112, which I had the honor to forward to your Lordship yesterday.

(Signed) T. C. Harington,

The Right Honorable,
The Earl Grey,
&c., &c., &c.

(Copy.)

Wellington,

New Zealand House,
Brand Street, Buildings,
5th July, 1850.

Sir,

By my previous communications, more especially by the Despatches of 1st February, and 1st of June last, Wellington Nos. 5—10, 31—36, you will have been prepared for the possible discontinuance of the colonizing operations of the Company, as, on this day, the copy which I have now the honor to enclose, of the proceedings at the adjourned General Court of Proprietors yesterday will show you. I am sorry to say that this event has actually taken place. In compliance with the Resolutions then adopted a notice was yesterday transmitted to the Secretary of State for the Colonies (a copy of which is enclosed), in pursuance of the provisions of the 13th Section of the Act 10 and 11 Victoria, c. 112.

You will be pleased therefore immediately on receipt of this Despatch to take steps for bringing every open transaction to a close, taking care to incur no expense which can be legally avoided, and no new expense whatever.

The shortness of the time has not permitted any communication of the wishes of Lord Grey as to the manner in which the lands of the Company are to be placed at the disposal of the Crown, but all expenses attending such proceeding will of course be defrayed by the Government.

It is scarcely necessary to add that the notice above referred to will, of course, have determined the powers held by yourself and the other Agents of the Company, under your respective appointments, except so far as may be necessary for carrying out the instructions contained in this Despatch.

So far also as the Directors can, at present, see, the whole of the Salaries must cease on the 31st of December next, and you must therefore consider them as ceasing accordingly.

On the subject of Conveyances I shall have the honor of addressing you separately after learning the views of the professional advisers of the Crown.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) T. C. Harington,
Secretary.

P.S.—A Copy of this Despatch is transmitted to each of the Resident Agents at Nelson, New Plymouth, and Otago, with instructions to give it immediate effect.

William Fox, Esq.,
Principal Agent of the
New Zealand Company,
Wellington.

(Copy.) Colonial Office,
18th July, 1850.

Sir,

I am directed by Earl Grey to acknowledge your letter of the 5th of this month, enclosing a letter addressed by you under the orders of the Directors of the New Zealand Company, announcing their delivery of the notice of the intended surrender of their Charter to the Secretary of State.

2. Lord Grey thinks it necessary to point out to the Directors that the statement of that letter that the expenses attending the transfer of the Company’s land to the Crown “will, of course, be defrayed by the Government,” is one to which he cannot pledge Her Majesty’s Government by the apurport consent which would be involved in a simple acknowledgement, until this and other questions pending between Her Majesty’s Government and the Company have been investigated.

3. He is also not aware of the particular point to which the last paragraph of the letter applies, as no questions have as yet been addressed by him to the professional advisers of the Crown on the subject of Conveyances, nor has he received any application from the Directors to do so.

4. With these exceptions Lord Grey has no observation to make on your letter, and proposes to transmit a copy of this correspondence to the Governor of New Zealand with a Despatch of which he encloses a copy for the information of the Directors and for any remarks on their part, but which he proposes to send by the earliest opportunity.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) T. C. Harington, Esq.

(Copy.) Colonial Office,
18th July, 1850.

Sir,

I am directed by Earl Grey to acknowledge your letter of the 4th of this month, enclosing a notice under the Seal of the New Zealand Company that they are ready to surrender the Charter of the Company to Her Majesty and all claim or title to the lands granted or awarded to them in New Zealand; and to state that his Lordship is ready to receive the Charters on the part of Her Majesty whenever they are delivered to him by the officers of the Company to whom that duty is committed.

2. In reference to the Resolutions enclosed in this letter expressing hopes that Her Majesty’s Government will receive and pay their attention to further explanations of the causes which have prevented the realization of those expectations on which the agreement of 1847 was founded, I am to request that you will convey to the Directors Lord Grey’s assurance that he will not fail to give any statements on that subject which he may receive from the Directors, or other authorized parties, his best consideration.

3. But inasmuch as by the mere effect of the Act, certain duties and liabilities appear to become at once imposed on Her Majesty’s Government by the receipt of the notice at the latest period which the Act allowed, it appears to his Lordship essential that they should ascertain with as little delay as possible the actual position in which Her Majesty’s Government is placed thereby.

4. Under Section 19 of the Act the lands revert to the Crown, “subject to any contracts which shall then be subsisting in regard to any of the said lands,” Lord Grey would therefore be glad to receive an account of the liabilities which the Directors are able to complete the necessary investigation of the contracts with other parties besides Her Majesty’s Government, to which any of these lands are (in the view of the Directors) now subject.

5. Under the same Section and under the agreement of April 1847, Her Majesty’s Government became on the one hand subject to the condition of satisfying any liabilities to which the Company may be liable under the existing engagements; and, with reference to the settlement of Nelson, or any liabilities contracted with the consent of the Commissioners: and on the other hand, Her Majesty’s Government is entitled to the Company’s assets. Lord Grey would therefore be glad to be furnished, in the same manner, as soon as the Directors find it in their power so to