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No. 43. (New Zealand—Honours.) Sib,— Downing Street, 28th May, 1886. I have the honour to inform you that the Queen has, on my recommendation, been graciously pleased to give orders for the appointment of Mr. Eobert Stout, Premier of New Zealand, to be a Knight Commander of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George ; and I request that you will be good enough to forward to him the accompanying letter. I have, &c, GEANYILLE. Governor Sir W. F. D. Jervois, G.C.M.G., C.8., &c.

No. 44. (Circular.) Sir, — Downing Street, 31st May, 1886. With reference to Lord Derby's circular despatch of the 14th of April, 1885, on the subject of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition, I have the honour to transmit to you, for the information of your Government, a printed copy of the proceedings of a meeting of the Eoyal Commission held in the Durbar Hall of the Indian Palace at the Exhibition, on Monday, 3rd May, 1886. I have, &c, GEANVILLE. The Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand.

A.-2a, 1885, No, 46.

Enclosure. Colonial and Indian Exhibition (London, 1886). Proceedings of a Meeting of the Royal Commission, held in the Durbar Hall of the Indian Palac 6 at the Exhibition on Monday, 3rd May, 1886. The Eoyal Commission for the Colonial and Indian Exhibition met on Monday, 3rd May, 1886, in the Durbar Hall of the Indian Palace at the Exhibition, under the presidency of His Eoyal Highness the Prince of Wales. The following members of the Commission were present: MajorGeneral H.E.H. the Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, Field-Marshal Commandiug-in-Chief H.E.H. the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of Manchester, the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, the Marquis of Salisbury, the Marquis of Normanby, the Marquis of Eipon, the Marquis of Lome, the Earl Cadogan, the Earl Granville, the Earl of Iddesleigh, the Viscount Bury, FieldMarshal the Lord Napier of Magdala, the Hon. Edward Stanhope, M.P., the Eight Hon. Sir James Fergusson, Bart., the Right Hon. Hugh Culling Eardley Childers, M.P., the Eight Hon. Sir William Henrj Gregory, the Eight Hon. Sir Lyon Playfair, M.P., the Eight Hon. Sir Michael Edward Hicks-Beach, Bart., M.P., the Eight Hon. Sir Louis Mallet, the Eight Hon. the Lord Mayor of London, the Eight Hon. the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Sir Henry Thurstan Holland, Bart., M.P., Sir Daniel Cooper, Bart., Sir John Eose, Bart., Field-Marshal Sir Patrick Grant, General Sir Frederick Paul Haines, Major-General Sir Henry Creswicke Eawlinson, Lieut.-General Sir Charles Henry Brownlow, General Sir Edwin Beaumont Johnson, Lieut.-General Sir Henry Dominick Daly, Lieut.-General Sir Samuel James Browne, Major-General Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, Sir Eobert Georgo Wyndham. Herbert, Major-General Sir Frederick Eichard Pollock, Lieut.General Sir Harry Burnett Lumsden, Surgeon-Gonerai Sir Joseph Fayrer, Sir Joseph Daltou Hooker, Colonel Sir Owen Tudor Burne, Sir Charles Tupper, General Sir Edward Selby Smyth, Sir Arthur Blyth, Sir Francis Dillon Bell, Sir Saul Samuel, Sir William Charles Sergeaunt, Sir Charles Hutton Gregory, Sir John Coode, Sir George Christopher Molesworth Birdwood, Major-General John Watson, Colonel Henry Yule, Mr. Horace George Walpole, Lieut.-General Eichard Strachey, Major-General James Michael, Colonel Arthur Edward Augustus Ellis, Mr. Eobert Anstruther Dalyell, Mr. Arthur Hodgson, Captain Montagu Frederick Ommanney, Mr, Augustus John Adderley, Mr. James Francis Garrick, the President of the Eoyal Academy of Arts, the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Mr. Henry Coppinger Beeton, Mr. Julius de Eeuter, Mr. William George Pedder, Mr. John Pender, also the Hon. Sir Ashley Eden, Mr. A. W. Gadesdon, Mr. E. W. Hamilton ; Sir Philip Cunliffe-Owen, Secretary ; Mr. Edward Cunliffe-Owen and Mr. J. E. Eoyle, Assistant-Secretaries. The Pbince of Wales addressed the meeting as follows : My Lords and gentlemen, I have thought it right to call you together on this the eve of the opening of the Exhibition by Her Majesty the Queen, in order that I may report to you the various steps that have been taken in the preparations for this Exhibition since the last time I had the honour of addressing you. I would, in the first place, wish to say a few words with regard to the constitution of the Eoyal Commission. You are doubtless aware that Her Majesty^^ in requesting you to act on a Eoyal Commission, defined your duties to be for the purpose of advising upon the best mode by which the products of industry, agriculture, and the fine arts of Her Majesty's colonial and Indian dominions might be procured and sent to this Exhibition. The appointment of this Commission was, I understand,