!■ So. 2

Xo. 2. MEMORANDUM by His ExcELLEKcr Sik George Greit. In their memorandum of this day's date Ministers state : —" For some time past His Excellency " has not thought it necessary even to communicate to them any information relative to Military " movements, aud at this very time it is only through the newspapers that they have become informed that some expedition is about to be despatched to the South, either to Taranaki or Wanganui, or to both." ###### " If Wanganui be the intended scene of Military operations Ministers feel especially that they " should have been informed, for it appears to them of importance that timely notice of the intention " should have been given, in order to place on their guard the outsettlers, who will be exposed to " native outrage." In reference to this paragraph the Governor desirous to remove what he believes to be an entire misunderstanding, would state that upon the 19th of May last, he acting under the advice of his Responsible Advisers, wrote a letter to the Lieutenant-General containing the following paragraph: " With regard to future operations I should wish now that the Waikato tribes have been con- " quered, that such Military operations should be carried on in the country between Taranaki and " Wangunui, as you may find practicable, having regard to the number of Troops that may be available " after the substitution of river transport for land transport, the consequent reduction of some posts, " and the total withdrawal of others." A delay in the commencement of these operations took place on account of the setting in of the winter season. The Governor however never heard from his Responsible Advisers that they desired any change in the instructions he issued on the 19th May tc the Lieutenant-General. When, therefore the Lieutenant-General on the 30th of August wrote to him asking if anything had taken place which rendered it necessary to vary the instructions which had been issued in May last, he replied that he saw no reason to alter those instructions; aud the Lieutenant General began to make such preparations as he thought necessary for the purpose of carrying them out, although the Governor does not know the precise details of those preparations. The Governor communicated the substance of this correspondence to the Minister for Colonial Defence, who obtained for him, on the 16th of September, the consent of the Government that any men in the Waikato Regiments, now employed in the Transport service, might volunteer tier service temporarily in the Taranaki or Wanganui districts, if the General wished to employ them there. In the same manner, with the consent of the Government, he informed the Lieutenant General why permanent blockhouses were not prepared by the local Government, and informed him that whenever, during the course of the proposed operations the men should occupy stations where permanent detachments were to be placed, they should, in the first instance, construct stockades, and that the Colonial Government would pay their working pay while so occupied. Lastly, on the 28th instant, the Minister for Colonial Defence authorised the Governor to tell the Lieutenant General that the colonial vessel " Prince Alfred" was then loading for Port Waikato, but that on her return she should bo placed at the General's disposal for a few trips in getting supplies down to Taranaki and Wanganui. The Governor, as he thought, had thus carefully imparted to his Ministers every information he was in possession of relative to military movements, and received their cordial co-operation in forwarding these movements. He has not asked the Lieutenant General for any of the details of his plans. He believed iSiat iv a country without roads, regarding which we have little information, and where the Natives are in a continual state of movement, it would be impossible for the Lieutenant General to form any plans until he had reached the scene of operations. If, however, Ministers acquaint him with the nature of the information they wish to possess, he will at once ask the Lieutenant General to furnish it, if it is of a kind which the Governor thinks lie can properly ask for. The Governor has written this memorandum with the sincere desire of removing from the minds of his Ministers what he believes a very grave misapprehension. G. Grey. September 30th, 1864. No. 3. MEMORANDUM by Ministers. Ministers beg to be pormitted to make a few remarks on His Excellency's Memorandum of the 80th of September last. 1. In a Memorandum of the 9th of April, Ministers recommended military operations to be undertaken m Taranaki, and the garrison of Wanganui strengthened. 2. On the 19th of May they again advised, in reply to a communication from His Excellency, fho carrying on such operations at Tarauaki. 3. On the same day it appears that His Excellency wrote a letter to the Lieut.-General giving instructions that such military operations should be carried on in the country between Taranaki and Wanganui as might be found practicable. 4. Ministers were not made aware of the existence of these instructions until the 4th of September, when His Kxeellency in a casual conversation communicated to the Minister for Colonial Defence, the substance of his correspondence with the General. 5. The consent of the Government that any one of the Waikato Regiments might volunteer for service temporarily in the Taranaki or Wanganui districts, was only "if the General could employ them there."

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PAPERS RELATIVE TO NATIVE AFFAIRS.