General Government, and also because it is only equitable that the particular Province which benefits by the presence of an organized Volunteer Force should bear some special share of the expense of that organization.

6. The Government will of course continue the supply of arms and accoutrements as heretofore, and they will use every effort within the means at their disposal, by the supply of ammunition, the payment of drill instructors, the laying out of proper firing grounds, and by other modes, to assist the Volunteers in rendering themselves a disciplined and efficient Force. The Provincial authorities will no doubt co-operate in the same direction.

7. It is highly desirable in a Colony, on many accounts, that effective Volunteer Forces should be formed for self protection (which of course is the only object in view) rather than that the Militia should be called out for training and exercise, for, with Volunteers, the services of able and willing men in the prime of life are secured without an injurious interference with industrial pursuits, while, by calling out the Militia, the progress of colonization is materially retarded,—where, as in a colony, labor is of such value, and a large portion of the male population is not restrained by any ties from immediate migration,—and a serious blow is struck at the very root of the ability of the colony to assist itself, and to contribute,—as it has done for the last three years to such a considerable extent in proportion to its resources,—towards the expense of its local defences.

8. It is also inexpedient that a Volunteer movement should be conducted simultaneously with the calling out of the Militia for drill, for, although the ranks of the Volunteers would be nominally swelled by the adhesion of many who prefer that service to the Militia, a real injury would be inflicted on the Volunteer cause by this fictitious enrolment (followed as it would be by a sudden reaction as soon as practicable) in addition to the evils to which I have referred as likely to arise from calling out the Militia.

9. It is, however, impossible that a state of affairs should permanently continue here in which neither the colonists voluntarily enrol, nor the Government take any steps for calling out a Militia, and the Government fully trust that, when their intentions with respect to the organization of Volunteer Forces are generally known, the accession to these Corps will be such as to render them creditable to the Colony, and effective for that object which so vitally affects the colonists themselves.

10. I am to request you to forward a copy of this letter to the Officers Commanding the Militia and Volunteers in each District, with a request that they will give it every publicity in their power.

I have the honor to be, Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

W. GISBORNE,

Under Secretary.

Lieut. Colonel Balneavis,

Deputy Adjutant-General of Militia and Volunteers.

Masterton Highway Board.

Provincial Secretary’s Office,

Wellington, Jan. 27, 1863.

THE following list of the names of the Board of Wardens elected at the first annual meeting of the rate-payers of the Masterton district, having been forwarded to this office under the signature of the Chairman, is now published in terms of the “District Highways Act, 1862.”

J. Woodward,

Acting Provincial Secretary.

BOARD OF WARDENS.

Messrs. J. V. Smith,

T. W. Tankersley,

C. Dixon,

J. E. Chamberlain,

J. Masters,

H. Crayne, and

W. H. Donald, with

A. W. Renall, Chairman.

Dissolution of Partnership.

NOTICE is hereby given that the partnership lately subsisting between us, the undersigned William Bassett Williams and John Bailey Williams, as Sheep Farmers, at Oahanga on the East Coast, in the Province of Wellington, New Zealand, has been this day dissolved by mutual consent.

All debts due by and to us jointly, will be respectively paid and received by the undersigned John Bailey Williams.

Witness our hands at Wellington, in the said Province, this twenty-third day of January, 1863.

W. B. WILLIAMS.

J. B. WILLIAMS.

Witness to the signatures of the said William Bassett Williams and John Bailey Williams,

ROBERT HART,

Solicitor, Wellington.

NOTICE is hereby given, that the partnership hitherto subsisting between the undersigned has been this day dissolved by mutual consent. Mr. Joseph Perry will receive and pay all claims and debts due to and by the late concern.

Dated the 28th January, 1863.

J. H. PERRY.

JOSEPH PERRY.

Signed in the presence of

ERNEST H. INGPEN,

Clerk to A. de B. Brandon.