &c, Walter Kennaway, Willoughby Mullins, Esq. Secretary, Agent-General's Department. No. 8. Mr. W. L. Eees to the Hon. the Minister of Lands. Sir, — Victoria Arcade, Auckland, 29th August, 1890. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter dated the 31st July, and numbered as above, enclosing copies of correspondence as follows : (a.) Memorandum from AgentGeneral to Minister of Lands, (b.) Letter from Mr. W. Mullins to Agent-General, (c.) Letter from myself to Mr. Mullins. (d.) Letter from Mr. Kennaway (by direction of the Agent-General) to Mr. W. Mullins. I beg to apologise for the delay in answering your letter, which delay has arisen from stress of private business since its receipt. I shall now proceed to answer the points raised in the above correspondence. I desire to point out that in the letter quoted (d), evidently written under the personal direction of the Agent-General, a serious misstatement occurs. In the paragraph, " From what you have stated at several interviews here, as well as from references to the matter in both your letter and Mr. Eees's, the Agent-General has understood that during that gentleman's visit to this country you paid him a sum of £500 as the price of five hundred shares in a company then intended to be formed for the colonisation of certain lands belonging to Wi Pere and other Native chiefs in the provincial district in question, which company was never actually established," the Agent-General has made a statement which is not only incorrect, but, to the best of my belief, incorrect within the knowledge of Sir F. D. Bell. At the request of the Agent-General, papers were transmitted from the office of the Co-operative Colonising Association (Limited) to himself, as Agent-General of New Zealand, which clearly showed the nature and details of the transaction referred to. Mr. Willoughby Mullins took five hundred shares in the Co-operative Colonising Association (Limited), which was afterwards duly registered under the Joint Stock Companies Acts. He was one of the provisional members of the Council of that Association, afterwards becoming a permanent member. All moneys were expended under his direction and sanction, and he continued to act until the company was voluntarily wound up, which step was also taken with his express sanction, and since my return from England. The total amount of money which I received from the Association for travelling and other expenses during a period of nearly six months amounted, so far as I can recollect, to £40, which I think was the exact sum. My costs and expenses while attempting to make the company successful were at least ten times that amount,