being carried on from this country and else-
where to Auckland, of persons who are desir-
ous of availing themselves of the advantages
held out to them, I think it necessary to delay
no longer calling your attention to the subject.
I enclose for your information a copy of a
Report which has been received from the Co-
lonial Land and Emigration Commissioners in
reply to a reference which was made to them
from this Office; and agreeing as I do in the
conclusions they have arrived at, I have, in pur-
suance of their recommendation, to authorise
you, so far as regards the authority of the
Crown, to take every step which can legally be
taken to indemnify those who may have already
gone out on the faith of these Regulations for
the disappointment of their expectations.

The Messrs. Ridgway have been informed
that the Provincial Act became null and void
in its effect subsequent to the date at which
the order in Council disallowing the General
Act was received in the Colony.

I have, &c.,
E. B. LYTTON.

Governor Gore Browne,
&c., &c., &c.

The Emigration Commissioners to Mr. Elliot.

Emigration Office,
22nd November, 1858.

Sir,—We have to acknowledge your letter
of the 19th instant, enclosing a notice issued
by Messrs. Ridgway, of Leicester Square,
promising Free Grants of Land in Auckland
to intending Emigrants, in conformity with
the provisions of an Act passed by the Legis-
lature of that Province under the authority of
the New Zealand Waste Lands Act, 1856,
which has since been disallowed. You desire us to report
whether the circumstances of the case call for
any explanation to Messrs. Ridgway, and in
what terms the Act under which these
Grants were authorised has been disallowed.

2. In reply we would submit that Messrs.
   Ridgway should be informed of the disallow-
   ance of the Act in question, but that it is not
   necessary to explain to them the grounds of
   that disallowance. As the Auckland Act would
   be in force in the Province until Her Majesty’s
   disallowance of the New Zealand Act on
   which it was based had been proclaimed, and as
   that disallowance was not signified before De-
   cember last, it may be hoped that the number
   of Emigrants who have proceeded to Auckland
   since that date on the faith of these regulations
   is not large. Upon this point Messrs. Ridg-
   way will be able to afford information. But
   whatever be their number we think they are
   entitled to very liberal consideration, and that
   the New Zealand Government should be
   authorised to take every step which they
   can legally take to indemnify them for the dis-
   appointment of their expectations. We do not
   attempt to suggest in what way this should
   be done, as it will be much easier and more satis-
   factory to settle that question on the spot—but
   it appears to us that it should be done at once
   and conclusively to prevent the growth of
   claims which always become more troublesome
   to deal with as they grow older.

We have, &c.,
(Signed) T. W. C. MURDOCH,
FREDK. ROGERS.

T. F. Elliot, Esq.,
&c., &c., &c.

Messrs. Ridgway to Mr. Elliot.

40, Leicester Square,
London, W. C., 10th Dec., 1858.

Sir,—We have the honor of acknowledging
the receipt of your letter dated 8th December,
1858, in which we are informed that the atten-
tion of the Secretary of State has been called
to our notice respecting free Grants of land in
the Province of Auckland, New Zealand, and
that the New Zealand Waste Lands Act, 1856,
was disallowed by the Queen on the 11th Feb-
uary last.

This information is stated to be afforded "in
order to obviate as far as possible the great in-
convenience and loss that must arise to indi-
viduals who may have proceeded to the Colony on
the faith of this and other notices of a like
description."

We have the honor of stating that in the
issue of these notices and the grant of land
orders, we were acting under the specific in-
structions received from the Provincial Govern-
ment of Auckland, in accordance with the
provisions of the "Auckland Waste Lands Act,
1858," and that up to the receipt of the letter
now under reply, we have neither received from
the Provincial Government directions to cease
issuing such orders, nor from the Secretary of
State or other Home authority, any intimation
that our appointment under the Act in question,
or our acts under that appointment, were invalid.

For these and other reasons we do not con-
sider that inconvenience and loss can arise to
individuals who may have already proceeded to
the Province, and we protest on their behalf
against any such inconvenience or loss; but we
shall feel obliged by your causing us to be in-
formed at as early a period as convenient,
whether we are to interpret the letter we have
received as a notice that our appointment is
now inoperative, and that any such land orders
we may in future issue will be invalid.

We have &c.,
(Signed) ALEX. F. RIDGWAY & SONS.

T. F. Elliot, Esq.,
&c., &c., &c.

Colonial Office,
Downing Street.

PROCLAMATION.

By JOHN WILLIAMSON, Esquire,
Superintendent of the Province
of Auckland, in the Colony of
New Zealand.

WHEREAS by an Act made and passed in
the Parliament holden in the fifteenth
and sixteenth years of the reign of Her present
Majesty, intituled "An Act to grant a Repre-
sentative Constitution to the Colony of New
Zealand," it is amongst other things enacted
that it shall be lawful for the Superintendent,
by proclamation in the Government Gazette,
to fix such place or places within the limits of
the Province and such times for holding the
first and every other Session of the Provincial
Council as he may think fit.

Now, THEREFORE, pursuant to the authority
in me vested in that behalf, I, the Superin-
tendent of the Province of Auckland, do hereby
proclaim and declare, that the eleventh session
of the Provincial Council shall be holden at
Auckland, and shall commence on Monday, the
eleventh day of July next; and the Members of
the said Council are hereby warned to give
their attendance at the said time and place ac-
cordingly.

Given under my hand, at Auck-
land, this twenty-first day of
June, in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred
and fifty nine.

J. WILLIAMSON,
Superintendent.

Auckland: Printed by W. C. Wilson, for the Provincial Government.