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By adding the Sydney subscription to the General Relief Fund at Auckland the money would be saved till the end of the war, with the current interest, and then expended under the sanction of the General Government.

(Signed) I have, &c.,
T. King,
Provincial Treasurer.

A. W. Senile, Esq.,
Honorary Secretary
Taranaki Relief Fund Committee,
Nelson.

Provincial Treasurer,
New Plymouth, 5th March, 1861.

SIR,—I have received a letter from Mr W. Gray dated the 21st ult. in which he acquaints me that he has laid my letter to him of the 26th January before the Taranaki Aid Committee, and that the Committee considered my application through him irregular, and therefore declined to entertain it.

By a reference to my letter the Committee will observe that I never requested Mr Gray to apply to your Committee. My application was confined to the Sydney subscriptions and based on the resolutions of the Sydney Committee.

The Provincial Government has always been of opinion that the best mode of dealing with private subscriptions would be to retain them till the end of the war when assistance will be most needed, because the General Government has been empowered to provide for the present necessities of the families at Nelson, and to use private funds for the purchase of clothing, &c., as at present, is simply saving the colony from so much of its expenditure, and not benefiting the persons for whom the funds were subscribed. I think there can be no doubt that the subscribers generally were ignorant of the condition of the families at Nelson, and could they be made aware of the actual circumstances of the case, I believe they would adopt the views taken by the Taranaki Government.

That I am correct in my position that the funds at present disbursed by the Nelson Committee are of no benefit whatever to the Taranaki sufferers is evidenced by the following extracts from a memorandum lately given to Mr Gray by the Colonial Secretary:—

"Clothing, boots and shoes, to be supplied when absolutely necessary—when there are no other means of procuring them—from public funds."

"Medical comforts and extras to be supplied from private funds."

Had the subscribers in other places given similar directions to those of the Sydney Committee I should have considered myself justified in making a more direct application to the Taranaki Aid Committee; but, under the circumstances, I desire only to submit the views of the Provincial Government, fortified by a resolution of the Provincial Council recommending "that all local subscriptions be paid into the Union Bank of Australia, Auckland, to the credit of the Taranaki General Relief Fund in the names of the Colonial Treasurer of New Zealand and the Provincial Treasurer of Taranaki."

It rests with the Committee to consider whether, under existing circumstances, the present expenditure of the funds in their hands be more in accordance with the general intentions of the donors, than their transfer to a trust to be expended at the end of the war under the sanction of the General Government.

I have, &c.,
THOMAS KING,
Provincial Treasurer.

Oswald Curtis, Esq.,
Honorary Secretary,
Taranaki Aid Committee,
Nelson.

Christchurch, March 18, 1861.

SIR,—The Canterbury Taranaki Aid Committee have instructed me to communicate with your Honor on the subject of the appropriation of the fund raised in this province for the relief of the Taranaki sufferers by the Maori War.

It will probably be in your Honor’s recollection that in the month of July, 1860, in consequence of a despatch received by the Canterbury Government from the Deputy Superintendent of Taranaki, a subscription was set on foot here to provide immediate shelter and support for such of the Taranaki settlers as might make this province a place of refuge.

Up to the present time, however, no refugees have arrived, owing no doubt to the arrangements made for their provision elsewhere by the General Government; but in consequence of this, and from the probability that none are likely to come, the Committee are anxious to arrive at some resolution as to how they shall deal with the large sum of money in their hands.

I need hardly observe to your Honor that we have amongst ourselves a great many charitable uses to which the money could be applied; but before letting it pass from their control, the Committee desire to be informed by your Honor whether any cases coming within the scope and meaning of the resolution of the General Meeting (a copy of which I herewith send you,) are likely to present themselves to the Committee.