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of Her Majesty's Colonial and Indian Empire, and fully explaining the proposed arrangements for the Exhibition. The Prince of Wales has done me the honour of communicating with me repeatedly, while the scheme, now so fully elaborated, was under His Royal Highness's consideration, and I feel satisfied that, under the personal supervision of His Royal Highness, this Exhibition ought to afford a more interesting and a more complete illustration of the Colonial Empire than any which has preceded it. I am confident that you will share my satisfaction in feeling assured that the Prince's warm interest in the Colonial Empire, as well as His Royal Highness's ability in practical administration, will be devoted to the success of this great undertaking ; and it only remains for me to recommend it to the most favourable consideration of your Government, and to request that you will do everything in your power to ensure the best possible representation of your colony. Copies of the general plan referred to in His Royal Highness's letter will be furnished by the Secretary to the Royal Commission to the Agent-General for transmission to your Government. I have, &c, Governor Sir W. F. D. Jervois, G.C.M.G., 0.8., &o. DERBY.

Enclosure. Sir,— Marlborough House, Pall Mall, S.W., 24th November, 1884. The official Gazette of the 18th instant, a copy of which is enclosed, notifies the appointment by Her Majesty the Queen of the Eoyal Commission, of which you are a member, for the purpose of organizing and carrying out an exhibition in London, during the year 1886, of the products, manufactures, and resources of the Colonial and Indian Empire. In assuming the active presidency of this Commission, I am desirous of having the opportunity of bringing prominently under notice the development and progress which have been made in the various parts of the British Empire, trusting that a more intimate knowledge may thus be obtained of the vast fields for enterprise which exist throughout the British dominions. You are doubtless aware that the financial system by which the International Exhibitions held in London in 1851 and 1862 were carried out was on the basis of a guarantee fund, and this system has been successfully followed in the series of International Exhibitions now being held at South Kensington, in the buildings erected by the Executive Committee of the International Fisheries Exhibition. I may here mention that these buildings, as well as the gardens, have, with my approval, been rented from the Fisheries Executive and from Her Majesty's Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851, respectively, and I have decided that these arrangements shall continue during the year 1886. I have determined to carry out the Colonial and Indian Exhibition upon this same system of guarantee, and the Secretary of State for India in Council has already guaranteed the sum of £20,000 out of the £50,000 which it is estimated will be sufficient. I trust that the great colonies, represented in England by the High Commissioner and the Agents-General, upon the co-operation of which the success of the Exhibition must mainly depend, will feel able to guarantee sums amounting in the aggregate to at least £30,000; and I should be glad to be informed, at your earliest convenience, of the amount which your Government would be disposed to guarantee for the purpose of assisting to carry out this undertaking. I should add that the experience of the recent Exhibitions which have been held at South Kensington affords the well-grounded hope that the Exhibition of 1886 will be self-supporting, and that, as in their case, it will not be necessary to make any call upon the gaurantors. With regard to the division of the available exhibiting space in the buildings among the various exhibiting Governments, I have to inform you that it has been decided that it will be more conducive to the general interests of this Exhibition that the Eoyal Commission should itself make the best possible appropriation of such space. I therefore forward with this letter a general plan of the buildings, on which the space which the Eoyal Commission has directed should be set apart for the Government of New Zealand is clearly indicated. To this general plan is annexed an enlarged plan, together with sections and elevations of this space, thus, I trust, affording all the information necessary to enable the preparatory arrangements for fitting up the court to be made in the colony itself. This space amounts to 7,100 square feet; and, except that it is necessary to provide for the circulation of visitors —a longitudinal passage 25ft. in width, and smaller side-passages, especially where doors occur in the structure, of 12ft. in width—the disposition of this space is entirely left to your Government. I would only say that I trust that no barriers or partitions may be erected between the spaces assigned to the various Colonial Governments, and which might in any way mar the general effect. With reference to the administration of the Exhibition, I have already stated that it is my intention to take the same executive part as I did in the case of the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878, and, with the consent of Her Majesty's Government, I have selected Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen, K.C.M.G., C.8., C.1.E., Director of the South Kensington Museum, to act as Secretary to the Eoyal Commission. I shall, in any matters of special importance, address myself personally to the Executive Commissioner appointed by your Government, but I shall be obliged by all general correspondence being carried on with the Secretary to the Eoyal Commission j