A.—2

10

No. 13. (No. 31.) My Loed, — Downing Street, 9th July, 1897. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir James Prendergast's despatch No. 32, of the 13th May, transmitting, for presentation to the Queen, an address from Mr. Wi Pere, member of the House of Representatives, and other representative Maoris, and to inform you that I have now laid the address before Her Majesty. Her Majesty was deeply touched by the loving greeting of the Maori people of New Zealand, and I have received her gracious command to convey her thanks to Mr. Wi Pere, on behalf of his fellow-countrymen, for their dutiful salutations and prayers. With reference to that part of the address which dealt with the question of the Maori lands, Her Majesty desires that Mr. Wi Pere should be informed that it is one for the consideration of her Ministers in New Zealand, to whom she has directed it to be referred. I have, &c, J. CHAMBERLAIN. Governor the Right Hon. the Earl of Ranfurly, K.C.M.G., &o.

No. 20,

No. 14. (No. 32.) My Loed, — Downing Street, 10th July, 1897. I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of Sir James Prendergast's despatch No. 27, of the 13th May, forwarding an address to Her Majesty from the New Zealand Conference of the Australasian Wesleyan Methodist Church. The address has been laid before the Queen, who commanded that her thanks should be conveyed to the President for the loyal and respectful congratulations of the Conference, and for their prayers on her behalf. I have, &c, J. CHAMBERLAIN. Governor the Right Hon. the Earl of Ranfurly, &c.

No. 15. (General.) My Lord, — Downing Street, 16th July, 1897. The time has arrived for the departure from this country of the various component units of the remarkable military assemblage which has constituted one of the most striking features of the recent Jubilee celebrations, and I cannot allow the occasion to pass without expressing the great satisfaction of Her Majesty's Government that such a unique and. characteristic gathering of Her Majesty's colonial Forces should have been so successfully brought about. 2. The colonial troops have attracted the marked attention not only of the British public, but of military experts of all nations; and by their soldierlike bearing and appearance, and their discipline and general behaviour, both on parade and in quarters, they have won the highest opinions on all sides. 3. Her Majesty's colonial Forces, during their stay in England, have been treated in all respects as regular soldiers ; they have readily and cheerfully conformed to every requirement of regimental and barrack discipline, and, by an intimate association with their comrades of Her Majesty's Regular Forces, have become acquainted with every detail of a soldier's life. 4. It has been a particular satisfaction to Her Majesty's Government that this great occasion has been the means of bringing together men of all creeds and of all races, who, although coming, as many of them have done, from widely separated portions of the Empire, are all united by one bond of allegiance as soldiers of Her Majesty the Queen Empress.