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In regard to applications numbered 381 and 835, the same must be advertised for one week in some paper published nearest to and circulating in the locality. I have, &c, R. J. Seddon, Minister for Public Works. The General Manager, New Zealand Midland Eailway Company, Christchurch. This is the reply, which still shows the same desire for prompt settlement: — The General Manages, Midland Railway Company, to the Hon. the Minister for Public Wobks. Sir,— New Zealand Midland Railway Company (Limited), Christchuroh, 31st May, 1892. Application under Clause 33. —I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 25th instant. With regard to the first portion of your letter, tbe company is willing, of course, to amend the applications sent in in the direction you point out; but I am glad to learn from your letter that the Government is willing to facilitate dealing with these lands by dispensing with the somewhat needless formality of having the application addressed to the Queen instead of the Minister for Public Works. In future the applications shall be so addressed. As to the conditions upon which you say the Government is willing to deal with the applications already sent forward, I have to remark as follows : — (a) The company agrees to the course suggested ; but it does not appear that the words contained within the brackets are necessary, as it is presumed that the Government will disallow any applications which are required for bond fide mining purposes, and the words " dealt with under any of the Mining Acts " are too wide, as they would prohibit the company selecting lands let under occupation license subject to termination without compensation at three months' notice. (b.) It seems unnecessary for the company to withdraw applications which may be within mining reserves, present or proposed. The Government will presumably exercise its power of disallowing such applications, and, of course, then they cannot be dealt with. (c.) To facilitate matters, the company will agree to the advertising of such applications as the Government may think necessary. The Government must bear in mind that advertising is to be done at the expense of applicants for the land, and therefore any undue expense of this sort must be a hindrance to settlement. It will therefore be seen that there is no reason why the Government should not proceed immediately to deal with the applications already sent in. As to future applications, the company is quite willing, for the sake of getting them dealt with as expeditiously as the Government will allow, to act as indicated in your letter; but with regard to paragraph (2), which reads, " That on receipt of the Government valuation the company shall address a formal request to the Queen to sell or lease," &c, this should read, " That after receipt of the Government valuation, and upon the company having agreed with the applicant for the sale or lease of the land applied for, the company," &c. (as in letter under reply). It is understood, of course, that after assessment the company's formal request to have the lands sold or leased is dependent on an agreement having been made with the applicant for sale or lease of the land in question. This is not apparent in your letter ; further, there is no necessity for the notice mentioned in clause (9) of your letter, as by section 33, clause (7), of the contract it is provided that lands sold cr let by the Queen for the company " shall be deemed to have been selected for the company," and that " the value thereof shall be from time to time debited against the company," &o. I note your remarks with reference to the applications which you now return assessed, and about which I will write in another letter. I have, &c, For the New Zealand Midland Railway Company (Limited), Robert Wilson, Bngineer-in-Chief and General Manager. Hon. Minister for Publio Works, Wellington. And now at last, nearly three years since the first applications were sent in (they were sent in in February, 1890) we get this letter:— The Under-Secretary for Public Works to the General Manager, Midland Railway Company. P.W. 92/1808. No. 93/899. Sir,— Public Works Office, Wellington, 22nd December, 1892. Midland Railway : Applications under Clause 33 of the Contract. —l am directed by the Minister for Public Works to forward to you herewith a further list of applications for lands to be dealt with under olause 33 of the contract, with the assessment of value duly noted against each. There is no objection to these lands being now dealt with as provided in the contract, and in terms of the letters from this office of 25th May and 14th June last. I have, &c, H. J. H. Blow, Under-Secretary for Public Works. General Manager, New Zealand Midland Railway Company, Christchurch. [Note. —Enclosed with this letter is list of sixty-six applications, with assessments thereof."! The wonder after all this is that the company tried as hard as they did to help settlement; and yet we are told it is we who blocked it. Mr. Bell: There is a letter on the 20th August which states that mining reserves were about to be made, The difficulty was that the mining reserves were not then made, and these applications from the company could not be dealt with. I think the whole of the correspondence should be put in. Dr. Findlay : I prefer to let the correspondence speak for itself. Bt. Hon. Mr. Seddon : I should like to call Dr. Findlay's attention to the fact that there is an answer, which I considered complete at the time, given by a series of letters which I contributed myself, in reply to letters by Mr. Wilson, which appeared in the West Coast papers, complaining of this difficulty. We had those letters before one of the Committees, and the whole thing is summed up very shortly by both sides. The difficulty was that a number of these applications were for land which was known to be auriferous. The mining reserves had not been made, and we could not deal with those lands. I do not mean to say that the company were doing this wilfully, but a number of persons who sent in applications were trying to get these auriferous lands. Dr. Findlay: I have not read that correspondence. Bt. Hon. Mr. Seddon: I shall be glad to let you see a copy. Dr. Findlay : I only desire to say, in conclusion of this part of my address, that even if the land had to be reserved for mining purposes, still we sent in applications as early as February, 1890, and we did not get an assessment until the month of December, 1892. In the meanwhile, there was ample time to ascertain whether the lands were auriferous or not. We are now dealing with the question of whether we were guilty of the delaying settlement, and I think the correspondence which I have read shows that we did not. Mr. Bell: The complaint that we had in regard to these applications was brought before Mr. Blake in the Arbitration Court, and was decided distinctly in our favour.