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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 10

[introduction]

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My Lord,—Your Lordship is probably aware that, there is a dispute pending between the Colonial Office and the Government of New Zealand, relative to the expenses of the late Maori war.

Your name is identified with the successful foundation, upon sound principles, of a settlement of British colonists in New Zealand j and it is therefore natural to appeal to you in a matter which, while it affects most deeply the interests of our own colony, may have an important bearing-on the general system of the Imperial administration of colonies.

It is my desire to recapitulate to your Lordship the circumstances which have led to the present disagreement, and to expound what I may venture to represent as the Colonial view of the rights of the matter.

It is a cause of great concern to us all to feel that at present the general impression throughout England, as represented in Parliament and by the Press, is very unfavourable to New Zealand. And I fear that a much closer attention must be bespoken to rectify such an impression than that which was needed to form it. But I trust at the same page 4 time that a statement carefully made on behalf of the colonists will be listened to with the candid hope of arriving" at the truth on the one hand, and on the other, of securing1 that vindication of the character of the colonists which their kinsmen of the mother country must desire to see made.