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the source of the river Awarua, thence
by the river Awarua to its mouth."
(Signed)
P. PROUDFOOT,
Chief Commissioner.

Superintendent's Office,
Dunedin, Aug. 28, 1857.

SIR,—I do myself the honor to ac-
knowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 6th June last; and in reply, to
annex a copy of the decision of the
Waste Land Board of Otago on the
subject of that letter.

In doing so, I may observe that I
cannot concur in the conclusion to
which you seem to have come with re-
gard to the boundary of the respective
Provinces. The river Waitangi being
the admitted boundary, all its branches
of are course included, and the map
sent by me corresponds with this view
of the matter. Besides, your one-sided
proposition that the Waste Land Board
of this Province should refrain from
disposing of the disputed territory,
whilst you did not assure me that the
same forbearance would be exercised on
the part of the Province of Canterbury,
could not be listened to.

I beg to add, however, that our chief
Surveyor will be at the Waitangi river
on the 1st of November next, and be
prepared to meet and confer with the
surveyor of your Province on such
points of the boundary line as may be
found desirable.

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your most obedient servant,
W. CARGILL, Superintendent.
His Honor the Superintendent
of Canterbury.

Waste Land Board Office,
Otago, 25th July, 1857.

SIR,—I have to acknowledge the receipt
of your Honor's letter of the 22nd instant
with enclosure, and to inform you that
the Board, having considered the same,
has directed that depasturing licenses
shall be granted in the usual form and
manner to all parties who may apply for
the same. The country applied for being
southward of the river Waitangi.
I have, &c.,
(Signed)
PETER PROUDFOOT,
Chief Commissioner.
His Honor the Superinten-
dent, Otago.

Superintendent's Office,
Christchurch, September 22, 1857.
SIR,—I beg to acknowledge the receipt

of your Honor's letter of the 28th August,
on the subject of the boundary line, be-
tween the Provinces of Canterbury and
Otago.

I now for the first time in the course of
this correspondence obtain some insight
into the grounds of the extraordinary claim
set up by the Provincial Government of
Otago. Your Honor is pleased to say, the
river Waitangi being the admitted bound-
ary, "all its branches are of course includ-
ed." This I take to be the grounds of
the claim of Otago.

The Government of Canterbury has been
inclined to take an honorable and equitable
view of the intent and meaning of the
Proclamation issued by Sir George Grey,
as explained by the map which is sealed
with the Public Seal to the Proclamation,
and therefore forms a part of it.

But if, departing from this mode of
dealing with the question, the Government
of Canterbury were disposed to adopt a
strictly legal and technical interpretation
of that document, looking not to its obvi-
ous intent, I ut to the utmost amount of
advantage which could be obtained from
it by a forced interpretation of its language,
we should at once adopt the line of argu-
ment which has been suggested by your
Honor's despatch, now under reply, for
referring to the words of the Proclamation,
I find that the northern boundary of the
Province of Otago, is simply defined
to be, "the southern boundary of the
Province of Canterbury," whilst the south-
ern boundary of the Province of Canter-
bury is defined to be the river Waitangi,
to its source; adopting the interpretation
of your Honor's Government, the southern
boundary of Canterbury is the river Wait-
angi, "in which all its branches are of
course included," and therefore the south-
ernmost branch, for your Honor's own inter-
pretation thereof, will, instead of transferr-
ing a very large portion of the Province
of Canterbury to Otago, transfer a very
large portion of the Province of Otago to
Canterbury, and should the course adopted
by the Government of Otago be such as to
compel the Government to resort to the Su-
preme Court in defence of the rights of its
settlers, your Honor will not be surprised
if we should not longer be bound by the
present interpretation, which we are willing
to place on the Proclamation, but should
accept whatever interpretation the Supreme
Court may decide as the most strictly and
technically consistent with the words of
the law.

And I feel called upon, whilst on this
subject, to express my astonishment that
your Honor should have permitted a
notice to issue from the Chief Commissioner
of Otago, containing what purposes to be
a quotation from Sir George Grey's Proc-
lamation respecting the boundaries of the