A.—4.

142

and the same facilities for obtaining supplies, and carrying on trade therein, as have already been, or may hereafter be, granted to the ships of other countries. (b.) For securing the admission of goods from New Zealand on the same teims, as to duties or imports of any kind, as shall at tho same time be applicable to similar goods from other countries. (c.) For tho location of an sgent at any port in the group for the purpose of facilitating commercial intercourse with tho group, and also, if found necessary, for protecting the Customs revenue of New Zealand from illicit trade with it being carried on from the islands. Wellington, 22nd June, 1874. Julius Voqel.

IX.—Navigator Islands.

MWUHJHUIIIIIHIIIMIIIIM rillllll'h»«A^Jt>|IWWII11lllllllll ■lIIIIIIIIH ■ No. 11. The Eight Hon. the Earl of Gaenaevon to the Officee Administebing the Goveenment of New Zealakd. (No. 59.) Sin, — Downing Street, 11th November, 1874. I have received and had under my consideration Sir James Ecrgusson's Despatch No. 37, of the 24th of June, enclosing a memorandum by Mr. Vogel on behalf of the Ministers, in explanation of their previous proposal that, in the event of Her Majesty's Government not being prepared toundertake any direct responsibilities with respect to the Navigator Islands, the Government of New Zealand should be permitted to make such arrangements with the chiefs of those islands, as would protect New Zealand interests. I have deferred replying to this despatch until some definitive decision should have been arrived at by Her Majesty's Government with regard to the annexation'of the Fiji Islands. That step has now been taken, and your Ministers will at once perceive that, with the increased facilities for considering the requirements and interests of New Zealand and the Australian Colonies in particular, and the British Empire generally, in the Pacific, which the establishment of a separate colonial Government in these islands will now afford, it is obviously undesirable for the present to give a decision either in favour of or against any particular schemes on so important a subject. The work on which Her Majesty's Government are thus engaged, and in which the interests of New Zealand and the Australian Colonies are so largely concerned, is one requiring so much care and attention, that its success, as I feel sure your Ministers will agree with me, ought not to be in any degree jeopardized by the introduction into it of other measures and considerations, however important, lay which it might be complicated. I have, &c. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand. Cabnaevon.

Navi gator Islands: Native Labourer;..

NATIVE LABOURERS IN THE NAVIGATOR ISLANDS (ALLEGED CBUELTIES TO).

No. 1. The Eight Hon. Sir M. E. Hicks Beach to Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Noemanby. My Loed, — Downing Street, 18th October, 1878. I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship a copy of a Despatch, with its enclosures, addressed by the Acting Deputy Commissioner .in Samoa to the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, reporting the result of an inquiry which he had instituted into certain alleged cruelties to Polynesian labourers on the estate of an English proprietor in the Navigator Islands. As Mr. Maudslay's report shows that the estate -on which these cruelties have been practised is worked by an agent of Messrs. McAxthur and Co. of Auckland, I request that you will bring the subject under the serious consideration of that firm, in order that the necessary steps may be taken with a view of putting an end to the abuses which have been shown to exist on their plantation. I have, &c. Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanbv, M. E. Hicks Beach. G.C.M.G. &c.

Enclosure 1. Mr. Maudslay to the Eight Hon. the Secbetaby of State. Sill,— British Consulate, Apia, Samoa, 14th May, 1878. On the 23rcl April I held an inquiry at Mr. Cornwall's plantation, at Lata, into the condition of the Tapitenca labourers working on that estate, and investigated certain charges made against the manager, an American citizen named Moors. 2. The plantation of Lata is situated on the south-west coast of the. Island of Savaii, between the native villages of Taga and Saleailua, and is about fifty miles distant from Apia. I have attached a sketch-map of the coast, showing the position of the plantation. Black lava cliffs extend almost the whole length of the south coast of Savaii, against which the surf is always beating with great violence, and navigation in small boats is always dangerous, and often impossible. At Satupaitea and Saleailua some protection is afforded by short stretches of coral reef, but between these two places, for a distance of twenty miles, there are only the small boat-passages at the villages of Tufu and Taga, which are only practicable in very fine weather. There are only two paths along the coast, both passing o-yer level land, but owing to the rocky nature of the ground they certainly rank amongst the worst native tracks I have ever walked over. The plantation is thus irfSa very isolated position. The clearing commences about half a mile from the coast, and runs inland. There is a dense forest all round, and the nearest native village is distant about five miles. 3. Mr. Cornwall claims to be the owner of a large tract of land in the neighbourhood of Lata, amounting to something like twelve or thirteen square miles. The land, however, has not yet been surveyed, and it is impossible to give the extent of the claim with accuracy. The natives have acquainted me with their intention of disputing the validity of the sale of a great" portion of this land.