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therefore, upon which Interest and Sinking Fund can be claimed, remains as before at £16,194 12s. 3d. plus the charge of the Department. Now six per cent, for Interest and Sinking Fund on £ 1 6,914 is only £971. You are thus retaining the balance of Surplus Revenue, viz., £2,221 193. lOd. due to Wellington to meet a balance d;;e from it for the same period of £971. Taking the two periods to which I have referred, the total amount due to this Province is £4,626 6s. 6d., the total amount due to the Government from the Province is in round numbers £2,438. The total amount which I respectfully submit is not Only unfairly but in violation of the arrangement formerly sanctioned by the House of Representatives, withheld by the General Government from the Province is £2,188. A^oin expressing my hope that you will order these accounts to be adjusted in accordance with the Resolution of the House, and the "balance due to the Province to be at once paid. I have, &c., I. E. Fbatherston,
The Hon, the Colonial Secretary. Superintendent. Auckland.
No. 10. SIR. FOX TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF ■WELLINGTON. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, 4th April, 1862. Sin, —
Iv reply to your Honor's letter of the 18th March, 1862, upon the subject of the apportionment between the Provinces of Wellington and Hawke's Bay, of the amount due for Intel est and Sinking Fund on the sums expended for land purchases, I have to observe that it is the duty of the Assistant Treasurer to make up the accounts according to the law for the time being iuforce; that a Resolution of the House of Representatives cannot overrule the provisions of the New Provinces Act, by which that Officer must be guided iv stating the particular account to which you refer, aud that the Resolution which you quote can be regarded simply as supplying a deficiency not previously provided for by an Act of the Legislature. I have moreover intimated to the Superintendents of each of the Provinces concerned that the question should be allowed to remain iv abeyauce until finally determined at the next meeting of the General Assembly, an arrangement which it is not now desirable to disturb.
The second point raised by jour Honor respecting the alleged excessive amount retained by the General Government requires explanation. Your Honor is under a misapprehension in supposing that the Government has retained tlxe balance due on Surplus Revenue Account for the year 1860, in addition to the balance for the year 1861. On examining more closely the accounts which have been furnished, your Honor will perceive that the balance for the former period is brought forward and merges into the transactions of the second period, and that it is only the balance at the latest date which the Government has retained, viz., £2,221 19s. lOd. against £2,438, which your Honor admits to be owing by the Province. I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent, ■ William Fox, Wellington.
No. 11. THE SUPERINTENDENT OF WELLINGTON, TO THE COLONIAL SECRETARI. Superintendent's Office, Wellington, 18th MarcL, 1862, Sir,— As by this month's mail. I remit the sum required to pay the half yearly dividends on the permaueut loans of the original Province of Wellington due in London on the Ist July next, I have the honor to request that you will be pleased to cause to be paid into the Provincial Treasury,, the sum of £1250, on account of Ilawke's Bay in conformity with the Resolution of the House of Representatives. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, I. E. Featherston, Auckland. Superintendent, No. 12. MR. FOX TO THE SUPERINTENDENT OF WELLINGTON. Colonial Secretary's Office, Auckland, sth April, 1862. Sir,— With reference to your Honor's letter No. 86-62 of the 18th ultimo, requesting that the gum of twelve hundred and fifty pounds might be paid into the Wellington Provincial Treasury,
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APPORTIONMENT OF THE PUBLIC DEBT OF