Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure 7 in No. 5.
Mr. J. Kelham to Mr. F. Tuckett, Acting Agent for New Edinburgh.

Sir,—

In the absence of Colonel Wakefield, who has proceeded to Taranaki, I reply to your communications up to 22nd April, received this morning by the "Scotia."

It appears that an obstacle to the well-working of your important undertaking has arisen from a difference of opinion between you and Mr. Symonds, respecting certain preliminary surveys, and that this has induced him to leave the scene of operation and return to Wellington. This difference seems to relate, not to the expediency of the surveys as proposed by you, but to the mode of commencing them, and wherein, perhaps, Mr. Symonds may not have been sufficiently consulted.

From a conversation I have had this morning with Major Richmond, taken in connection with the statement he has received from Mr. Symonds upon the subject, it would appear that although the latter replied officially to you in his letter of the 22nd April, quoting his instructions from the Superintendent, "that no survey was to be proceeded with until he was satisfied that the land had been alienated by the aborigines, and purchased through him on behalf of the Company," yet that such instructions are not to be literally construed as depriving him of all discretionary power. I also understand from Major Richmond that Mr. Symonds is authorized to permit any surveys that may be preliminarily necessary for fixing upon the site of the intended settlement, provided he is satisfied they may be made without causing irritation or uneasiness in the mind of the Natives.

I ought, moreover, to inform you that the Government, in according Mr. Symonds' assistance to the undertaking, do so upon the understanding that he is to be the sole judge of what proceedings, in respect of surveying, are calculated to irritate the aborigines. Under these circumstances, it seems to me that your operations must, if possible, be conducted so as to harmonize with Mr. Symonds' views, and that you would do well to consult him upon all occasions, so as to obtain his cordial co-operation.

In conclusion I can only say that I have done my best to express Colonel Wakefield's sentiments, with which frequent consultations with him on the subject of the new settlement, make me fully acquainted.