A.—No. 1.

ZEALAND TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

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interesting letter in which Rauperaha, Wi Tako, and Mete Kingi have recorded their impressions of their visit to Canterbury. I have, &c, His Grace the Duke of Buckingham and Cliandos. (i. F. BOWEX.

Enclosures in No. 15. Addkess from the Municipality of Lyttei.to.v. To His Excellency Sir G-eoiuie Pheguson Bowex, Knight Grand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, G-overnor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Her Majesty's Colony of New Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-Admiral of the same, &c, Ac, etc May it please Toun Excellency,— We, the members of the Lyttelton Borough Council, respectfully offer our congratulations on your Excellency's arrival in this port, and on behalf of ourselves and fellow-townsmen tender our warmest welcome on the occasion of this your first visit to the Province of Canterbury. As loyal and faithful subjects of Her Majesty, we desire to express our continued attachment to her person and government, and also our joy that His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh has been providentially spared to carry out his intention of visiting these islands. As the Representative of Her Majesty in these islands, we believe that it will be your object to promote the best interests of the Colon} 1, to aid the development of its resources, and to advance its social and political welfare. We deplore the strife at present existing between the aboriginal inhabitants of the North Island and the Colonists, and fervently hope that your Excellency, by favour of Divine Providence, guided by prudent counsel, will be enabled to bring about permanent peace between the different races. While we congratulate your Excellency on your landing at the principal port of this Province, we cannot avoid expressing our regret at the depression that at present exists, as compared with its former prosperous and flourishing condition ; and, although we are hopeful for the future, we cannot help expressing an opinion that that depression is owing to the removal of institutions and interests that were first attacnedfto this the port of the Province. In conclusion, we desire to express our profound respect to Lady Bowen, and fervently pray that by the favour of Divine Providence you may enjoy the blessing of good health, and be spared for a long career of usefulness in the service of Her Majesty.

His Excellency's Reply. Mb. MiTOE AM) Q-ENTLEItEN, — I thank vou heartily for the welcome which your loyalty to our Sovereign lias induced you to accord to me as Her Majesty's Representative on my first landing at the chief port of this great Province. lam fully conscious that your cordial greetings are paid to me in my official character, and that I can have as yet but little claim to the personal regard of the people of Canterbury, unless, indeed, it be as an early friend of one whose memory will for ever be held in high honor and affection among you —I mean John Robert G-odley. Nearly twenty years have now elapsed since I first discussed with him his schemes for the foundation of this settlement, which he even then called the work of his life. sTou all know how well he performed that work. I will only add, it would have cheered his gallant spirit, in his Bufferings from failing health, if he could have foreseen the rapid but solid progress, almost without precedent elsewhere, which you have achieved. It appears from the official statistics that even in the brief period of six years which has passed away since his death, the population of Canterbury (including Westland) increased from 16,000 to nearly 54,000 souls — in other words, more than threefold ; while your advance has been equally remarkable in most of the other elements of material welfare. That accomplished nobleman, Lord Lyttelton. whose name, prominent among those of the founders of Canterbury, has been given to your port, was so much gratified with all that he saw here on his recent visit, that he has lately written to inform me of his hope of being able ere long to pay a second visit to New Zealand. Your address refers to the commercial and financial depression, from the effects of which New Zealand, in common with the Mother Country herself, and most other parts of the British Empire, has been suffering f<sr some time past. 1 earnestly trust that through the blessing of Providence on the prudence and firmness of the General and Provincial Legislatures, on the energy and industry of all chisses of the community, the trade and finances of this Colony will be placed on a sounder basis than before. Meanwhile, I would remind you that temporary depressions are incidental to all countries, and especially to all young countries. In commenting on the national propensity of Englishmen to animadvert somewhat too gloomily on the inconveniences of the present day, one of the most observant and thoughtful of English poets and philosophers (whose name is connected with one of the districts of this Province) —I mean Samuel Taylor Coleridge —has remarked, "It is a " curious fact that the fancy of our calamitous situation is a sort of necessary sauce, without which " our real prosperity would become insipid to us." In conclusion, gentlemen, I cordially reciprocate your good wishes for my family and myself, and earnestly pray that Heaven may pour health and happiness on your homes.

Addkess from the Municipality of Chbistchurch. To His Excellency Sir George Eeihiuson Bowen, K.Gr.C.M.G., Governor and Commander-in-Chief, and Vice-Admiral of the Islands of New Zealand. We, the Mayor and Councillors of the City of Christchurch, desire to congratulate your Excellency on