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prominent members of both sides of the House took place upon these reports. The Colonial Treasurer expressed the opinions of the Government and of the country, and in these opinions the leader of the Opposition, coincided. Members coming from the Harbour Board district also expressed their views very fully ; and you will observe that the result of the discussion in the House was substantially the same as the recommendation of the Public Accounts Committee—namely, " The Committee cannot recommend Parliament to take any action in the matter." I was careful to send you with my last letter the Hansard reports of the debate, together with the reports of the two Committees, and other papers, to which I directed your attention ; and this was done with the object of your being placed in possession, as fully as possible, of the mind of Parliament and of the Government upon the subject of the claims of the New Plymouth Elarbour Board bondholders. All this information was intended as a reply to your communications, and leaves no room, I submit, for the remark that your arguments had not been dealt with. So far as I can see, no more complete reply could have been furnished at the time, and nothing has since transpired which leads me to hold out any hopes of a different result being arrived at should the matter be again placed before Parliament for its consideration. I have, &c, W. P. Beeves, The Bight Hon. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., For the Premier. Chairman, Council of Foreign Bondholders, 17, Moorgate Street, London, E.G. English. — For Senior Civil Service. Time allowed: 3 hours. Papee No. 2.—Liteeatuee and Books. 1. What causes contributed to the remarkable outburst of literature during the latter part of the reign of Queen Elizabeth ? 2. Sketch the rise of the drama in England. What dramatic writers lived before Shakspeare? 3. Professor Dowden remarks of Hamlet that he " is disqualified for action by his excess of the reflective tendency, and by his unstable will, which alternates between complete inactivity and fits of excited energy." Illustrate this by reference to Hamlet's proceedings from the ghost scene to the death of the King in the last act. 4. By whom and on what occasions were the following lines spoken ? Write out either the first or the second in your own words, so as to show you understand the meaning:— (a.) So oft in chances in particular men, That for some vicious mole of nature in them By the o'ergrowth of pure complexion, Oft breaking down the pales and forts of reason, Or by some habit that too much o'erleavens The form of plausive manners, that these men, Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect, Being nature's livery or fortune's star, Shall in the general censure take corruption From that particular fault. (b.) The other motive, Why to a public count I might not go, Is the great love the gen'ral gender bear him; Who, dipping all his faults in their affection, Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone, Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows, Too slightly timber'd for so loud a wind, Would have reverted to my bow again, And not where I had aimed them, (c.) Brevity is the soul of wit. (d.) I once did hold it, as our statists do, A baseness to write fair, and laboured much How to forget that learning ; but, sir, now It did me yeoman's service, (e.) But look ! the morn, in russet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastern hill. (/.) You may wear your rue with a difference. • . 5. Explain the following : — (a.) Why do you go about to recover the wind of me, as if you would drive me into a toil ? (6.) By'r lady, your ladyship is nearer to heaven than when I saw you last, by the altitude of a chopine. Pray God your voice, like a piece of uncurrent gold, be not cracked within the ring, (c.) With two Provincial roses on my razed shoes. (d.) The extravagant and erring spirit. (e.) Armed at point exactly, cap-a-pe. 6. What arguments have been used to vindicate Bacon from the charge of corruption, and how does Macaulay deal with th'em ? 7. What is meant by the inductive method? Can Bacon properly be said to have invented it ? If not, what novel application of it forms the basis of his system of philosophy ? 8. Macaulay describes Horace Walpole as one who was always " drawn by some strange attraction from the great to the little, and from the useful to the odd." How did this characteristic show itself in Walpole's political professions and in his artistic and literary pursuits ? 9. What are Walpole's merits or defects as a letter-writer, and what gives his correspondence particular interest and value ?