son to be proud of the advancement of the whole Colony as of their particular portion of it. I am of opinion that there exists in Otago, together with a desire to manage locally local affairs, a much larger Colonial pride and spirit than your Honor appears to recognise. I thank your Honor for the courtesy you have displayed throughout this correspondence, and reiterate my feelings of personal regard at the same time agreement between us on the points we have discussed has not been raised. I hope, however, as the matter now assumes shape and form that you will reconsider your conclusions, or the wants and wishes of the country, however cherished by your Honor for the use which you propose to have been to the Government in the position you place before the people much information as possible. They should possess, even before Parliament meets, in order to counteract the effects of the misconception which previously existed. Freed from all prejudices, those misconceptions excited thousands of thoughtful people in Otago will form their own opinions, and regret their previous hasty reliance upon the statements of those in opposition to the Government of the day.

[Extract from telegram from Colonial Secretary to Mr. Macandrew.]

I shall therefore be obliged if your Honor will furnish me with full information upon the following points:—(1.) The data upon which the very large estimates of land revenue have been formed. ...

[Extract from telegram of Mr. Macandrew to Colonial Secretary.]

... (X.Y.) 19 April 44.

Will send you data of revenue. May 5.

If Provincial estimates are really so very unsatisfactory, the only remedy is to wipe out provinces, and that I suppose no one would now advocate.

[Colonial Secretary to Macandrew; telegram of 1st May.]

Your Honor takes up, is inexplicable. For the present, the Government, that in proposing estimates you calculated on sale of land in hundreds, and that the receipts for the last year will equal the amount estimated. On the other hand, you write to the Governor saying full attention to your memo. in which you inform that independent of your action in stopping the sale of pastoral lands, unless your calculations, deprives you of expected revenues, and has compelled you to refuse tenders for extensive works and that probably you will be unable to execute existing contracts. The estimates sent in were prepared before the Board refused the sale. The position then is this: You tell the Government the estimates were prepared in reliance upon the sale of land in hundreds, and that you expect the revenue from the other hand you tell the Waste Lands Board (and call pure attention to your memo.) that all your calculations are upset, that you cannot get the revenue as anticipated, and that you must stop the very works you now ask us to approve.

We now desire to point distinctly to your Honor whether, under existing circumstances, you have good grounds for adhering to your original estimates of receipts from land sales. To this you reply yes, and therefore Government will advise His Excellency to approve your estimates. The responsibility of providing the money required will still rest with your Honor.

[From letter of Mr. Macandrew to Colonial Secretary.]

4th May, 1876.

I must repeat that while you neither admit nor deny the correctness of my allegation, you express your approval of the action of the Waste Lands Board in declining to grant the applications; and as a necessary inference you approve of the serious consequences which the action involves. These consequences are concisely set forth in a memo. addressed by me to the Waste Land Board, copy of which is forwarded herewith, as also the Chief Surveyor’s report as to the quality of the land referred to. I need scarcely say the result of the Board’s action will have a most injurious effect upon the labour market during the present winter, if indeed it does not throw thousands out of employment.

[Extract from memo. from the Superintendent to the Waste Lands Board.]

In the face of the Board’s decision, the Government has been reluctantly compelled to abstain from accepting tenders for various works which are absolutely necessary, and which would otherwise have been gone on with at once, and it is probable that, steps may have to be taken to suspend or abandon existing contracts. ...

Province of Otago, New Zealand.
Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette,
Dunedin, 31st May, 1876.

Sir,

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 25th May, 1876. I cannot help feeling surprised that you desire to bring this correspondence to a conclusion. Nothing that a candid sense of duty and responsibility would have led me to envisage such a political controversy, not of my seeking; and I must regret that your last letter should have rendered it necessary for me to write again. I will, however, seize this opportunity of placing before the people such information which was desirable they should possess, and which I am glad to say has confirmed the grounds of their opposition to your present policy.

Those who like myself desire to check the growth in New Zealand of a despotic centralism.

At the same time I cannot but regret that in the heat of a political controversy you should have been betrayed into attacking any Provincial Government officer.

In your letter of 3rd May you did not, as you now do, complain of our criticism; engineers absorbent top heavy cost; in the Provincial service. You say you thought Otago had suffered from this want of engineering skill.

I pointed out that this was a slur upon the competency of all engineers that had been in the Provincial service. Your last letter made matters worse. You are condemning unheard men who have forfeited, upon this one-sided report, unknown to them, and unknown to their employers.

Although the light branch railways under construction in this Province, notably out Balclutha, at a cost not more than that of metalled roads, may not find favour in the eyes of a Colonial engineer, they will, I venture to predict, be highly prized by those who have to pay for them; and will be an immense boon to many important districts. They will also add greatly to the success of the main lines. If the Colonial Government has been furnished with no reports in the Otago light branch railways, our roads would be beholden for the same on the Provincial Government.