A.—2

10

Gouvernment Britannique. En transmettant a votre Excellence la patente rectifiee je laprie de vouloir bien decider elle nieme si les circonstances rendent necessaires la formalite dun nouvel exequatur, ou si un avis addresse au Gouverneur de la Colonie, et dont M. Montgomery pourrait recevoir communication suffirait pour regulariser la position dv Consul dcs Eoyaumes Unis dans l'lle Centrale de la Nouvelle-Zelande. Je saisis, &c, S. E. le Comte de Derby, &c, &c. Hochschild.

No. 17. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Eight Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon to Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby. (Circular.) My Lord, — Downing Street, 10th April, 1876. With reference to my circular despatch of the 27th April, 1874, respecting the withdrawal of the old British copper coins from circulation in the colonies, I have the honor to transmit to you the accompanying copy of an Order of Her Majesty in Council, dated the 24th of March, approving the draft of a Eoyal Proclamation for the decrial of those coins in those colonies in which it is desired, and in which they have not been already withdrawn from circulation. Old copper coins will be received at the Mint at their nominal value up to the 31st of December, 1877, after which date they will only be received as metal. It is important that this date should be distinctly understood to be final, in the event of any change of view on the part of those Colonial Governments which, for the present, have decided to retain these coins in circulation. I have, &c, The Officer Administering the Government CAENAEVON. of New Zealand.

Enclosure in No. 17. At the Court at Windsor, the 24th day of March, 1876. Present: —The Queen's Most Excellent Majestx in Council. Wheeeas by Her Majesty's Royal Proclamation bearing date the thirteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, Her Majesty did, with the advice of Her Privy Council, declare and command that no copper moneys whatsoever, other than and except such bronze moneys as were then or are now current by virtue of Her Majesty's Proclamation bearing date the seventeenth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty, or any Proclamation dated subsequently to the said seventeenth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty, should be allowed to pass or be current in any payment whatsoever within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the thirty-first day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine : And whereas it hath been represented unto Her Majesty in Council by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury that it would be expedient that the provisions of the said Proclamation bearing date the thirteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, should be extended to certain of the colonies and possessions : And whereas there was this day read at the Board a draft of a Proclamation extending the provisions of the said Proclamation bearing date the thirteenth of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, accordingly Her Majesty, having taken the same into consideration, was pleased, by and with the advice of Her Privy Council, to approve thereof, and to order, and it is hereby ordered, that the said Proclamation do take effect and come into force in such of the said colonies, possessions, aud dominions wherein proclamation shall have been made or shall be made for decrying the same copper moneys from the date named in such last-mentioned Proclamation. And the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury and the Right Honorable the Earl of Carnarvon, one of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, are to give the requisite directions for . causing publication to be made thereof in Her Majesty's said colonies and possessions, and for the other purposes referred to therein accordingly. C. L. Peel. By the Queen. Victoeia R. A PROCLAMATION. Wheeeas by our Royal Proclamation bearing date the thirteenth day of May, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, after reciting that We had taken into consideration the state of the copper coin of this Kingdom, and had deemed it expedient, with the advice of our Privy Council, that all copper moneys of this realm, commonly called a penny, a half-penny, a farthing, and a half-farthing, coined at our Mint and current in our dominions by virtue of any Proclamation prior to the seventeenth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and sixty, should be called in and re-coined : And further reciting that considerable quantities of the said copper moneys before mentioned had been received and exchanged at our Mint, so that only a small portion of such moneys was remaining in circulation at the date aforesaid, We did, with the advice of our Privy Council, declare and command