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the Treasury, to attend to the observance of the Navigation Laws, and other Imperial objects, and of establishments appointed by the Colonial Governments for the collection of Colonial duties and the regulation of trade under local laws. In Jamaica and Canada the Imperial officers have as yet been retained for these purposes, by, and at the charge of, the Colonial Government. 5. But these proceedings did not at first affect the Australian Settlements, or other Colonies to which the Possessions' Trade Act of 9th and 10th Yictoria did not specifically apply, and where trade was carried on and duties were levied under either— Special Legislative enactments, as in— New South Wales, New Zealand, Yan Diemen's Land, Ceylon, South Australia, -Mauritius, Western Australia, Malta. Or, Orders of the Queen in Council, as in the Colonies of— The C vpe of Good Hope, Gambia, St. Helena, Gibraltar, Sierra Leone, 6. In all these Colonies, except Malta, Gibraltar, and Western Australia, there are Customs establishments appointed by the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, on recommendations of the Board of Customs, and in communication with and receiving direct instructions from that Board, on subjects which would more properly be left to the Colonial Governments, more especially now that the levy of differential duties, as well as other restrictions on Colonial Trade, have been generally speaking relinquished. 7. As regards the Australian Colonies and Hew Zealand, an alteration in this state of things would doubtless soon naturally result from the constitutional changes now under the consideration of Parliament; but in the mean time, as propositions have already been brought before the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, by the Customs Department, relating to the establishments iu South Australia and New Zealand, it has been considered, on the whole, advisable that measures should at once be taken for putting the Customs establishments ar.d arrangements throughout the Colonies on the footing of those in the West Indies and North America; and relinquishing further interference on the part of the Treasury or of the Board of Customs, in the nomination of officers, cr in any other details relating to the administration of the local Customs Laws and Regulations. 8. These are the considerations which have led to the adoption of the arrangement in question, and it is one which has appeared to Her Majesty's Government both desirable in itself, and calculated to be acceptable to the Colonies affected by it. 9. The effect will be, to place the future appointment of officers to the Customs department precisely on the same footing as that of all other officers of the Colonial establishment, under the rules on that subject, laid down in the volume of Colonial Beg illations, chapter 3, section 1. You will, therefore, fill up all vacancies ; but, except in offices of the lowest of the three classes into which appointments are divided, you will only do so provisionally, and subject to the confirmation of the Secretary of State. Both in the principles on which yon will select the candidates to be recommended, and also in the course of reporting immediately all appointments, you will strictly follow the rules laid down in the above cited chapter of the Colonial Regulations, which is so full and clear in its directions, and so explanatory of the grounds on which those directions rest, that I feel it unnecessary to add anything more upon the subject in this despatch. I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant GREY. Treasury Chambers, 19th March, 1851. Gentlemen, I am commanded by the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury to state to you, with further reference to the communication made to you by the Board's direction, on the 3rd July last.