exceeding ICi. per man, for '.he purchase of clothing and outfit for the voyage, also for iron bedsteads, bedding, cooking utensils, and for a few agricultural implements, seeds, fee.; and a sum of 2,000/. was authoiised by the Major-General Commanding to be issued from the Commissariat Chest at Auckland, ;is an advance to the Pensioners, for the purpose of enabling them to purchase furniture and stock. From a statement furnished to the Treasury by the Master-General and Board of Ordnance, it appears that tools and implements were supplied in 1847-8 for the use of the Fenciblcs to the value oi 1,552Z> 17s. s;£d.; and for these and the other stores subsequently supplied by the Oadnance, it is stated that repayment has been or is in course of being made by the Pensioners. The other advances from the Commissariat Chest at Auckland for Pension Money are recoverable in the country in the ordinary manner; but in the case of eleven Pensioners who died on the passage to New Zealand, there is a loss of 100/. ss. 5d., on account of the advances made on the security of their pensions. The expenses incurred for the transport and messing of the Fencibles and their families on board ship were originally intended to have been met by a charge on the Navy Estimates for 1847-8, Vote No. 17 J but the estimated amount appears to have been subsequently struck out of the Navy Estimate.* Until 1851 the expenditure for the conveyance of the two first detachments of Pensioners remained, by an arrangement between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Secretary at War, chargeable to the New Zealand Land Fund; and repayments to the extent of £6,113 ss. sd. appears to have been made at Auckland, leaving a small balance of £65 10s. on the advances made in 1849, on the authority of the Treasury, to the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners, who were charged with the duty of taking up the necessary freight for the conveyance of the Pensioners to New Zealand. Subsequently, on the occasion of filling up the vacancies in the New Zealand Corps, the Treasury, in communication with the Secretary of for the Colonies and the Admiralty, determined that the expense of " conveying Recruits to the Pensioner Companies in New Zealand, either from this country or by the transfer of Pensioner Convict Guards from Van Diemen's Land, should be paid out of the votes tak n by the Naval Department for freight of ships engaged for the conveyance of Troops and of Military Pensioners." And in consideration of the saving which was represented to accrue from the substitution of the New Zealand Fencibles for a portion of regular Troops, who would otherwise be employed in New Zealand, the Loids of the Treasury sanctioned provision being made in the Parliamentary Estimates for Emigration purposes in 1851-2 of a sum of £4,400 to defray the charge of the extra number of women and children belonging to the Fencibles in excess of the compliment allowed to Troops embarked on board transport ships, whilst a sum of £2000 was taken in the Navy Estimate to cover the expense of sending out the men. According to this arrangement a sum of £1,005 2s. 4d. appears to be recoverable from the Admiralty for the value of provisions, medicines, &c., supplied by the Commissariat at Auckland for the use of the Pensioners while on board the transport ships; and the total sum of £2,616 16s. Id. authorised by the Treasury to be carried to the account of the ColoLial Land and Emigration Commissioners, between the 10th of February aud 10th December, 1852, is chargeable to the Ndvy and Colonial votes respectively. On the formaiion of the New Zealand Fencible Corps, the Treasury, on the application of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, directed the Commissary in charge at Auckland to advance from the Cammissariat Chest such sums as might be authorised by the warrants of the Military Officer commanding, to meet the requisitions of the Lieutenant-Governor, with regard to the accommodation to be provided for the Corps, on its arrival in the Colony ; a separate account of all advances made being kept, and a two-monthly statement of them transmitted to the Treasury. At the joint request of the Governor and the Officer commanding in New Zealand, this arrangement was subsequently modified, and payments were to be made, in the first instance, from the Colonial Treasury, under the authority of the

Expenditure for conveyance of Fencibles and their families.

Advances from the Commissariat Chest for Fencible services.

Admiralty Letter of June 5, 1848.