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D.—2c

No. 8. The Agent-Geneeal to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet. (No. 480.) 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Bib,— Westminst, S.W., 11th July, 1873. Eeferring to the Hon. Mr. O'Eorke's Memorandum of sth May (90), 1873 on the subject of Scandinavian and German emigration, I have the honor to state that at the time mentioned in Mr. Waterhouse's Memorandum No. 19, the arrangements entered into by me with a firm in Germany for a supply of emigrants had not actually fallen through. At that period—and for a considerable time afterwards —the contractors were in a position of extreme difficulty owing to the obstructions thrown in their way by the German Government, who were opposed to emigration from that country. Notwithstanding this, however, negotiations between us were kept up till within a very recent date, when the contractors informed me that it was quite out of their power to carry out the provisions of the contract. I, therefore, entered into arrangements with another firm in Germany, and, I trust, the chief difficulty has now been surmounted. I may add that the " Hovding," with 280 Scandinavian emigrants on board, is now preparing to sail for Hawke's Bay. I have, &c, I. E. Featheeston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Agent-General.

No. 9. The Agent-Genebal to the Hon. the Colonial Seceetaet. (No. 496.) 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Sib,— Westminster, S.W., 11th July, 1873. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of the Hon. Mr. O'Eorke's Memorandum of 14th April (72) 1873, in which he says, " Writing from such a distance ib ia impossible for me to gauge the difficulties you have to contend with in inducing a stream of emigration to this country, but I am informed by gentlemen recently returned from Australia that the Queensland Government have no difficulty in procuring any amount of emigrants they require." It must be remembered that the Queensland Government has not sent out from this country on an average more than one emigrant ship per month—if as often ; whereas I have been despatching some four or five per month. The Government will at once recognize the unfairness of comparing my operations with those of the Queensland Government, or in other words of imagining that five shiploads of emigrants per month can be despatched with the same facility as one. The memorandum continues : " A special cablegram has been sent to you urging you to offer as liberal terms —or more so —than they do in the shape of free passages to suitable classes of emigrants. This authority was given to you five months ago, and has been repeated since. You have not hitherto availed yourself of the authority." I beg to point out that in a previous memorandum from the Hon. Mr. O'Eorke, dated 14th February (No. 29), 1873, he says, , Of course you have power under the instructions of November last to offer equally advantageous terms as the Queensland Government, but I do not suppose you will take advantage of that power so long as you can fill your ships with emigrants who are contributors to the cost of their passage." I beg to call your attention to the inconsistency of these two memoranda. In his memorandum of February the Hon. Mr. O'Eorke expresses a hope that I have not given effect to the instructions of November, while in his memorandum of April he virtually reproaches me for having allowed five months to elapse without availing myself of that authority. However, as I have already explained in my despatch of 16th May (No. 313), 1873 (No. 5, D. 2a., 1873), having regard to the representations of the Government that they feared I was starving emigration by not offering sufficiently liberal terms and that provided population could be procured, cost was of secondary importance; I went so far as to abolish the system of promissory notes altogether, and had no sooner promulgated the new regulations than I perceived I had committed a grave error and almost immediately revived the old regulations for the reasons stated in the despatch referred to. I have every reason to believe that under the existing regulations an adequate stream of immigration will be secured and maintained. I have, &c, I. E. Featheeston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. Agent-General.

No. 10. The Agent-General to the Hon. Colonial Secretaey. (No 501.) 7 Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Sm,— Westminster, S.W., 11th July, 1873. In reference to the Hon. Mr. Vogel's telegram of April last, in which he suggests that I should " not let Shaw Savill & Co. know when I want ships, but arrange for each as wanted privately, through