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231

THE
NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
Published by Authority.

WELLINGTON, TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1868.

VICTORIA, by the grace of God of the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
Queen, Defender of the Faith:

To
His Honor ALEXANDER JAMES JOHNSTON, Esq.,
one of the Judges of the Supreme Court;
His Honor CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM RICHMOND, Esq.,
one of the Judges of the Supreme Court;
The Honourable PONSONBY PEACOCKE,
Member of the Legislative Council;
CHARLES EDWARD HAUGHTON, Esq.,
Member of the House of Representatives; and
JAMES O'NEILL, Esq.,
Member of the House of Representatives:

WHEREAS we did by commission, bearing
date twenty-ninth November, one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-seven, under the seal of our
Colony of New Zealand, and witnessed by our
Governor of the said Colony, constitute and appoint
you, the said

ALEXANDER JAMES JOHNSTON,
CHRISTOPHER WILLIAM RICHMOND,
PONSONBY PEACOCKE,
CHARLES EDWARD HAUGHTON, and
JAMES O'NEILL,

to be, during Our pleasure, Our Commissioners to
inquire into the provisions and operation of the laws
and regulations now in force relative to prisons and
gaols in the said Colony, and into the treatment and
management of prisoners, and into the condition and
state of such prisons and gaols, and into the more
effective provision for their regulation, and for the
custody and treatment of prisoners, especially those
convicted of serious crimes and sentenced to long
periods of imprisonment; and to report whether any
and, if any, what alteration is desirable, and whether
it would be desirable that a General Penal Establish-
ment should be instituted for the Colony, and if so,
on the best mode of instituting such establishment.

And Our further will and pleasure was, that you
should within six months after the date of Our said
Commission, or as much sooner as the same could
conveniently be done (using all diligence), certify to
Us under your hands and seals, or under the hands
and seals of any one or more of you, your several
proceedings, and your opinion touching the premises.

And whereas it has been humbly represented
unto Us that it would be expedient to extend the
period within which you, Our said Commissioners,
were by Our said Commission required to make your
report:

Now know ye, that we have extended, and by these
Presents do extend, the duration of Our said Com-
mission to the Twenty-ninth day of August, one
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, for the
purpose of enabling you, Our said Commissioners,
to complete the inquiries thereby required to be made,
and to make your final report thereon.

And Our will and pleasure is that, upon due
examination of the Premises therein mentioned, you
Our said Commissioners, or any one or more of you,
do on or before the Twenty-ninth day of August,
one thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, report
to Us, under your hands and seals, your several
proceedings by virtue of Our said recited Commis-
sion, and of these Presents, together with what
you shall find touching or concerning the Premises
upon such inquiry as aforesaid.

In testimony whereof we have caused these Our
Letters to be made Patent, and the Seal of our said
Colony to be hereunto affixed.

Witness our trusty and well-beloved Sir
George Ferguson Bowen, Knight Grand
Cross of the Most Distinguished Order
of Saint Michael and Saint George,
Our Governor and Commander-in-Chief
in and over Our said Colony of New
Zealand and its Dependencies, and Vice-
Admiral of the same, at Wellington, this
fifteenth day of May, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight, and in the thirty-first year
of Our reign.

G. F. BOWEN.

Approved in Council:
FORSTER GORING,
Clerk of Executive Council.