A.—l

10

No. 32. The Kirikiri Native School Site Act authorises the transfer of the site to the Education Board of Auckland, on purchase, for the purposes of a public school under the Education Act.

No. 12. (No. 71.) My Lobd, — Government House, Wellington, 22nd December, 1894. I have the honour to inform you that my Government are of opinion that, whenever practicable, Foreign Consuls appointed in New Zealand should be subjects of the States they represent, and they have requested me to bring this matter to your Lordship's notice, with a view to representations being made to Foreign Governments on the subject, as they consider it very undesirable that British subjects should represent, even in a Consular position, any Foreign Power in this colony. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. the Marquis of Eipon, G.C.M.G., GLASGOW. Secretary of State for the Colonies.

. (No. .1.) No. 13. My Loed, — Government House, Auckland, 4th March, 1895. Having just returned from a visit to the outlying dependencies of this colony, as named in the margin, in the Government despatch vessel " Hinemoa," I think it my duty to give your Lordship a short account of these interesting but little-known islands, and to bring to your notice the admirable arrangements made by the New Zealand Government in order to afford succour to shipwrecked crews from time to time cast away on them, lying as they do in the track of vessels Homeward bound from the Australian ports round the Horn. I was fortunate in being accompanied by Sir James Hector, K.C.M.G., &c, Manager of the New Zealand Institute and Director of the Geological Survey and the Meteorological Department of New Zealand ; by Dr. Parker, Professor of Biology in the University of Otago; and by Commander Edwin, E.N., of the Meteorological Department; and I shall hope to forward to you in due course any reports which these gentlemen may publish of their observations during the voyage. These observations, however, have been limited in number owing to the stormy and unsettled state of the weather during the whole of our expedition, which prevented much research and investigation which would otherwise have been of much interest. We left the Bluff Harbour on the 30th January, and, owing to strong southerly gales, we put into Port Adventure, Paterson's Inlet, and Port Pegasus in succession, in Stewart Island, after looking in at Half-moon Bay, where we found a whaler from Hobart flensing a sperm whale. There is no doubt but that whales are increasing in the South Seas, but it is to be hoped that the whaling industry will not be resumed to any great extent for many years yet, or they will again be brought to the verge of extinction. The females only calve every two years, and it will be long before they are again plentiful. Paterson's Inlet is a beautiful sheet of water, and Adventure Cove a safe harbour in all but north-easterly gales. Port Pegasus would become a place of some importance as the most southern port of the colony were the southern half of Stewart Island capable of settlement, but, being composed of little else than coarse granite, it is of no value for either grazing or agriculture. The Snares.- —Leaving Port Pegasus in the evening we arrived off the Snares in the early morning and stopped till daylight, when we steamed to the ordinary anchorage, close under the east side of the Main Snare, where we anchored in 75 fathoms. These islands bear S.S.W. from the Bluff, distant 125 miles. They are precipitous for the most part, and in some places are 600 ft. to 700 ft. high. The Main and the North-east Snares together are about a mile and a half long, separated by a narrow channel, barely practicable for boats. Another island or group of rocks, known as the South-west Snares,

Snares Island, Auckland Islands, Campbell Island, Antipodes Island, Bounty Islands, Chatham Islands.