A.—l

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The following additional amounts have been forwarded to Paymasters for expenditure through military officers : — New Zealand Comforts Fund : — Egypt— Hunterville Countess of Liverpool Fund and Red £ »i d. Gross Guild ... ... ... ... ... 48 1 6 Stratford Red Cross Society ... ... ... ... 500 Regimental Funds : — England — Southland War Funds Association ... ... ... 100 0 0 £16,470 4 8 Poor in Belgium Relief : — Monthly contribution under Government scheme (less £1,577 155., as explained in first paragraph of this memorandum) ... ... ... ... ... 13,422 5 0 £29,892 9 8 Arthur M. Myers, Acting Minister of Finance.

No. 12. New Zealand, No. 96. Sir,— Government House, Wellington, 28th March, 1917. 1 have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch, Dominions No. 11, of the sth January, relative to cases which have occurred in which enemy subjects have been repatriated from British oversea ports as medically unfit, whom on their arrival in the United Kingdom the medical authorities have not considered to be within the schedule of disabilities. 2. My Ministers inform me that no medically unfit male enemy subjects have been repatriated from this Dominion, but that they will be pleased to adopt the suggestion made in your despatch in the event of any such repatriations. I have, &c, LIVERPOOL, The Right Hon. Walter H. Long, M.P., Governor. Secretary of State for the Colonies. V» __________________________________________

No. 13. New Zealand, No. 99. Sir, — Government House, Wellington, 11th April, 1917. I have the honour to inform you that the attention of my Ministers has been given to your predecessor's despatch, No. 737, of the 15th September last, on the subject of the examination of masters and mates in the mercantile marine. 2. I am now advised that it has been decided to revise the New Zealand regulations in order to bring them into line with the amended Board of Trade regulations, and that copies of the revised regulations, when made, will be forwarded to the Board of Trade. 3. The Dominion Government concur in the suggestion made in paragraph 2 of the despatch under reply—as to the advantage which would be gained if Examiners of Masters and Mates in the self-governing dominions were to visit Great Britain for the purpose of studying the methods adopted in the Board of Trade examinations —and, acting upon the suggestion, Ministers propose to send Captain Whiteford, one of the Examiners in this Dominion, to England as soon as arrangements can be made. I have, &c, LIVERPOOL, The Right Hon. Walter H. Long, M.P., Governor. Secretary of State for the Colonies.