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instructions bad been issued to the Officer commanding that vessel as prevented him from leaving the vicinity of Auckland until after the arrival of the mail, I beg to be permitted to submit for the consideration of Her Majesty's Government whether ifrould not be proper, whilst New Zealand continues in a disturbed state, that some moans should be provided by which the Governor can certainly move with rapidity from point to point whenever his presence may be required. 2. In the instance now under consideration, I had made arrangements with the Captain of Her Majesty's Ship " Miranda" for visiting various parts of the Northern Island ; —the Chiefs had been informed of this, and the Natives made considerable preparations to meet me, when suddenly, by orders from the Commodore, all these plans were defeated. The result has been very unfavourable to the Government, a bad impression and much distrust lias been produced in the Native mind, and a favorable opportunity has been lost. I would, therefore, submit for your Grace's consideration, that some means should be taken to prevent the recurrence of such a difficulty. It is impossible for the Governor now to travel through all parts of the interior, and if some means is not provided for his moving rapidly from one part of the coast to another, he cannot perform hia duties. I have, &c., His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G., G. Grey. &c, &c, &c.

No. 9. copy of a DESPATCH from governor sir george grey to his grace the ddke of NEWCASTLE. Auckland, 1st April, 1862. My Lord Duke, — I regret to state to Your Grace that I find from the papers from the South of this Island that my not being able to carry out my promise of visiting the Native tribes there at the time named, has produced great dissatisfaction. It is stated that the leading men freely express their opinion that I had not inteuded to visit them, and that my influence with the West coast Natives has been materially diminished. Similar accounts reach me from other parts of this Island. 2. In my Despatch, No. 12 of the 8th of February, I called your Grace's attention to the nature of the orders issued by the Commodore to the senior Officer in New Zealand, but I think you may conceive that the difficulties in regard to Her Majesty's vessels on this coast have arisen from the anticipated war with America, whereas they are to be attributed to the mode in which instructions are now issued by the Commodore to the senior Officer in New Zealand, and can therefore, if directions on the subject are issued by the Lords of the Admiralty, be easily remedied for the future. 3. Formerly the custom was for the Officer commanding on the Station to give general instructions to the senior Officer in New Zealand, and then, provided those general instructions were obeyed, to leave him to carry them out in detail, after consultation with the Governor of the Colony. Now the Commodore issues, from Sydney or elsewhere, instructions in such detail that, although a vessel is sopposed to be stationed here, it is absolutely useless, and these orders are of so stringent a nature that they cannot be departed from. 4. For instance, when H. M. vessels were all withdrawn but one from the coast of New Zealand, as reported in my Despatch No. 12 of the 8th of February, it was positively ordered that the "Fawn" was the vessel to be left here, and it was ordered that the "Fawn" was to be at Auckland at the time of the arrival of the December mail from England. These instructions were afterwards so far varied by others from Sydney of tiie 28th of February that the Captain of the "Fawn" provided he was at Auckland at the eud of March, was allowed to carry me anywhere I desired to go on the coast of the North Island. 5. Had the original instructions been so worded that the senior Officer in New Zealand had been generally directed to leave one serviceable ship here, none of the difficulties which have taken place would have arisen. The Miranda would have been left here, and the Fawn would have gone to Sydney, where her boilers could have been better re-paired than here. 6 Again, had the commander of the Fawn been ordered to take care to meet the English and Australian mail at as early a date as possible to receive his instructions in the event of war, we could have done all that was necessary in this Island, and have been at Nelson, so as to receive instructions and letters from Sydney eight days earlier than they could have been received at Auckland, where he ■was ordered to be. In the same manner, after the 28th February, there was no necessity to restrict the Fawn to taking me to the shores of the Northern Island. Nelson, in the Middle Island, could have been reached as soon as Wellington, or Wanganui in the North Island, and I could in that case have received the mail eight days earlier. 7. I would, therefore, submit to your Grace, that the Lords of the Admiralty should direct that the former custom should be reverted to, of issuing orders, to the senior Officer in New Zealand, in such general terms as will leave him such a discretion as is consistent with the good of the service instead of issuing orders from Australia in such precise terms as renders the Naval force here absolutely, useless. 8. The exclosed extracts from Despatches of my predecessor will show that he also felt the evils- '. of the existing system. I have, &c, G. Grey,

Knclosure—Extracls from Governor Browne's Despatches, No. 140, Dec. 24, 18G0; Np. 64, May 2, 1861.

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