No. 30.
Copy of a Despatch from Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B., to his Grace the Duke of Buckingham.

• 1. I have the honour to report that the General Assembly of New Zealand will meet to-morrow for the despatch of business.
• 2. In the draft of the Speech prepared for me by my Responsible Advisers, they have requested me to state to the Assembly, in reference to my recent journey through New Zealand, that "I could not but be gratified by the rapid progress which it was evident the colony generally had made; while in the settlements which had sprung into existence during the last few years in the interior, and on the west coast of the Middle Island, I was struck both by their extent and importance, and gratified by the presence, notwithstanding the circumstances under which they were formed, of that regard for law and order which is the characteristic of our race. I can say with confidence that security for life and property and respect for the law exist in as marked a degree in those thickly and recently populated districts as in any part of Her Majesty's dominions. I congratulate you on the re-establishment of peace generally throughout the North Island, in no part of which do I anticipate in future any systematic or sustained hostilities. page 183'During the recess I have made a journey, partly on foot, through the North Island, and have traversed Native districts which it had for some time past been deemed unsafe to enter. I everywhere found the embers of disaffection dying out, and I was received by the Maori population, even in districts recently in rebellion, in such a manner as to inspire confidence in the future peace of the country."
• 3. In the remarks thus prepared by my Responsible Advisers I fully concur, and I feel sure that your Grace will be gratified to learn that such is our joint opinion upon the present state and future prospects of New Zealand.