9

A.—l

instalments, on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, and the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-four ; and the Corporation will issue to each person entitled to such arrears of interest coupons for the amounts, or such other acknowledgments of indebtedness as the Committee shall approve. 8. The interest to accrue due upon existing loans after the thirty-first December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-two, until the issue of the consolidated loan shall be paid according to the tenor of the existing loans, except that the rate of interest shall be five per cent, per annum. 9. The Corporation will forthwith take such steps as shall be necessary to p-ocure the Legislature of New Zealand to pass an Act of Parliament conferring upon the Corporation all such powers and authorities as may be required to enable the Corporation to carry this agreement into effect; and the draft of such Act of Parliament shall be previously submitted to counsel in New Zealand appointed by the committee, and the same shall contain such provisions as such counsel shall consider necessary for the protection of the holders of the existing loans, and otherwise for carrying this agreement into effect. 10. The Corporation shall procure the consent of the Government of New Zealand, which holds the whole of the existing loan numbered 2 in the schedule hereto, and eight thousand eight hundred pounds of the existing loan numbered 3 in the said schedule, to exchange such holding for the consolidated loan upon the terms hereinbefore mentioned. 11. As soon as such Act of Parliament shall have been passed, and the counsel in New Zealand acting for the committee shall be satisfied that the same confers all necessary powers and authorities upon the Corporation to enable them to carry this agreement into effect, and that the Corporation have otherwise complied with this agreement, the committee will use their best efforts to procure the holders of the existing loans to exchange their present bonds for bonds of the consolidated loan, the agents for such exchange to be such bank or bankers as the Corporation, with the approval of the committee, may appoint. 12. The Corporation shall pay all the costs of the committee of and incidental to the preparation and execution of this agreement, and the negotiations for the same, and all costs and expenses of the committee in employing counsel and solicitors in New Zealand and England, and generally all costs and expenses of the committee of carrying this agreement into effect. 13. If the Corporation shall not, before the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and ninety-three, or such later day as shall be approved by the committee, have procured the passing of such Act of Parliament as aforesaid, this agreement shall be void except as to the last-preceding clause, which shall nevertheless remain in full force and effect. 14. This agreement is subject to confirmation by the Corporation, and, if the same shall not be so confirmed before the expiration of four calendar months from its date, the same shall be void. In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto set their hands the day and year first above written.

The Schedule.

W. A. Low, Agent for the Corporation of Oamaru in London. Witness to the signature of the said William Anderson Low—H. J. Gibbs, Dashwood House, New Broad Street, London, E.C., New Zealand merchant.

No. 12. (No. 40.) My Lord, — Government House, Wellington, 25th September, 1893. I have the honour to report that the General Assembly has passed a Bill entitled " The Electoral Act, 1893," and that the most important feature of that Bill is the clause extending the franchise to women. Although the privilege of voting has not been granted to the female sex in Great Britain, yet, as I am advised that there is nothing in the idea that is repugnant to the law of the Empire, as the subject has been before the electorate 2—A. 1.

Description of Loan. Kate of Interest. Amount of Loan. Date of First Default in Payment of Interest. .. General Loan No. 1, 1875 ... !. „ No. 2, 1879 i. Gas Loan, 1886 ... :. Waterworks Loan No. 1, 1877 i. „ No. 2, 1880 i. „ No. 3, 1880 „ Extension, 1883 ... 7 per cent. 5 „ 5 „ 7 „ 7 „ 7 „ 6 „ £ 2,500 5,000 9,800 60,000 50,000 10,000 14,000 1st March, 1892. No default. No default. 1st February, 1892. 1st January, 1892. 1st May, 1892. 15th April, 1892. 173,000