II

possible, so that it may be in their power to furnish further assistance to those whom your Honor may send after their arrival here.

It remains only for me to request that, should this offer of the Committee be acted on, you will be so good as to forward me the names of those whom you may send away, together with such information of their former position in your Province as may guide the Committee in the ministration of what further assistance it may be in their power to render them.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) Joseph Brittan,
Hon. Sec. to the Committee.

To His Honor
The Superintendent of
Taranaki.

Superintendent’s Office,
New Plymouth, 29th August, 1860.

Sir,—I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st instant informing me that, at a public meeting held at Christchurch, subscriptions were entered into for the purpose of defraying the passages of families hence to Canterbury.

On behalf of the inhabitants of this Province I beg you will accept our sincere thanks for the sympathy evinced towards us. The liberal offer of free passages to your Province I have made public, and when the steamer proceeds to Canterbury I will furnish you a list of those families who have availed themselves of it, together with the information you request as to their previous position. Under arrangements with the General Government the cost of these families will be defrayed to Nelson, leaving the cost from that port to Canterbury to be defrayed from the funds at your disposal.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) E. L. Humphries,
Deputy Superintendent,
Joseph Brittan, Esq.,
Hon. Sec. to the
Taranaki Aid Committee,
Christchurch.

Christchurch, 18th August, 1863.

Sir,—I had the honor of addressing you by the last mail on the subject of the fund which is being collected in Canterbury for the aid of those persons in your Province who may be in need of help in consequence of the present war with the Maoris.

In that communication I informed your Honor that the Committee by whose directions I wrote were guided in the course they then adopted by the interpretation put on the despatch of your Honor to the Provincial Government of Canterbury of the 7th ultimo, and inferring from that despatch that the necessity for the removal of a portion of your population might be urgent and not admitting of the delay necessarily consequent on interchange of letters, I was instructed to authorise you to send whoever it might be necessary to remove, and that the Committee would defray the charges of their removal.

Since then, however, the Committee have reason to think that it is not required of them to meet the cost of conveying the refugees hither; but that that expense will be borne by the General Government. They observe it stated in the local newspapers that the military authorities had given orders for the removal of the women and children to some of the southern Provinces, and it follows that had that order been acted on with respect to Canterbury, and the Airedale had brought any number of persons here, the cost of conveyance must have been met by the General Government. There can be no reason therefore for doubting that the same rule will be observed hereafter.

I may further observe that, since my last despatch, the Committee have been informed what the cost of the passage for each adult would probably not be less than £5 per head, which for any considerable number of souls would amount to a sum so large as greatly to cripple the means of the Committee in their future administration of assistance. The Committee are compelled to keep this fact in mind, as there are no other funds at present available in the Province but those raised by private contribution. In order, however, to prevent any misapprehension, I am directed to request your Honor to consider that portion of my letter in which the Committee undertakes the charge of removing the refugees hither as withdrawn, and in its place I am to inform you that the Committee will be prepared to receive and to make provision for (to the full extent of their means) so many as your Honor may think it expedient to send.

May I request of your Honor the favour of your communicating to me for the information of the Committee the nature of the arrangements made with the Province of Nelson, and whether (and if so to what extent) the General Government contributes to the support of the refugees who have gone there.

I have, &c.,
(Signed) Joseph Brittan,
Honorary Secretary.

His Honor the Superintendent, Taranaki.