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take, will confer together and make those united recommendations whi.'h hare been invite 3, furnishing alao an effective guarantee for such expenditure as may bo incurred. They will, no doubt, at the same time consider whether they wish to make jointly any similar definite proposal with regard to other islands not already connected by treaty or otherwise with Foreign Powers. I am to add that Lord Derby has read with attention your representations as to the inconvenience and injury which, unless great precautions are taken, might result from the continuance and development of the French penal settlements in New Caledonia and the adjacent islands, and that His Lordship is in communication with the Foreign Office on the subject. I am, &c, JOHN BRAMSTON.

APPENDIX Wl [Enclosures to Wos. 49 and 50.] Memobial to the Honorable the President and the Members of the Federal Convention appointed to meet at Sydney, in the Colony of New South South Wales, in October next. The Memorial of the inhabitants of the Colony of Fiji,— Respectfully Showeth : — That your Memorialists are residents of the Crown Colony of Fiji, and regard the question of the ultimate federation of the Australasian Colonies as one of vital importance to the interests of this Colony. That the system of Government adopted in a Crown Colony such as we have here is altogether opposed to the spirit of the age ; that, to a great extent, it impedes the investment and employment of capital in developing the industrial resources of the country; that it checks the producing interests by unnecessary restrictions, and exercises such an unwholesome influence on every branch of industry that it has retarded rather than advanced the natural progress of the Colony. That the Colony is self-supporting is evidenced by the fact that our revenue now amounts to £98,000 sterling and the expenditure to £87,000 sterling ; yet in its appropriation the people are denied any voice, and this, notwithstanding that the Legislative Council contains certain non-official members, nominated and appointed by the Governor, yet—such is the dominating influence of the executive and the official members of the Council —they are powerless for good, and can neither control the expenditure in any way nor are they permitted to interfere, with any appointment to office within the Colony. The geographical position of this Colony, its large and increasing business connections with New South Wales, Victoria, and New Zealand, has induced the inhabitants to come forward and beg that they may be allowed to place before the Conference, now shortly to sit, its political position and the many benefits which would accrue to the Colony and its people by the introduction of a more liberal form of Government, so that the advantages which the Australasian Colonies must derive from federation may be extended to Fiji, whether as an appanage of one or other of the Colonial Dependencies or otherwise, as the Conference may deem most advisable for the best interests and prosperity of this Colony and its people. And your Memorialists solicit that the combined and powerful influence of the Convention will be exercised with the Imperial Authorities in procuring their consent to the incorporation of this Colony with federated Australasia. With the object of securing the foregoing, or, if that be denied us, of obtaining some amelioration of the disabilities under which we labour through our present form of Government, your Memorialists have prepared and forwarded for presentation to Her Most Gracious Majesty the Queen a petition, a copy of which is hereto annexed, and it is prayed that the members of the Convention will assist the Petitioners in obtaining the objects of their petition. Dated in Levuka, Fiji, this 19th September, 1883.

To Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India, &c., &c, &o. This tbe humble Petition of the undersigned your Majesty's British subjects, resident in the Colony of Fiji,—■ Respectfully Showeth :— 1, That your Petitioners are colonists of Fiji, and are largely interested, commercially and otherwise, in the present and future prosperity of the Colony. 2. That Fiji has been a British Colony since the 10th day of October, 1874. 3. That the present population of the Colony consists, it is estimated, of 110,000 native-born Fijians, and of 2,500 European and other foreign residents, exclusive of labourers introduced from other of the Pacific Islands and from India. 4. That the Government of the Colony is now administered by tbe Governor, with the advice of the Executive Council. 5. That the Executive Council, as ordinarily constituted, consists of the Governor, the Colonial Secretary, the AttorneyGeneral, the Receiver-General, and tbe Agent-General of Immigration. 6. That the Legislative Council consists of the Governor and his Executive Council, the Honorable the Chief Justice and other officials not members of the Executive Council, with certain gentlemen not connected with the Government but who are nominees of the Crown. 7. That all laws and ordinances passed for the government of the Colony are enacted by the Governor with the advice of the Legislative Council. 8. That the votes of the official members of the Legislative Council are recorded as His Excellency may direct, notwithstanding that their personal opinion may be at variance with his own. 9. That no member of the Legislative Council, other than the Governor, can propose any expenditure of money, nor reduce nor add to any amount proposed by him. 10. That since the constitution of the Government as now existing, no single ordinance has been passed when introduced by any non-official member. 11. That the revenue of the Colony has now reached a total of at least £90,000 per annum; that the European inhabitants are the principal contributors (directly or indirectly) thereof, and that such revenue exceeds the present expenditure of the Colony. 12. That all appointments to offices and positions of emolument within the Colony are made by the Crown alone ; that a reference to the appointments made for some years past will show that only an exceedingly small proportion of the offices created have been filled by residents in the Colony, and that in the great majority of instances preference has been given to cadets from England or Scotland or persons from India. 13. That your Petitioners are denied all right of local self-government, and show that in the year 1877 provision was made for the appointment of a Town Board in Levuka, so constituted that such a proportion of members should be elected by the ratepayers as to give them a majority in the Town Council. That this system worked successfully when tried in Levuka, but that for the management of the town of Suva an officer of the Government alone manages the municipal business of the town and imposes and expends all rates. 14. That a reference to the statistics of the Colony and to other sources of information will show that the European colonists are as orderly, law-abiding, and well-conducted as any other subjects within your Majesty's dominions. 15. That your Majesty's subjects in this Colony are discontented and grieved that all right of being represented or heard in the Councils of this Colony is denied to them, and that they have no voice in the administration of the Government of the Colony, the enactment of its laws, or the public expenditure. 16. That, with few exceptions, tile Ordinances of the Colony are introduced to the Legislative Council and passed without prior publicity having been given to them, so as to allow discussion, and objection, or suggestion thereto—to be made through the medium of the public Press, or in other ways through the non-official members of the Council. 17. That the fact of the inhabitants of the Colony consisting of so large a proportion of native Eijians is no reason why the right ordinarily granted to British subjects of being represented in Colonial Councils of Government should be entirely denied to your Majesty's subjects in this Colony. , 18.