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Custom House, Wellington, •2(ith February, If 50, Sir,—Referring to my report of the 11th inst., of the result of my trips to the Chatham Islands, I do myself the honor to request you will be kind enough to obtain the sanction oi his Excellency to the following expenses, viz : — £ s. el. Charter Party, " Lady Grey'' .. .. .. .. 100 0 0 Subsistence money Mr. Bullen, Interpreter, cabin passenger .. • • 74 0 Ditto, seven Maories, steerage .. •. .. 25 4 0 IVlr. Bullen's salary, sth January 1856 ... 12 10 0 Total .. .. .. £144 18 0 Making a total of one hundred and fortv four pounds eighteen shillings sterling. Y I have, &c„ (Signed) S. Carkeek, Collector.

Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, 15th March, 1856. Sir,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th ultimo, reporting your proceedings at the Chatham Islands. In reply, his Excellency the Governor has directed me to express his disapprobation of those proceedings, particularly with regard to the line of conduct assumed by you in reference to the Collector of Customs and Resident Magistrate there; and to the promises which you made, on behalf of the Governor, to the Natives that Mr. Shand should be suspended on a petition being received from the Natives complaining of him. Considering the nature of the offices held by Mr. Shand, and the importance of his exercising influence over the Natives, his Excellency thinks that you should have interposed friendly advice and aid to settle any differences which may have arisen between him and them, and to create confidence and good will ; and his Excellency cannot but perceive with great regret, that the whole tenor of your proceedings, as reported by yourself, was calculated to degrade that officer in the estimation of the Natives, and to render his removal an almost absolute necessity; not upon proved grounds of misconduct, but in consequence of unsatisfactory relations between the Natives ■and himself, greatly aggravated, his Excellency fears, by your proceedings. Before his Excellency sanctions the expenses provisionally authorised by you, he wishes to receive from you a Report on what grounds you think an excess, over the authorised expense of more than one hundred pounels should be incurred on account of the Chatham Islands ; and you are requested to state whether the services of the Preventive Officers (whose salaries amount to £150) could not be dispensed with, and the Boat's Crew acting as Customs and Policemen only employed. 1 have also to inform you that the Port of Waitangi will be proclaimed as a Port of Entry ' and to request you to advance to Mr. Shand one hundred pounds, (to be accounted for by him) to enable him to meet current expenses. I have, &c., (Signed) Andrew Sinclair, The Collector of Customs, Colonial Secretary. Wellington. &c., &c., &c.

Custom House, Wellington, Ist April, 1856. Sin,—I do myself the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the loth ultimo No. 94, conveying his Excellency's disapprobation of my proceedings at the Chatham Islands. I beg leave to state that the promise given to the Natives that Mr. Shand should be removed if he behaved ill towards them, of which they were in considerable apprehension, was the only condition upon which they would consent to treat with me at all. I had therefore, only to consider whether I would give the promise, as desireel by them, or, come away and leave the object tor which I was sent to the Islands unaccomplished. There is no one more fully aware of the necessity and importance of an officer in Mr, Shand's position being able to exercise an influence over the Natives than myself; but on my arrival at the