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sale of which could be in no way beneficial to any portion of the Province of Auckland. The absolute want of connection between the New Zealand Company s settlements and the Province of Auckland was pointedly alluded to by Lord Grey when Secretary of State, in a letter from the under Secretary to Mr. Draine and others of the 22nd July 1850, in which in answer to a complaint made to him by the New Zealand Company, to the effect that he had remitted purchase money to naval and military officers in the government settlements he said " that it certainly did not occur to his lordship that the continuing this privilege in the Northern Province, at a distance from all the Company's settlements could be deemed an infringement of the agreement which he Lord Grey with respect to not lowering the value of land in the Company's settlements by permitting a lower price in other parts of the colony " I would also direct the attention of the Committee to the fact, that the Royal instructions of 1846 prescribe that separate accounts shall be kept by the Treasurer of each of the Provinces of New Zealand of the gross proceeds of the land sales, and, after deducing certain charges therein mentioned that the net balance shall be held in trust for defraying the cost of introducing into the said respective Provinces emigrants from the United Kingdom. 5 A good doal has been said about the difficulty of drawing a line for distinguishing between lands properly liable and not liable to the Debt. Can you throw any light upon that point l Ido not think that any difficulty would arise in drawing an exact line, but for the present purpose it is sufficient to state, that, at the time when the Company's functions expired by the surrender of its charter, they neither had, nor had a right to select a single acre of land within what now comprises the Province of Auckland. 6 By Mr Mackay : Please to state your notion of an exact line ? My notion of an exaci line if put on ihe ground simply of equity and justice, would be a line drawn co-extensive with a boundary line between the Provinces of New Ulster and New Munster, exc nsive of any special claim the Company might have on account of lands situated at New Plymouth. Strictly speaking with reference to Act of Parliament 10 and 11 Victoria, I think the line would be exactly co-extensive with the line between New Ulster and New Munster. In consequence of Sir George Grey fixing the boundary line of New Ulster so as exact y or very nearly to include the Province of New Plymouth, if New Plymouth became excluded by Act of Parliament 10 and 11 Victoria, from the New Zealand Company s operations. The Company as I have already stated remonstrated against this, and Karl Grey at the request of the Directors gave his consent to an alteration of the boundary line, so as to comprise New Plymouth within New Munster and make it technically subject to the Company's operations which indeed had been carried on there, in fact from the beginning of the settlement. This was giving to the Company all they ever professed to claim, they asked for no more. This I think sufficiently explains what I have stated that New Plymouth may equitably be included within the Company's claim although legally excluded by the act of Parliament as acted on by Sir George Grey in his division of the Colony. 7. By the Chairman : The alteration never did take place? The alteration did not take place that lam aware of, nor can I give any reason why it was not done It could not be that Sir George had any misgivings as to the fair liability of Auckland to the payment of any portion of the New Zealand Company's claim, as lus despatches on that subject give his reasons in full why Auckland is entitled to be exempt. . , . 8. And he is known to have had a personal predilection for including New Plymouth in the Province of New Ulster? Yes I believe so; but at the same time it should be remarked that the cessation of the Company's functions coming so soon after the receipt ot the intrusions the time for carrying them into execution with effect may have passed away 9" h ßy MrlcWonf Are you aware of a despatch in which Governor Grey recommends that the Company's debt should be charged upon the colonyJ lam aware that there is a despatch which is said to bear that interpretation. The despatch to which I allude is the one in which Governor Grey asks for instructions how the debt should be divided among the respective Provinces. SATURDAY, 15th JULY, 1854. Present — Messrs. Pouter, King, Carleton, Macandkew, and Mackay. Mr. E. G. Wakefield in the Chair. The Honourable the Attorney-General examined. ] . By the Chairman : During your former examination the question was raised as to how the words « New Zealand" could have been substituted for " New Munster in the 10 and 11 Victoria, whether by inadvertence or design. Consistently with the fact that New I)-