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wished to be referred to the Colonial Department.
2.
Those letters were dealt with at once in the usual course, whereupon, before I received the Chief Justice's reply, they were withdrawn by Mr Gibbons. But at the end of the month (25th) he sent in again his letter of the 7th of September. I sent again to the Chief Justice for his observations.
3.
At the same time, the 29th of September, Mr. Gibbons sent in another letter making further charges against the Chief Justice, which I also sent to His Honour for his observations.
4.
I now lay those letters before Your Lordship, together with the Chief Justice's explanations dated respectively the 18th and 29th of October 1880. But I defer any report upon them until they have been considered by the Executive Council.
5.
The enclosed minute by the Acting Colonial Secretary, Dr. Stewart deals with one of Mr. Gibbon's public utterances in which he seems to have charged me with delay in dealing with his letters. I need hardly say that there is no foundation for Mr. Gibbons' statement on this point; and indeed the latter part of his letter of the 23rd of October refers to the delay caused by temporarily withdrawing them.
Decis...