632
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
by a meeting of influential Colonists, to the Colonial
Secretaries or Governments of the Colonies named in
the margin.*

This letter appears to be prompted by a dissatis-
faction with the policy of the Home Government,
and with the present mode of administering Colonial
affairs; and as a means of effecting such changes as
may appear desirable, it suggests a Conference in
London of Colonial Representatives duly authorized
by their respective Governments.

It is not necessary for me to point out to you in
what respects the description given in this letter of
the present policy of Her Majesty's Government is
inaccurate.

With regard to the practical suggestion which it
conveys, Her Majesty's Government, while reserving
its own right to consider from an Imperial point of
view matters affecting Imperial interests, will always
be most anxious to ascertain and ready to consider,
the wishes and interests of the Colonies of the British
Empire. They have no jealousy of the collective
action of any of the Colonies in furtherance of their
wishes and interests. On the contrary they have
every desire to encourage such combined action.

Nor should I have thought it necessary to make any
observation on the present proposal, had it not been
officially communicated to myself as Secretary of
State, and to the various Governments concerned.

With the exception of the three gentlemen who
signed the letter, I do not know who were present at
the meeting held in the Rooms of the Royal Colonial
Society, or the names of the Committee who have
issued this Circular. I am unable, therefore, to
estimate the weight which your Ministers will attach
to their recommendations. Independently, however,
of the consideration that the project assumes at its
outset an attitude of antagonism to Her Majesty's
Government, my opinion is that it is not in itself
calculated to answer its purpose.

In the first place, the attempt to cover by one ar-
rangement all the principal Colonies enjoying Repre-
sentative Governments, appears to me injudicious.

The questions which most seriously affect individual
Colonies in relation to the Mother Country have
often in their nature and treatment little connection
with those which arise in others, nor, as far as I am
aware, is there anything in the mode of transacting
business between the British and Colonial Govern-
ments which, under their generally cordial relations,
obstructs negotiation, or calls for any practical im-
provement in their means of communication.

As a general rule, it appears to me that the wishes
of the Colonists are likely to be more faithfully and
effectually brought before the Home Government by
the local Ministers, who are in immediate contact
with the communities which they represent, and
through the Governor, who is responsible to Her
Majesty for furnishing all requisite information, than
by a body of gentlemen resident in London, acting
in pursuance of their own views, or of mere written
instructions; under influences not always identical
with those which are paramount in the Colony, and
without the guarantee which their recommendations
may derive from having passed through the Gover-
nor's hands.

It will be obvious to you that these objections to
a standing representation of the Colonial Empire in
London have no relation to the appointment of
several or collective agencies on the system now in
force, which, I believe, completely answers its pur-
pose.

• New South Wales, South Australia, New Zealand, Tas-
  mania, Victoria, Queensland, Canada, Cape of Good Hope,
  Natal, Mauritius.

You will communicate this Despatch to your
Government.

I have, &c.,
GRANVILLE.

Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G.

[CIRCULAR.]
Downing Street, 24th August, 1869.

SIR,—At the request of Her Majesty's Commissioners
for the International Exhibition of 1851, I transmit
to you, for your information, a copy of a communica-
tion (10th August, 1869) which I have received from
them, enclosing a copy of an announcement of the
first of a series of International Exhibitions of
selected Specimens of Art and Industry which it is
intended shall be held in London in the year 1871;
and I have to request that you will take such
measures as may be necessary for giving publicity to
that announcement within the Colony under your
Government.

I have, &c.,
GRANVILLE.

Governor Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G.

Lieut.-Colonel Scott to the Under Secretary of State,
Colonial Office.

Office of Her Majesty's Commissioners for the
Exhibition of 1851,
5, Upper Kensington Gore, W.,
10th August, 1869.

SIR,—I am directed by Her Majesty's Commissioners
for the Exhibition of 1851, to transmit, for the
information of the several British Colonies, copies of
the announcement of the first of the series of Inter-
national Exhibitions of selected Specimens of Art and
Industry, which it is intended shall be held in London
in 1871, and to request that you will move the Earl
Granville to cause them to be forwarded to each
Colony as early as convenient.

Her Majesty's Commissioners desire me to point
out that these Exhibitions will be on a comparatively
limited scale, that the objects sent from each Colony
will not be arranged together as heretofore, but in
their proper classes, and that it is desired that
Manufacturers should exhibit only a single specimen
of each object.

Her Majesty's Commissioners will be prepared to
receive Colonial objects for exhibition under the fol-
lowing special regulations, viz. :-

(1.) Every object which can be exhibited on a
vertical surface, or wall space, will be accepted, if
accompanied by a certificate from the Government of
the Colony where it was produced that such object
is considered worthy of exhibition.

(2.) Every producer desiring to exhibit an object
which will require for its exhibition superficial or
floor space, must forward to Her Majesty's Commis-
sioners, before a date to be hereafter appointed, a
working drawing or photograph of such object, with
accurate dimensions and descriptive particulars, on
receipt of which Her Majesty's Commissioners will,
if the object be considered worthy of exhibition,
transmit direct to the producer a certificate of the
acceptance of such object, thereby guaranteeing its
admission.

(3.) Any Producer may, at his option, instead of
conforming with either of the foregoing regulations,
send any object direct to the Exhibition Building, for
the inspection and approval of the judges selected for
the other British Exhibitors, and under the same
regulations as shall be prescribed with reference to
other British goods so submitted for inspection.