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FENCING AT HOSPITAL,
Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Auckland, March 28, 1848.

TENDERS will be received at this office, until noon of Wednesday the 12th April, for the erection of a Fence to surround the new Hospital in Auckland Park.

Tenders to state the price per rod, of 16½ feet, at which the fence will be erected, as well as a specific price for each gate, stile, &c., which may be required, the work to be measured and paid for at per rod after completion.

Particulars regarding the description of Fence, number, descriptions, and dimensions of Gates, Stiles, &c., which will be required, are to be obtained from the Superintendent of Works;

Tenders to be in duplicate, sealed, and endorsed—"Tenders for Fencing at Hospital," and are to specify a certain time when the work will be completed.

By His Excellency’s Command,
for the Colonial Secretary,
J. COATES.

Colonial Secretary’s Office
Auckland, 31st March, 1848.

HIS Excellency the Governor-in Chief has been pleased to direct the publication for general information, of the following despatch received from the Right Honorable the Secretary of State for the Colonies.

By His Excellency’s Command,
for the Colonial Secretary,
J. COATES.

(CIRCULAR.)
Downing Street,
25th September, 1847.

SIR,—In the last session of Parliament, an Act was passed "for the Naturalization of Aliens," 10th and 11th Vict., ch. 83. I herewith enclose a copy of it.

The Preamble of that Act explains briefly the circumstances in which it originated. In almost all of the British Colonies Laws had, of late years, been enacted, the object of which was to impart the privileges of Natural-born British subjects to Aliens inhabiting the Colonies in which those enactments were made. On referring those Acts to the successive Law-Officers of the Crown, it appeared from their answers to such references, to be a matter of great doubt whether they were valid and effectual for their purpose, and whether the Queen could properly be advised to confirm them. The principal ground of this doubt was the existence in the British Statute Book of various General Acts respecting the Naturalization of Aliens, some of which Acts of Parliament, and especially the Statute 7th and 8th Vict., ch. 66, were supposed by her Majesty’s Legal Advisers to extend to, and to be in force throughout the British Colonies. But the Colonial Acts in question being found to be in several respects at variance with, and repugnant to those Acts of Parliament, it was inferred that such Colonial Enactments were null and void either in whole or in part.

To obviate a conclusion replete with so much inconvenience, and recommended by no assignable advantage, her Majesty’s Government recommended to Parliament in their last session, the passing of the Act which I now enclose.

The result of that Act is first, to give validity to all Colonial Naturalization Acts formerly passed, and to declare that they shall be taken to have been valid from the time of their enactment. Secondly, the Act then proceeds to provide that all Naturalization Acts which shall hereafter be passed by any Colonial Legislature shall, within the limits of the Colony have the force of law any Law or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding. But thirdly, both the retrospective, and the prospective operation of the 10th and 11th Vict., ch. 83, is confined to Colonial Acts which authorize the enjoyment of the privileges of Naturalization within the limits of the Colony within which such Acts shall have been, or shall be, made. It also declares, fourthly, that all such Naturalization Laws shall be subject to the rules which regulate the enactment and disallowance of Colonial Laws on any other subject. And, finally, it declares that the 7th and 8th Vict., ch. 66, does not extend to the British Colonies.

The result of these enactments will be to remove all doubts which have hitherto prevented the confirmation of various Naturalization Acts of the different British Colonies, and to ascertain the competency of the Colonial Legislatures to confer on Aliens the privileges of Natural-born British subjects, if the exercise of those privileges be limited to the particular Colony in which the Enactment may be made.

It may obviate a possible misconception to add that inasmuch as that part of the Navigation Act which confines to British subjects the ownership of British-registered Shipping is not repealed but continues in full force, the disability of an Alien, naturalized under a Colonial Act, to own such Shipping is not removed by the accompanying Statute 10th and 11th Vict., ch. 83. It would indeed be at variance with the terms of that Act, to claim such a privilege in pursuance of it, for the Colonial Secretary, inasmuch as the privileges which it authorizes the Colonial Legislatures to confer, are expressly restricted to the limits of the Colony within which they may so be conferred.

I propose, in a series of separate Despatches, to advert to, and dispose of, the particular questions of this kind which have hitherto been pending; those separate Despatches being, of course, addressed to the Governors of those Colonies only, in which any such questions have arisen.

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your obedient humble Servant,
(signed.)
GREY.
GOVERNOR GREY,

By His Excellency’s Command,
for the Colonial Secretary,
J. COATES.

NOTICE TO MARINERS.
Colonial Secretary’s Office
Auckland, 31st March, 1848.

HIS Excellency the Governor-in-Chief has been pleased to direct the re-publication for general information, from the Hobart Town Gazette, of the following memorandum, respecting the Light Houses on Goose Island, and Swan Island in Banks’ Straits.

By His Excellency’s Command,
for the Colonial Secretary,
J. COATES.

BANKS’ STRAITS.
Port Office, Hobart Town,
26th November, 1845.

A LIGHT is now, and will continue burning, from sunset to sun-rise, on Swan Island (Banks’ Straits), 101 feet above high-water mark.

The supporting column is 74 feet 6 inches in height; the upper part coloured red, the lower part white. Its diameter is 24 feet 6 inches at the base, and 17 feet 6 inches at the summit.

The Lantern is 10 feet high, having a revolving light, which shows a bright flash of 2½ seconds’ continuance at intervals of a minute. It has been seen in either side from a distance of 25 miles.

The following magnetic bearings were taken from the light :—
Peak of Cape Barren—N. 18° 47’ E.
Look-out Rock (Clarke’s Island)—N. 19° 45’ W.
Reef north-westward of Swan Island—N. 46° 0’ W.
Black Reef—S. 52° 0’ E.
Variation 10 degrees easterly