D.—No. 15.

integrity (during more than eight years' service) has never been impugned in the slightest degree, from a, charge of the most offensive and injurious description. I have, &c, Walteb Bulleb, The Hon. Mr. Reader Wood. Resident Magistrate. No. 7. MEMORANDUM for Ministebs. The Governor having directed that when Mr. Buller's explanation, relative to Mr. Mantell's Minute, September 23rd, should be received, the case should be laid before the Executive Council, I have to make the following remarks i— I saw Mr. Mantell's Minute for the first time to-day, just before receiving from Mr. Fox a copy of a letter containing Mr. Buller's explanation, the original of which has not, however, been received. It appears to me that Mr. Buller's explanation evades the point at issue, and aggravates his real offence. Mr. Buller sent an account to Mr. Mantell for approval, from which Mr. Mantell struck out an item which he would not approve. Mr. Buller then sent up the account for this item for approval sit hf*rl rniaftArß, saying nothing of Mr. Mantell having struck it out. This was an act of deception, which has nothing to do with the circumstances under which the expenditure was incurred, and which no statement of those circumstances can in any way excuse. Mr. Buller of course knew that if he had said on the face of the account that the item had been struck out by Mr. Mantell, the accouut would not have been approved by Mr. AVood ; and but for the accidental discovery at the Sub-Treasury, the fact would have been that Mr. Buller would have continued to have a sum which, though approved by one Minister, had been already disallowed by another. Mr. Buller misquotes my instructions of December, 1862, and leaves out the part which related to requisitions for the Public Service. The draft of those instructions is appended. 29th October, 1863. I have, Ac, F. D. Bell. No. 8. The Hon. the Colonial Secretary to Mr. Buller. Sir, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Native Department, 9th November, 1863. The correspondence between yourself, tho late Native Minister, and the Hou. Mr. Mantell, relative to your transmission, to the Native Minister for approval, of an abstract for an expenditure already disapproved by Mr. Mantell, without any reference to that fact, has been laid before the Executive Council. The Government entirely disapprove of the course pursued by you. It does not attribute to you any sordid motive in reference to the pecuniary element in the transaction, and is quite willing to believe that a desire to recover the paltry sum in dispute had no influence in determining your action. But on the other hand it is equally clear that your intention was to evade the control of the Hon. Mr. Mantel], and although the instructions given to you by the late Native Minister required you only to refer to Mr. Mantell matters of pressing importance, yet they also expressly directed you to make all pecuniary requisitions through him. In this case you acted on that rule in the first instance, and in the ordinary routine of your department submitted the item in question, in common with others, to Mr. Mantell's official judgment. That you might have appealed from that judgment to the Native Minister is true, but you ought in such case to have made it distinctly an appeal, and not to have put the matter before the Native Minister in a manner calculated to mislead, as if it had not been previously disposed of elsewhere, and without any reference whatever to that fact. It is the unanimous opinion of the Government that you should be reprimanded for the course you have pursued, and you are hereby reprimanded accordingly. AValter Buller, Esq., R.M., Manatvatu. I have, &c. AY. Fox. !No. 9. MEMORANDUM for His Excellency. The Superintendent of Wellington having expressed great satisfaction at the assistance rendered by Mr. W. Buller, in his negotiations with the Manawatu Natives, which resulted in the purchase of 300,000 acres of land, —and Mr. Buller having a very heavy amount of work, which he performs with great ability over an extended district, —it is recommended that his salary be increased from £400 to £500 per annum, from the Ist October instant. 27th September, 1864. William Fox. No. 10. Walter Buller, Esq., BM'., to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Auckland. Sir, — Besident Magistrate's Office, Manawatu, 18th October, 1864. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 28th ultimo, informing me that, in consequence ofthe very satisfactory manner in which the Superintendent of Wellington has spoken of the services rendered by me in the purchase of land at Manawatu, and the general ability with which I have performed my duties over an extended district, my salary has increased from £400 to £500 per annum.

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OP THE RESIDENT MAGISTRATE, MANAWATU.