A.—No. 4

From information received from Colonel Warre since his occupation of Te Namu and the White Cliffs, I think the 250 men already ordered to Taranaki will be as many as he requires for the present, but if you wish it I will send an additional reinforcement of 150 men to Taranaki. I have, Ac, His Excellency Sir George Grey, K.C.B. D. A. Cameron, Lieut.-General. No. 111. His Excellency the Governor to Lieut-General Sir D. A. Cameron. Sir, — Government House, Auckland, 19th May, 1865. In reference to the letters you have within the last few days addressed to me, on the subject of the instructions received from Her Majesty's Government regarding the reduction of the force serving in this Colony, I have thought it right to forward to you my opinion at some length on the question, as on it depends the whole future welfare of New Zealand, and in a large degree the interests of the Home Government. I will first allude to the force which appears in your opinion to have been requisite for the defence of this Colony at the date of the receipt of the recent instructions. I have been on more than one occasion during the last few months informed by you that a reinforcement of about 2000 men to the regular troops was considered necessary even for the occupation of the country between Wanganui and the Patea. I have also been repeatedly requested by you to increase the number of the local forces as a necessary augmentation to the regular troops now serving in the country. On the 15th of March last you informed me that the submission of the rebel natives never appeared to you so far off as it then was. On the 17th of March you considered the force at Taranaki so insufficient for its protection that, upon my wishing to withdraw 200 military settlers from that place to Wanganui, you only acquiesced in this being done upon the undersi anding that myself and the Government were responsible for the safety of the settlement and of the small forts occupying the country round it. On the L7th of March you also informed me that the country north of Wanganui to the Patea could not be subdued without taking possession of the Wereroa Pa, an! that nothing but the capture of that position was necessary to gain us possession of that country, but that the position was so formidable that you did not think it advisable to attack it with the force you had. I was also on more than one occasion informed by you that Colonel Warre's force was barely sufficient to hold the country it occupied, and that he consequently could not move southward to co-operate with you. On the 3rd instant, I was informed that Brigadier-General Carey's force in the Waikato country could not be further reduced, and that his reports bore out your views, as expressed in your letter of the 22nd ultimo ; that although the order I had given for moving 100 men from the Waikato District to Wanganui had been carried out it appeared that the force on the Waikato frontier had been unduly reduced, looking at the unsettled state of the Native tribes near that frontier. On the Ist of May, when you had arrived in Auckland, you informed me that a sufficient force could not be collected to attack the position at Wereroa without abandoning some of the posts we occupy, but that it would in consequence be advisable to add to the security of the settlement of Wanganui by constructing a new post iii the vicinity of Nukumaru. Early in this month I am informed through you that, from the weakness of some of the posts in the Waikato country, Brigadier-General Carey was only surprised that the Natives had not alreadycommitted murders at the military settlements, and that Colonel Greer thought it probable that our allies, the Arawa, inhabiting the country near Tauranga would be shortly attacked by a strong combination of hostile tribes. On the Bth instant the mail from England arrived at Auckland ; and on the 12th instant you informed me that, in relation to your letter of the 9th instant, that you had received instructions from Her Majesty's Government for the return of five regiments to England as soon as possible, and that you proposed to give immediate instructions for the relief of the 65th Eegiment on the Waikato frontier, and that to carry out the remaining portions of the instructions of Her Majesty's Government it would be necessary to withdraw the regular troops from some lately-formed posts in the Taranaki and Wanganui Provinces, as well as from Tauranga. Up to the beginning of the present month I did not take so gloomy a view of the state of affairs as you did; but I nevertheless now think tnat the fact of our having left untouched up to the present time the Wereroa Pa occupied in force by an enemy, so close to the important settlement of Wanganui and this avowedly because we could not collect a sufficient force to attack it, has had a prejudicial effect upon the Natives, and has rendered our position in this country worse than it was some short time since ; and I think if a force of two regiments can be immediately collected, and shortly an additional force of three other regiments for the purpose of sending them out of the Colony, and of thus reducing the force in this country —an overwhelming force could certainly be collected for the purpose of reducing the Wereroa Pa, in a manner which might entail but trifling loss upon ourselves, and a large loss upon the enemy. My opinion is that if you carry out the reductions you inform me you intend to carry out in the manner you state that you will plunge New Zealand into greater difficulties than it has yet had to encounter, and will delay indefinitely the pacification of the country, and bring about a new conflict of races, the end of which cannot be foreseen, and probably delay for a long period of time any permanent reduction of the force in this country. I do not understand the instructions you have received to be as you have stated in your letter of the 12th instant, —instructions for the return of five regiments to England as soon as possible ; but, instructions that five regiments are to return when such a measure can be carried into effect with safety! L

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GOVERNOR AND LIEUT.-GENERAL CAMERON.