I cannot announce this circumstance to the Local Government without expressing the great regret I feel that Mr. McLean was not sooner employed upon the exceedingly important negotiations referred to. The time which has been allowed to elapse subsequently to my requisition, and previously to his commening them, amounts to nearly a fifth part of the whole term allotted by the Home Government, to the Company, to renew its attempts to colonize these Islands. Had the districts in question been purchased, most important consequences might have resulted. At any period during those 7 months, I could, and would, have found funds for their purchase, to almost any amount. Should the Company's operations have ceased, it is probable that those districts which