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ral Accountants having failed up to the end of November to render accounts for the whole of the period, it was impossible to adjust the accounts finally.

On the 29th December following, it was determined by the Government that until all the accounts were got in from all the Provinces, no final settlement could be made, but that the authorities of the several Provinces should be informed as early as possible of the probable amount to be at their disposal.

On the 4th of January, 1855, the Auditor-General recommended that the settlement should be made at once, on the ground that the Provinces might enjoy the advantage of appropriating the surplus (as then determined) in aid of their revenues. This recommendation was adopted, and instructions were issued for the payment of £6,798 14s. 8d. due to the Province of Wellington.

Late in the month of February following, the Government received the unexpected information, that large sums of public money had been advanced by the Authorities at Wellington, for the purchase of lands from the Natives in excess of the expenditure authorized. The total amount advanced on this Account for the whole of New Zealand during the financial year ending 30th June, 1855, amounts to no less a sum than £34,580, while the sum which had been set aside for that purpose was only £20,000. It is scarcely necessary to state, that this unexpected expenditure in excess of the estimated Revenue, must seriously interfere with the financial arrangements of the colony. Not only had nearly the whole of the available balance in the Colonial Chest at Wellington been issued for the purchase of lands from the Natives, but the whole of the New Zealand Company’s Fourths, held in Deposit, and unavailable for colonial purposes, amounting to about £7,900, were also issued for the same service, so that the first obligation of the Government was to make good the Deposits due to the New Zealand Company out of the Colonial Chest at Auckland. This having been done, and the amount remitted to England, your Honor was informed that in consequence of the large expenditure in the purchase of Native Lands in the Province of Wellington it was not in the power of the General Government to make arrangements for the early payment of the sum due to that Province, and that the Sub-Treasurer had therefore been instructed to make no payments on that account until he received further instructions on the subject.

In reference to another part of your Honor’s letter, it is found that it was stated in reply to your letter of the 5th December, 1854 (asking, among other things, to be informed whether the Land Accounts had been adjusted in accordance with the Constitution Act) that the adjustment had been made in accordance with the Constitution Act, but that the final adjustment of the surplus revenues would be made as soon as possible after the whole of the accounts of the period ending 30th June, 1854, has been received at the Audit Office, a statement which is strictly in accordance with the Auditor-General’s report, dated 23rd November, 1854. As none of the Land Fund Accounts of the District of Hawke’s Bay were received until the 31st March last, although repeatedly and urgently called for, it was not until a short time since that the Auditor-General was able to close the accounts for the period under consideration.

In reply to your Honor’s renewed application for the payment of the surplus due to the Province of Wellington, I am directed to inform your Honor that it is found on making up the accounts that the arrangement under which the whole of the net land receipts were paid into the Provincial chests, had led to large over-payments to the Provincial chests at Nelson and Canterbury: until these over-payments are recovered, the debt at present due to the Province of Wellington, as well as nearly an equal sum due to the Province of Auckland, cannot be liquidated.

I have, &c., &c.,
(Signed) ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

His Honor, the Superintendent of Wellington.

General Post Office, Wellington,
July 25th, 1855.

SEALED TENDERS in duplicate will be received at this Office on or before Monday, the 13th August, from persons desirous of contracting for the conveyance of a Weekly Overland Mail between Wellington and Wanganui for a period of Twelve Months.

Further particulars may be obtained by application at the Post Office.

John F. HOGGARD,
Postmaster.

Printed at the Independent Office.