116

And whereas it has been proposed that

a similar Exhibition should be held in

Paris in the year of our Lord one thousand

eight hundred and sixty-seven.

And whereas it has been proposed

that a similar Exhibition should be held

in Melbourne in the early part of the

year of our Lord one thousand eight

hundred and sixty-six.

And whereas it is expedient that a

Commission should be appointed for the

purpose of securing the proper representation, at such aforesaid Exhibitions

respectively, of the produce, arts, and

manufactures of the Colony of New Zealand.

Now know ye, that I, the Governor

reposing great trust and confidence in
your knowledge and ability have un-
horized and appointed you, and do, by

these Presents authorize and appoint you
the said Superintendents for the time

being of the Provinces in the Colony of

New Zealand, to be a Commission for the

purpose of securing the proper representation at such aforesaid Exhibitions

respectively, of the produce, arts, and

manufactures of the said colony.

And I do hereby further authorize you

respectively to appoint in the several

Provinces of which you are Superintendents, local Committees of such persons as each of you may consider it expedient to appoint for the purpose of

encouraging the production of articles to

be exhibited.

And I do hereby further authorize you

respectively to conduct communication

between the Exhibitors and the Commissioners of the several aforesaid proposed Exhibitions.

And I do hereby give and grant you the

said Commission, and each of you, power

and authority by all lawful means and

ways whatsoever to carry out all matters

and things tending to the completion of

the object of this Commission.

Given under my hand, at the

Government House, at Wellington,

and issued under the Seal of the Colony of New

Zealand, this thirteenth day of October,

in the year of our Lord one thousand eight

hundred and sixty-five.

G. Grey.

By His Excellency’s command,

J. C. Richmond.

EXPEDITION TO THE AUCKLAND
ISLANDS.

The following reports have been forwarded to the Provincial Government by

J. H. Baker, Esq., Chief Surveyor, and J.

B. Greig, Esq., Harbour-Master, and are

published for general information.

By Order,

W. H. Aylmer,

Clerk to Superintendent.

Chief Surveyor’s Office,
Southland, Nov. 13th, 1865.

Sir,—I have the honor to submit to you a

short report on the physical geography, geological

formation, and resources of the Auckland Islands.

Captain Greig, in his report, will probably have
given you a full description of the various steps

that were taken to render our search for ship-

wrecked people on these islands successful, and

informed you of the different traces we found of

people having lived within a short date, on the

eastern side of Enderbyous Harbor, which but too

truly indicated that the Grafton was not the only

vessel that had been wrecked on the shores of this

inhospitable island.

The Auckland Islands were discovered by Capt.

Bristow, in the year 1806, and formally taken

possession of by him in the name of the King,

when he visited them a year later. They were

next visited by Admiral D’Urville’s and Commodore

Wilkes’ expeditions, in 1839. The vessels of
the Antarctic Expedition also called at them in

1840, and during their stay Drs. Lyall and

Hooker made a large collection of the different

plants and shrubs indigenous to the islands of

which they published a full account in the first

volume of the Antarctic Flora.

About this time the Auckland Isles seem to
have been the favorite resort of the South Sea

whalers, and in 1850 a large whaling establish-

ment was started at Port Ross, in Rendezvous

Harbor. The number of houses now fallen into

decay, and the large amount of work that has

been done in clearing the scrub, would indicate

that at some time at least 200 people must have

been located at this spot, and at that time the

settlement must have been in a prosperous con-

dition, as a surgeon of one of the whalers in
giving an account of a cruise in the South Sea,

mentions the settlement, and remarks that in the

course of time it would probably become a set-

tlement of considerable importance; but in 1852