A.—No. G,

6

DESPATCHES EROM THE RIGHT HON. E. CARDWELL, M.P.

Zealand, for the conveyance of troops and stores between the Manukau and the ports on the western coast, 1 am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty to transmit to you, for the information of the Secretary of State for the Colonies, ■ copy of a Treasury letter sanctioning the arrangement that the cost of the vessel and a moiety of her working expenses should be charged to naval funds; and I am to request that instructions may be sent to the Governor of New Zealand to cause Captain Spain, the Admiralty transport officer at Auckland, to be kept informed of the current cost of the "Alexandra." I have, &c, The Under-Secretary of Stite, VV. G. Romaine. Colonial Ofiice. P,S. — [am further to request that the Governor may be informed that when the service* of the vessel are no longer required she will be taken over by the Admiralty.

Sub-Enclosure 1 in Enclosure in No. 11. SIR >". PEEL TO THE SECRETARY TO THE ADMIRALTY. Treasury Chambers, November 7, 1864. Sir — I am directed by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to transmit herewith, with reference to previous correspondence on the subject, copy of a letter from the War Office respecting the expenses incurred in regard to the steam vessel " Alexandra" purchased for the conveyance of troops in New Zealand ; and I am to acquaint you, for the information oi the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, that as the explanation of the circumstances under which this vessel was purchased appears to my Lords to bo satisfactory, they approve of the arrangement reported in your letter of the 18th July last, for charging upon naval funds the cost of the vessel and a moiety of her working expenses. I am, &c, The Secretary of the Admiralty. F. Peel.

Sub-Enclosure 2 in Enclosure in No. 11. 'sir c. ltjgarp to sir f. peel. War Office, October 25, 1864. Sir — 1 am directed by the Secretary of Slate for War to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 20th ultimo and its enclosures, requesting to be informed of the manner in which it is proposed to provide for the expenses incurred in the purchase and working of the steam vessel Alexandra, employed in the conveyance of troops and stores coastwise in New Zealand, and in reply, I have to acquaint you. for the information of the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, that Lord de Grey considers that the service for which the Alexandra was purchased was purely a naval one, and that all the expenses connected therewith must consequently be borne upon naval funds, the mode of providing for the expenditure being left to be arranged by the Board of Admirality in concurrence with their Lordships. I am, however, to observe with reference to the statement made in the letter from the Admirality, enclosed in yours now under reply, viz., that "the Alexandra was purchased by the military authorities in New Zealand without the aid and concurrence of the superintending officer of the Transport Department," that there does not appear to have been such an officer at the station at the time the vessel was purchased, Captain Spain, R.N., who had been appointed naval agent, not having arrived until February, 18G4, and it is therefore presumed that Deputy Commissionary General Jones, in the absence of such officer, was merely exercising his functions as senior commissariat officer and acting naval agent in effecting the parchase in question, that officer having previously to the arrival of Captain Spain been in charge of naval stores. The commodore on the station, Sir William Wiseman, appears also, at the instance of the Deputy Commissary-General, to have directed a board of naval officers to survey the vessel, and Sir William Wiseman concurred in the report of those officers that the vessel was fitted for the service.