A.—No. Ib,

of Her Majesty's European and Native subjects had recently been massacred by the rebels, especially at Poverty Bay, on 10th November, 1868. It appears that my Despatch No. 125 reached Downing Street on 29th January ultimo; its receipt was formally acknowledged on 3rd Eebruary; and comments (to which I have already replied) were made on some parts of its contents in your Despatch No. 27, of the 25th Eebruary. But the paragraphs referring to General Chute appear to have been overlooked when your Despatch No. 28, of the 26th Eebruary (now under reply), was written. However, I should not have ventured to trouble your Lordship on this subject, were it not that censures have been expressed or implied in other Despatches also, as if I had been guilty of similar supposed omissions on other occasions. 4. As to the general merits of the question, I would ask leave to submit the following remarks :■ — A. The Queen's Regulations for the Army require each General Officer to inspect every regiment in his command at least once a year. It will be seen from my letters of December 2nd and 9th, that I did not make any requisition to General Chute to take the field himself, or to order any portion of the 18th Regiment to move against the rebels (for I knew that the instructions of Her Majesty's Government would not permit such action), and that I addressed him in the following words : —" You will, of course, understand that Ido not ask you to " transfer to New Zealand the head-quarters of the command, which have been " fixed by the Imperial authorities at Melbourne; but simply to choose the " present time for making one of your periodical tours of inspection to this "Colony." B. It will be recollected that with my Despatch No. 87, of the 31st August, 1868, I transmitted a copy of my correspondence with General Chute, showing that he had desired to alter that distribution of the 18th Regiment, which had been expressly sanctioned by the Secretaries of State for the Colonies and for War as " coming within the instructions of Her Majesty's Government, for the short " time during which it will remain in the Colony." The Duke of Buckingham, in reply, expressed his approbation of my conduct, in declining to concur in General Chute's proposal, stating : " You appear to me to have taken a correct view of " the instructions under which the location of this regiment, so long as it shaU " remain in the Colony, has been determined; and I approve of the terms of the " letters you addressed on this subject to Major-General Chute." It will be further recollected that, in a subsequent Despatch to your Lordship, I wrote as follows : — " It appears to me that if Sir Trevor Chute considers himself at liberty, without " fresh instructions from home, to alter that distribution of the troops in New " Zealand which has been expressly sanctioned by the Secretaries of State for " War and for the Colonies, he should temporarily return here, Avhere he can " inform himself, on the spot, of the progress of events, and not issue his orders " from so great a distance as Melbourne, with which communication is neither " frequent nor regular, and from which it is seldom possible to obtain a reply to a " letter in less than a month. At the present crisis, every week may bring a new " Maori outbreak in some unexpected quarter, and a fresh massacre of British sub- " jects, with their wives and families. I need scarcely add that General Chute will " always continue to receive every official and personal courtesy and hospitality " from me." Now Melbourne is as far from New Zealand as Gibraltar is from Ireland. It has been asked here, what would be thought at home, if the troops in Ireland, during the late Eenian outbreaks, had been under the command of a General residing at Gibraltar, and if that General had insisted on issuing orders from Gibraltar for moving the regiments in Munster or Leinster from the positions at which Her Majesty's Government, in concert with the Lord-Lieutenant, had placed them ? Would not the General, in such a Case, be required to visit that part of his command in which disturbances were raging, before altering the distribution of the troops there ? C. It was, perhaps, natural that it should at first sight appear in England, where all the circumstances of the case could not possibly be known, that even a short visit from General Chute on one of his periodical tours of inspection of the troops serving in his command, might " encourage the Colonists to rely on the

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DESPATCHES PROM THE SECRETARY OE STATE