A.—No. la.

22

DESPATCHES FROM THE SECRETARY OF STATE

_ Looking to the fact that the whole of the Coasts of New Zealand have been already surveyed entirely at the Imperial cost, and that much of that which remains to be done appears in the form of re-surveys of localities the physical conditions of which are liable to inccss,?nt change, and looking at the great advance in population and wealth made by the Colony during past years, my Lords believe that it would be unreasonable to expect that these proposed surveys should in future be carried on, even partly, by aid from Imperial funds. While my Lords feel that there is perhaps an advantage in the surveys of the Empire beinocarried on by officers of the Navy, and that it is just that the charts should be engraved at the charge of the Admiralty, in order to ensure accuracy, uniformity, and confidence in the public mind, they are of opinion that all the expenses of such surveys as those contemplated in New Zealand should, including pay, Ac., of officers, and indeed every item of expenditure, be borne by the New Zealand Government. My Lords observe that allusion has been made to the terms under which a survey is being conducted on the Coasts of Victoria and New South Wales, but, under any circumstances, no parallel can fairly be drawn, as these Coasts have never previously been surveyed by Government, whilst those of New Zealand have, as before pointed out, enjoyed the exceptional advantage of having been surveyed wholly at the expense of the Imperial Government. I have, &c, The Under Secretary of State, Colonial Office. W. G. Bojiaine.

No. 28. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. Earl Granville, K.G., to Governor Sir G. P. Bowen, G.C.M.G. (No. 19.) Downing Street, 9th February, 18G9. Sill, — (Beceived at Christchurch, 24th April, 1869). I transmit to you, for your consideration and that of your Responsible Advisers, a copy of a letter from Colonel D'Arcy, late Governor of the Gambia, suggesting a plan for the employment of a permanent Colonial Force in New Zealand, together with a copy of the answer wliich has been returned to it. I have, &c, Governor Sir G. P. Bowen, G.C.M.G. GRANVILLE.

Enclosure 1 in No. 28. Colonel D'Aecy to Lord Gbanville. My Loed, — Knole, Seven Oaks, 30th January, 1869. My experience in bush-fighting in India and Africa will, I trust, be accepted by your Lordship as my excuse for venturing to trouble you with a suggestion, which may, if carried out, possibly prevent future outbreak in New Zealand. In a leader of the Times of 29th January, this sentence appears : —" The Sepoy fought against " men of his own race; the Sikh helped to save our Empire in 1857; the Negro serves under our " colours against Negro kings on tho Coast of Africa. Why should not the New Zealand Native be " equally amenable to military discipline ? " Such is not quite the case. Hindostan and Africa are large continents. The Sepoy recruited in Oude has no sympathy with the Natives of Mj-sore. The Sikhs have never been called to fight agaiust a Sikh; the plunder of Delhi was always his ambition. Countries beyond the Sutlej were to them a terra incognita, and the Negroes of Equatorial Africa, first emancipated and then disciplined to the profession of arms in our AVest Indian Islands, have nothing in common with the half-Moorish Negro of the Sencgambia, against whom ho is generally arrayed. I doubt very much the expediency of enlisting Maori to fight Maori —all natives of one island. In New Zealand a difficulty presents itself in forming a permanent force from tho settlers—labour is too valuable to admit of the compulsory idleness of Europeans, where intelligence is so much required in a new clearing ; I am of opinion that a small corps d'armee might bo raised at Freetown, Sierra Leone, and shipped as a permanent Colonial Force to New Zealand, consisting of 500 rank and file of Zouave Infantry, Colony-born English blacks, including 100 trained gunners ; if the Colonial Government would entertain such a plan, I most respectfully beg to offer my services to enlist and train the volunteers, having served a long apprenticeship in the service, and, moreover, I am very well known on the West Coast by the people, who would follow me willingly. 1 have, &c, G. D'Aecy,. (late Governor of the Gambia). P.S.—ln the event of the Government at all entertaining this project, Colonel D'Arcy is ready to furnish a report as to transport, clothing, arms, and the best means of feeding the corps with recruits, <&c, &c, and placing the officers on the same Scale as the Irregular Begiments in India, viz.: —l Commandant ; 1 second in command ; 1 Adjutant; 1 Quartermaster.