Under-Secretary Horton to Baron Charles de Thierry.

I am directed by Earl Bathurst to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 2nd inst., and to acquaint you, in reply, that as the questions which you have proposed to His Lordship respecting the Island of New Zealand are founded upon the assumption that that island is considered as a possession of the Crown, it seems necessary to apprise you that you have been misinformed on the subject.