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very valuable, doubtless; but they are all to leeward, and a vessel compelled to run for any of them might take days to recover her former position.

These considerations give to the construction of artificial Harbors at any point of the West Coast a very much greater national importance than it would otherwise be entitled to, and will justify, if not necessitate, the interference and support of the General Government in order to ensure that the proposed works shall be adapted for colonial wants.

Even in England, where the rule prevails of leaving all great works to be carried out by private enterprise, lighthouses and harbors of refuge are made exceptions, and in the cause of humanity and the interests of commerce, are constructed at the national cost whenever required.

The Province of Taranaki is naturally entirely destitute of Harbor accommodation, and its progress has certainly been greatly retarded in consequence, as the difficulties of settling a population and of establishing and developing an import and export trade are thus greatly increased. The direct pecuniary loss to the community resulting from the want of a proper Harbor is estimated by Mr. Chilman, the Collector of Customs, to have been upwards of £15,000 during the year 1864, and while the indirect loss arising from retardation of the progress of the Province cannot be estimated, it is certain that the outlay entailed by the Native wars, not on Taranaki alone, but on the Colony, is enormous, and would probably have been saved had the Province been more thickly peopled and had the material prosperity of the natives been enhanced by more extended trade.

The construction of a safe and commodious Harbor in the Roadstead of New Plymouth is therefore not only essential to the prosperity, perhaps even to the continued existence of the Province, but it is also a question of national importance, as tending to protect the shipping and develop the resources of the Colony; and hence it seems reasonable to expect that the General Government should render all the assistance in its power to promote such an undertaking by, in the first place, defraying the expense of the engineering investigation which we have recommended to be undertaken, and afterwards by aiding the Province in carrying out the works, should the result be as satisfactory as our preliminary examination would lead us to expect.

Our examination of the locality and the evidence we have collected on the spot have satisfied us that there are not only no insurmountable difficulties in the way of constructing a first-class Harbor at New Plymouth, but, on the contrary, remarkable and rare facilities which promise to reduce very considerably the cost of the work and justify the outlay necessary to procure a thorough examination and survey of the Roadstead, upon the completion of which we hope to be able to bring forward a practicable scheme for the construction of the requisite works by a moderate expenditure extending over many years; and until such survey be completed, we consider that it would be imprudent to enter upon any expenditure on works, or to attempt to mature any scheme for the supply of Harbor accommodation for the West Coast of New Zealand.

(Signed) JAMES M. BALFOUR,
W. J. DORNE.
Dunedin, May 17, 1865.

[Reprinted from New Zealand Gazette, No. 18.]

MILITIA AND VOLUNTEERS.

Colonial Defence Office,
Wellington, 12th May, 1865.

In the Gazette No. 15, folios 137 and 138 of the 4th May, 1865, the following names should have appeared under the head of Taranaki Militia instead of Taranaki Military Settlers:

Ensign Courtenay Melmoth Kingdon, to be Lieutenant. Date of Commission, March 1st, 1865.
Henry Brown, to be Lieutenant. Date of Commission, March 2nd, 1865.
Ensign Arthur Bayly, to be Lieutenant. Date of Commission, March 3rd, 1865.
William Berridge, to be Ensign. Date of Commission, March 1st, 1865.
Reginald Bayley, to be Ensign. Date of Commission, March 2nd, 1865.
William Stanley Ginger, to be Ensign. Date of Commission, March 3rd, 1865.
John Shaw, to be Ensign. Date of Commission, March 4th, 1865.
Quarter-Master Robert Collins, to rank as Captain. Date of Commission, March 1st, 1865.

H. A. ATKINSON.

General Post Office,

Wellington, 11th May, 1865.

In virtue of the powers delegated to the Postmaster-General by His Excellency the Governor, the following appointment has been made in the postal service of the Colony:— J. L. C. Richmond,
Postmaster-General.

TARANAKI.

George Marshall, to be Postmaster at Manutahi.

Printed at the TARANAKI HERALD Office.