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A.—N.. la.

TO THE GOVERNOR OF NEW ZEALAND.

June 14, 1871.

Her Majesty's subjects throughout the Empire, and nowhere more than in Australasia, have manifested on various occasions of late their strong desire that the connection between the Colonies and this Country should be maintained and strengthened; but it can hardly be doubted that the imposition of differential duties upon British produce and manufactures must have a tendency to weaken that connection, and to impair the friendly feeling on both sides, which I am confident your Government, as much as Her Majesty's Government, desire to preserve. I have thought it right to state frankly and unreservedly the views of Her Majesty's Government on this subject, in order that the Colonial Governments may be thoroughly aware of the nature and gravity of the points which have to be decided, but I do not wish to be understood to indicate that Her Majesty's Government have, in the present state of their information, come to any absolute conclusion on the questions which I have discussed. The objections which I have pointed out to giving to the Colonies a general power of making reciprocal arrangements, would not apply to a Customs Union with an uniform Tariff; and although such a general union of all the Colonies is, it appears, impracticable, it may be worth while to consider whether the difficulty might not be met by a Customs Union between two or more Colonies. I have, &c, Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G. KIMBERLEY.

Enclosure in No. 78. Extract from the Eevised Statutes of Prince Edward Island. Cap. 1., 1856.—19 Viet. c. 1 (1856). " VIII. The several articles hereinafter enumerated, being the growth or production of Canada, " Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, or Newfoundland, shall be exempted from the duty hereby imposed " upon them, and shall be admitted into this Island free of duty, when imported direct from the said " Provinces, or either of them, provided the same shall not pass through or be imported from any " country not reciprocating with this Island, as long as the said articles are admitted into Canada, " Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland, or either of them, free of duty, viz.: —Grain and " breadstuffs of all kinds ; vegetables, fruits, and seeds : hay and straw ; animals ; salted and fresh " meats ; butter, cheese, lard ; tallow, hides, horns, wool ; fish ; undressed skins and furs of all kinds : " ores of all kinds ; iron in pig and blooms ; copper ; lead in pigs ; grindstones and all kinds of stones; " earth ; coal; lime ; ochres, gypsum, ground and unground ; rock salt; wood, timber, and lumber of " all kinds; firewood; ashes ; fish oil, viz. train oil, spermaceti oil, head matter and blubber, fins and " skins, the produce of fish or creatures living in the water ; poultry ; eggs ; pitch ; tar; turpentine ; " rice ; broom corn and bark; dye-stuffs ; flax ; hemp and tow unmanufactured; unmanufactured " tobacco ; rags ; and cotton wool." Eiteact from Cap. 1., 1856. —Laws of Newfoundland. " IV. The following articles shall be admitted into this Island and its Dependencies free of duty, " being the growth, produce, or manufacture of the United Kingdom, or of the British North American " Provinces, or of the Island of Prince Edward, respectively, notwithstanding any law to the contrary, "viz.:—Animals; beef and pork; biscuit, bread; butter; cocoa paste; corn or grain of all kinds; " flour and breadstuffs ; fish, fresh or salted, dried or pickled ; fish oil; fins or skins, the produce of fish "or creatures living in the sea; gypsum; horns; poultry; plants, shrubs, and trees; potatoes and " vegetables of all kinds ; seeds of all kinds ; apples ; pelts ; skins ; furs or tails, undressed. Wood, " viz., boards, planks, staves, timber, and firewood. " V. The following articles shall be admitted into this Island and its Dependencies free of duty, "being the growth, produce, and manufacture of the Provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, "or Prince Edward Island, respectively, viz. : —Grain and breadstuffs of all kinds ; vegetables; fruits ; " seeds ; hay and straw ; hops ; animals ; salted and fresh meats ; butter; cheese ; chocolate and other "preparations of cocoa; lard; tallow; hides; horns; wool; undressed skins, and furs of all kinds; " ores of all kinds ; iron in pigs and blooms ; copper ; lead in pigs; grindstones and stones of all "kinds; earth coals ; lime; ochres; gypsum, ground or unground ; rock salt; wood, bark, timber, and " lumber of all kinds ; firewood ; ashes; fish ; fish oil, viz. train oil, spermaceti oil, head matter and " blubber; fins and skim, the produce of fish or creatures living in the sea."

No. 79. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. Earl of Kimberley to Governor Sir G. P. Bowen, G.C.M.G. (Circular.) Sir,— Downing Street, 27th June, 1871. I transmit to you, for your information and guidance, a copy of a letter from the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, with its enclosure, specifying the 13