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(of course, through inadvertence), the Statute Law of this Colony, confirmed by the Queen; so I regret to be constrained to solicit Your Lordship's attention to the fact that the despatch now under reply is regarded here as appearing to ignore the Queen's Colonial Regulations, which place the patronage of all offices under the value of £100 per annum at "the absolute disposal of the Governor; of course, on general responsibility to the Secretary of State for all his actions. I have already reported that I intend to dispense this patronage not personally but through competitive examinations, the system laid down in the Regulations transmitted with dispatch 2:101. It is well known that, throughout my long official career, I have always been an advocate of competitive examinations, under proper rules, for the first entrance into the public service. Such examinations are required in the Colonies, even more than in England, to put a limit to official corruption, and to give a much needed stimulus to