I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 16th inst., and am glad to find that it is your intention—at least I infer from your letter that it is your intention—to lend your aid and assistance in order successfully page 14 to carry out the projected scheme of forming a special settlement in the Province of Auckland.

I shall be happy to give you, as you request, a full statement of what I have already done in this matter, what I am doing, and what prospect there is of carrying the scheme to a successful issue; and I trust that now the matter may be vigorously pushed forward, as too much time has unfortunately already been lost since the subject was first mooted, and I need not point out to you that delays act very prejudicially against a scheme of this sort, which requires to be met promptly and liberally, and carried through before the first ardour of the projectors has been allowed to cool.

As you request the fullest information, it will be necessary for me to go back as far as January last, in which month I first communicated with you on the subject of the proposed special settlement.

I may say here I have always been impressed with the desirability, I might almost say the absolute necessity, of inducing capitalists to emigrate to New Zealand in order somewhat to counterbalance the number of penniless emigrants now being drafted to her shores, it has indeed appeared to me that without some counterbalancing capital, the success of the New Zealand Public Works and Immigration scheme, would be indefinitely retarded. I have equally been convinced of the great advantages to be derived by the colony of New Zealand, and more especially the province of Auckland, from the formation of special settlements composed exclusively of working farmers and men with sufficient means to employ labor, and since I have been employed as Emigration Agent under the New Zealand Government I have always at every opportunity advocated this form of emigration.

In the beginning of December 1872 I first commenced a correspondence with Mr. George Vesey Stewart of Lisbeg House Ballygawley, County Tyrone, with reference to the suitability of New Zealand as an emigration field for gentlemen with capital. A long correspondence and several interviews took place between us, and at last he became convinced of the great advantages to be derived by himself and all connected with the scheme if a body of working farmers and capitalists could be got together, if possible from the same district, and located together in New Zealand. He then cast about among his friends and acquaintances in order to find out who and how many would be likely to take part in such a scheme should the opportunity be offered them. In January last, when some twenty or twenty-five families had promised to join him, and on Mr. Stewart finally making up his mind, in the event of the New Zealand Government meeting his proposition, as I felt sure they would, in a liberal spirit, to emigrate to New Zealand in company with such a party, I wrote to you, requesting your advice and co-operation in the matter. As it happened, my letter, as subsequently explained in a letter I received from your office, remained unanswered, through inadvertence, until some time after the departure of the outgoing February New Zealand mail; therefore, as Mr Stewart was extremely anxious to get the matter settled, and as I considered that in consequence of this large party wishing to occupy land in the Province of Auckland—it was more a provincial than a public question—I wrote direct to Mr. Gillies (the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland) by the outgoing February New Zealand mail, on the subject, and, as will be seen by enclosed letters, both Mr. Gillies and the General Government appear to have taken up the matter in the most liberal spirit.

Mr Gillies, you are aware, telegraphed to me from New Zealand when he had been successful in obtaining the promise of assistance from the General Government to the effect that the proposed Scheme was approved, and that either General or Provincial lands should be placed at the disposal of the Emigrants concerning whom I had written. I at once communicated the contents of this telegram to Mr Stewart and to yourself. Mr Stewart expressed page 15 himself as perfectly satisfied with the wording of the telegram and at once took steps to circulate amongst his friends that the Special Settlement Scheme was "un fait accompli." With the copy of Mr. Gillies telegram that I forwaded to yourself I enclosed a draft copy of a circular, that, subject to your approval I purposed forwarding to some of your local agents, drawing their attention to the proposed Special Settlement, and requesting them to make the Scheme known in their several Districts. In reply you requested me to suspend all action in the matter until you received further instructions from the New Zealand Government, and as it was of course impossible for me to act in the matter without your full concurrence and co-operation, the subject has remained in abeyance until now. As regards the probable success of the undertaking there is little doubt but that from forty to fifty families will be forthcoming to proceed in the first vessel which will be a decided success. It was originally proposed that the first vessel should sail early in September, I am much afraid, however, that it will be practically impossible now to get the party together so soon as that, but the matter will be pushed on as rapidly as possible, and I will take the earliest opportunity of informing you at what date the pioneers of the party will be prepared to start.

I am obliged for your offer of receiving and considering any suggestions or recommendations I may have to make on this subject and I would suggest:—

I. That I should be permitted to acquaint your sub-agents both here and in England with the project, a draft copy of circular to carry which into effect I enclose.

II. That I should be permitted to advertise the project in the North of Ireland papers and in one or two of the English papers, my object I may say in advertising in the English papers would be to draw the attention of men of means to the subject, many of whom I think might feel inclined to join a well organized party of this description.

III. That a prospectus should be used something after the manner of one I have drawn up and proof copy of which I enclose.

IV. That the first vessel sailing to Auckland in connection with this Scheme should sail from some port in the North of Ireland.

V. As it appears from your letter that upon yourself the responsibility is cast of deciding whether taking into consideration the importance of this scheme, my services should be retained in order to assist in carrying it out, ergo my services would no longer be required by the Government were it not for the importance of the scheme I have in hand, I would further suggest that I should be permitted to undertake all correspondence in connection with this matter, whether with the Sub-Agents in their capacity as Agents or with private individuals, that all applications for passages should be referred in the first instance to me, and that all enquiries on the subject should be answered by me.

I am of course unaware what (if any) specific instructions may have been received by you from the Government of New Zealand with reference to this projected Special Settlement, as the long extracts forwarded to me from the Honorable Mr O'Rorke's memorandum of 14th April, 1873. relate wholly and solely to the subject of the remuneration made to Messrs Birch, Seaton, and myself, concerning which I may say as far as regards myself, Mr O'Rorke falls into one or two very serious errors, in the first place I have never received, neither was I ever offered 18s per diem as salary, the only sum ever named to me by you was 25s per diem and this was for expenses, a sum, if I remember rightly, you said at the time was quite inadequate. I can quite understand in the absence of all information on the subject, the dismay of the Government and the indignation of the New Zealand public at hearing that Messrs Birch, Seaton and myself were drawing out of the public purse salaries of £700 per annum. The question of my own remuneration is one upon which it hardly becomes me to make any comment. Of one thing, however, I am convinced and that is that page 16 much as the Government of New Zealand would reprobate, and justly reprobate and the people of New Zealand exclaim against the wasting of the public funds, neither the Government or the people of the Colony would allow anyone, engaged as I am on a matter of great public importance, to bear the expenses or any part of the expenses in connection with such matter on his own shoulders. I shall therefore feel obliged in the event of your deeming it desirable to retain my services, by your in forming me what sum (if any) I may consider myself entitled to for such services, and what sum (if any) for expensee, otherwise I might be (as I have been before) led into expenses on account of emigration utterly disproportionate to the amount received by me as payment of such expenses.