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1910 NEW ZEALAND.

RELICS OF QUEEN VICTORIA: PRESENTATION BY MRS. R. M. MASLIN, OF STRATFORD-ON-AVON: CORRESPONDENCE AND LIST.

Laid on the Table of the House of Representatives by Leave.

RELICS OF HER LATE MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA.

Memorandum by the Right Hon. the Prime Minister. The articles presented by Mrs. Maslin represent Royal gifts to Mr. Stephen Maslin, who for the long period of sixty years was in the service of the households of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria and of her mother H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent. The autograph letter by Her late Majesty is of special interest. It was written in 1888, and expresses Her Majesty's regret that Mr. Maslin was retiring from Her Majesty's service, and states that the event severed the last link with Her Majesty's childhood. The relics include a handsome gold watch presented by Queen Victoria, medals, Royalautograph photographs, &c, together with a portion of a wreath made by Her late Majesty's own hands, and also of a wreath from His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, on the occasion of Mr. Maslin's death in 1891. J. G. Ward.

Mr. C. What Palliser to the Private Secretary to the Right Hon. the Prime Minister. Westminster Chambers, 13 Victoria Street, London, S.W., 20th August, 1909. Dear Mr. Hislop,— Relics of the late Queen Victoria. I send you herewith the parcel left by Mrs. Maslin, of Stratford-on-Avoii, for the people of New Zealand (and list attached of the various items), which she is desirous that Sir Joseph Ward shall convey personally to New Zealand, to be placed as he best thinks for exhibition in the Dominion, in appreciation of New Zealand's patriotic offer to the Mother-country. You will remember that you saw the correspondence with this lady, and that Sir Joseph Ward accepted the gift on behalf of New Zealand. She would, 1 am sure, highly value a formal letter of thanks from the Prime Minister if one can be sent when he gets back. Yours sincerely, James Hislop, Esq., C. What Palliser. Private Secretary to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Ward, K.C.M.G., Hotel Cecil, W.C.

List op Articles presented by Mrs. R. M. Maslin, Stratford-on-Avon, England, to the People of New Zealand of Relics reminiscent of the Life of Her late Majesty Queen Victoria, in Recognition of the Offer made by New Zealand of a Battleship to the Imperial Government. i. A gold watch presented by Her Majesty to Stephen Maslin, Esq., in right of his sixty years' service in the households of the Queen and of her mother, H.R.H. the Duchess of Kent. 2. A letter accompanying the watch, in the Queen's writing. 3. A lock of the Queen's hair, cut off in 1829. 4. A pack of cards, formerly belonging to the Queen. 5. A photograph of the Queen, taken on Jubilee Day, 1887. (Signed.) 6. Another photograph of the Queen, in the dress she wore on the occasion of the marriage of the Duke of Albanv. (Signed.) 7. Two Royal programmes of plays presented at Windsor Castle under the management of the present writer's father, George Ellis. 8. Various menus, &c. 9. A small plush case containing photos of the Queen, of the present King and Queen, and of the late Duke of Clarence. Queen Victoria herself placed them in the case, and handed it to my late father-in-law.