THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 245

Downing-street,
July 23rd, 1859.

SIR, I transmit herewith for your informa-
tion and guidance, the Copy of a Letter
which I have received from the Lords of the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade, with
the Copy of a Circular which their Lordships
have issued to the Shipping Masters at the
various Ports of the United Kingdom, instruct-
ing them to warn Coloured Seamen, and the
Masters who may engage them, of the state
of the Law with respect to free Negroes who
may land in the Southern States of America,
and of the necessity of such Coloured Sea-
men being prepared with evidence of their
place of birth and nationality; and I have to
request that you will cause similar instruc-
tions to be issued to Shipping Masters and
others in the Ports of the Colony under your
government.

I have, &c.,
NEWCASTLE.

Governor Gore Browne, C.B,
&c.,
&c.

Office of Committee of Privy Council
for Trade.

Whitehall, 23rd June, 1859.

SIR,-I am directed by the Lords of the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade to
acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
8th instant, with its inclosures relative to the
difficulties which occur in ascertaining and
proving the nationality of British Coloured
Seamen landing in the Southern Ports of the
United States.

I am to acquaint you, for the information
of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, that
copies of the papers forwarded in your letter
have already been submitted to my Lords by
the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to
whom my Lords have stated their opinion
that it would not be possible in this country
to furnish Coloured Seamen with certificates
of nativity as proposed by Mr. Barclay, as
the Shipping Masters before whom they are
engaged could have no means of ascertaining
their nationality.

It would be practicable in cases where
Coloured Seamen are shipped in a British
ship for any voyage from a port in the
United Kingdom to a port in the United
States, to furnish certificates that they have
been so shipped, but it is doubtful whether
any advantage would be derived from
granting such certificates.

It has appeared to my Lords that the only
remedy for the evil complained of would be
to instruct all Shipping Masters before whom
Coloured Seamen are engaged for voyages
to the Southern Ports of the United States to
warn such Seamen and the Masters who
engage them, of the inconvenience and risk
they run from the operation of the laws
concerning the admission of Free Negroes
into the Slave States of that Republic, and to
point out the precautions which it is desirable
that Masters who determine to ship Free
Negroes should take.

With this view, my Lords have issued a
Circular (a copy of which is inclosed) to the
Shipping Masters in the various ports of the
United Kingdom, and they desire me to
suggest for the consideration of the Duke of
Newcastle whether a Circular to the same
effect might not with advantage be issued to
Shipping Masters or officers of Customs in
those Colonies from which Coloured Seamen
are in the habit of shipping to the United
States.

I have, &c.,
JAMES BOOTH.

H. Merivale, Esq., C.B., &c., &c.
Colonial Office.

Board of Trade, 14th June, 1859.
Instructions to Shipping Masters.

The attention of my Lords has been
directed to the stringent laws in force, in the
Southern States of America, with regard to
the admission of Free Negroes.

It has happened that Coloured Seamen
serving in British Merchant ships have
suffered in American ports from the operation
of these laws, and when the British Consul
has endeavoured to protect them he has been
embarrassed by the difficulty of producing
proof of their nationality.

Under these circumstances, and in the
absence of any means available in this country
of furnishing Coloured Seamen with official
certificates of birth, my Lords think, that all
Shipping Masters before whom Coloured
Seamen are engaged for voyages to the
Southern Ports of the United States should
warn such Seamen, and the Masters who
engage them, of the inconvenience and risk
to which they may be exposed through the
operation of the laws above mentioned, and
should point out to them, in case the Masters
determine to carry Free Coloured Seamen to
such ports, that they should be prepared with
full evidence of their place of birth and their
nationality.

T. H. FARRER,
Assistant Secretary,
Marine Department.

NOTICE TO MARINERS.

Colonial Secretary's Office,
Auckland, 24th October, 1859.

HIS Excellency the Governor directs the
publication for general information of
the following notice respecting a shoal recently
discovered off the Quarantine Ground, near the
western entrance to the South Channel Port
Phillip Bay, Melbourne.

H. J. TANCRED,
For the Colonial Secretary.

Shoal off the Quarantine Ground.
Two additional Buoys in Port Philip Bay.

A small ridge of sand having recently
formed off the Quarantine Ground, near the
western entrance of the South Channel: