A.—2.

one or more areas that are not contiguous, and any area situated within a district may at any time by like-Proclamation be declared to not form part of any district under this ordinance. 111. The district of any native who does not reside within a district defined and proclaimed as above, shall be held to extend in every direction to a distance of ten miles from the ordinary place of residence of such native. IV. It shall not be lawful for any person, except as hereinafter provided, to engage any native to labour .at any place not within the district of such native, or to remove or attempt to remove any native from his own district for service elsewhere or for any other purpose, or to remove or take away, or to attempt to remove or take away, or to aid or abet in removing or taking away, any native to any place beyond the possession. Any person violating any provision of this section shall be liable to a fine not exceeding £100, and to imprisonment not exceeding twelve months, and shall, in addition, have to bear all necessary and reasonable costs incurred, or to be incurred, in returning to his home any native removed from his district contrary to the provisions of this section. V. The provisions of the last-preceding section shall not apply in respect of any native engaged, or that may be engaged, in any capacity in connection with Her Majesty's Government in the possession. VI. When in any case it is shown to the satisfaction of the Administrator that any native employed before the passing of this ordinance as a labourer or otherwise, beyond his district as defined above, is so employed by the wish and desire of such native, and that there exists no objection on the part of the tribe or family of such native to his being absent from his district, the Administrator may, if he sees fit, direct that a permit be issued to the employer of such native, or to the person having charge or control of such native, to continue to retain him in the same occupation for any term mentioned, in the permit aforesaid, and such permit shall, during the period it may be in force, exempt the person to whom it has been granted from any penalty under section IV. hereof. Any such permit may be revoked at any time by order of the Administrator. VII. Notwithstanding anything contained in this ordinance, it shall be lawful for the master of any British-owned boat or vessel trading in the possession to engage, before any Besident Magistrate or other officer empowered in that behalf by the Administrator, any native to serve for any term not exceeding six months on board such boat or vessel within the possession, or within such part or parts thereof, and on such terms and conditions as the said Magistrate or other officer may approve or require, but the master of any boat or vessel employing any native thereon otherwise than as permitted under this ordinance, or removing or attempting to remove any native beyond the possession, whether such native is under engagement or not, shall be liable to the penalties set forth in section IV. hereof. VIII. Any Besident Magistrate or other officer as aforesaid may sanction the engagement of any native to serve on any boat or vessel, as provided in the last-preceding section, for a period not exceeding six months, if he has satisfied himself on the following points : — (a.) That fair remuneration is offered, and will be duly paid, for which the Besident Magistrate or other officer may require satisfactory security; (b.) That the native is willing to engage ; (o.) That the native has the consent of his tribe or family to engage ; (d.) That there is no reason to suspect that the native will be in any way unfairly treated; and (<?.) That the native will, on the expiration or cancellation of the engagement, be returned to his home, for which return the Besident Magistrate or other officer may require satisfactory security. The Besident Magistrate or other officer may refuse to sanction the engagement of any such native, and he shall not be required to state to any intending employer the grounds of such refusal. IX. A record of the engagement of every native]employod under sections VII. and VIII. hereof, signed by the employer, shall be filed by the Besident Magistrate or other officer, and the Besident Magistrate or other officer may at any time cancel any such engagement, but shall by the first opportunity report the same and the reasons therefor to the Administrator. X. Nothing herein contained shall be held to prevent the Administrator, or any officer deputed by him in that respect, from allowing any native to be removed from his own district to any other part of the possession for the purposes of education or the advancement of religious teaching. XL This ordinance may be cited for all purposes as "The Natives' Bemoval Prohibition Ordinance, 1888." Passed in the Council this 12th day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.

No. 7. (New Zealand, No. 59.) My Loed, — Downing Street, 13th December, 1890. No. 6. With reference to my despatch of this day's date, I have the honour to transmit to your Lordship, for communication to your Government, a copy of a despatch from Mr. Exham to the Foreign Office, representing the increased expenses which he has incurred since the establisbment of the British protectorate over the Cook Islands. As Mr. Exham has never been otherwise than an unsalaried Acting Consul, I should learn with much satisfaction that the Legislature of New Zealand had

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