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Inclosure 2 in No. 57.

Gentlemen,

Reduit, April 17, 1872. I HASTEN to reply to your letter of this day's date alluding to a passage in my letter to the Governor giving cover to the Report of the Commission, over which I have lately had the honour to preside.

I need not say to you how sorry I should feel were there to be any misconception of this matter, and I therefore readily afford you the information you ask for on behalf of Mr. Fraser.

At the conclusion of the examination of witnesses, it was agreed upon unanimously that each member of the Commission should furnish me confidentially with his views upon that evidence in the form of a draft Report, from which the draft of the general one should be framed for discussion by the Commissioners.

This was done by all excepting Honourable C. Antelme, and after several meetings and lengthy discussions, a Report was adopted for signature.

The absence of the Honourable J. Fraser from the prolonged discussions which accompanied the careful preparation of that Report, renders it of course impossible to say whether he would or would not have concurred in its recommendations.

But so careful was I that the views of the absent gentleman should be fully considered by his colleagues, that although three of the members of the Commission were kind enough to come to my house to read over the various separate draft sugges- tions which have been sent to me, I begged them to take Mr. Fraser's papers away to their residences in order that all might be more specially aware of his views.

I trust that with this explanation you will do me the honour to feel assured that my mention of Mr. Fraser in the covering letter was purely with the intention of accounting for the unavoidable absence of his signature in the general compiled Report adopted by the majority and presented to his Excellency, and most certainly without the smallest intention of implying that Mr. Fraser had not, in common with the other members of the Commission, sent in suggestions and conclusions for the consideration of his colleagues in the framing of the general Report of the Commission.

I have, &c.

(Signed) J. SELBY SMYTH, Major-General.

The Hon. R. Stain, and J. Currie, Esq.

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the Legislative Council and the public. We submit to your Honour whether, in fairness to Mr. Fraser, you may not think it right to transmit to his Excellency, if you have not already done so, his Report on matters of such grave public concern, and to which he had devoted, by his Excellency's appointment, so much time and attention.

We shall naturally send this correspondence to Mr. Frazer, and consider ourselves at liberty to make any other use of it which we may think what we owe to him requires.

In conclusion, we beg your Honour to accept the sincere expression of our regret that the turn of circumstances has compelled us to intrude so far on your time and attention, just on the eve of your departure from the Colony.

We have, &c. (Signed)

•

His Honour Major-General E. Selby Smyth,

&c.

Gentlemen,

&c.

&c.

Inclosure 4 in No. 57.

J. CURRIE. R. STEIN.

Reduit, April 19, 1872.

In reply to your letter of this day's date, I have the honour to inform you that, as the Commission has closed its proceedings and made its Report, my functions as Chairman have, of course, ceased.

All the papers connected with the Commission, including Mr. Fraser's draft Report, have been ordered to be sent in by the Secretary for record in the Colonial Secretary's office in consequence of my departure from the Colony to-morrow forenoon.

It will, therefore, I think, rest with Mr. Fraser to take what steps he with regard to his draft, which, as I have already had the honour to inform you, was wish may duly weighed and considered by his colleagues when deliberating upon all the drafts, before adopting a general Report.

Pray, &c.

(Signed)

The Hon. R. Stein and J. Currie, Esq.

E. SELBY SMYTH, Major-General.

Inclosure & in No. 57.

PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE

Reference :-

THIC.O.

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2 PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE, LONDON

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Sir,

Inclosure 3 in No. 57.

Port Louis, April 19, 1872. WE beg to acknowledge the honour of your letter of the 17th, received yesterday afternoon, and to thank you for the explanations you have been kind enough to enter into.

your

We are sure that Mr. Fraser, equally with ourselves, will be satisfied that Honour never could have meant personally to expose his conduct on either of the points which we took the liberty of bringing under your notice to question or doubt, but the words used in your letter covering the Report of the Police Commissioners have unquestionably created in the mind of his friends and the public an impression which he would regret.

We must beg leave to state that we fear he would still find his acts, and attitude liable to some ambiguity of construction, for though your Honour acknowledges that "it is of course impossible to say whether he would or would not have concurred in the recommendation of the Report," your letter might still seem to involve the assumption that his departure from the Colony is the necessary and only explanation of the "unavoidable absence of his signature from the general compiled Report."

We are aware that to others, without communicating to them more than to us, the opinion he bad arrived at, Mr. Fraser had made known his motives for drawing up a separate Report. He saw that the discussions would be delayed beyond the time be had fixed for his departure, and that he would have no opportunity of expressing assent or dissent with any general or separate Report or Reports to be prepared, and he accordingly embodied his conclusions in a separate Report addressed to your Honour as President of the Commission.

We need not hesitate to say that we have, since addressing you on the 16th instant, had reason to doubt, with some of his friends and colleagues, whether Mr. Fraser would have agreed with the Report of the majority, or would not, like the Honourable Mr. Antelme, have begged to have his Report placed in the hands of his Excellency the Governor, and his views thus made available for the consideration of

My dear General,

Kilan Shona, Argyleshire, July 6, 1872.

I AM sorry to intrude upon you regarding Mauritius affairs, but cannot help myself. I received on Friday last the 5th instant my Mauritius papers, &c., and on going over the "Commercial Overland Gasette" I was astonished beyond measure to find the following answer made by the Governor in Council in reply to a question of Henri Pitot about my Police Commission Report

"Besides this, he (the Governor) might state that Mr. Fraser had informed Major. General Smyth that in the main he agreed with the Report, and that he had his authority to attach his signature to it in his absence. General Smyth, with that prudence and wisdom which had always distinguished him, said he would be glad to do so if he had a written authorization for such an act. signature was not, therefore, appended."

This was not given, and the If his Excellency's remarks have been quoted correctly, a very grave misunder- standing has evidently arisen somewhere, and which I must, in justice to myself, clear up.

In the first place, it is simply impossible that I could have agreed in the main with a report which to my knowledge did not exist when I left the Colony; and, secondly, I have no knowledge or recollection of ever having authorised you to attach my signature to the Report, orally or otherwise.

Shortly before the examination of witnesses terminated, and in the course of casual conversations, reference was made to my intended departure before a Report could be prepared, and I then stated that I should have no objection to have my name attached to a Report which should be adopted and signed by all the other Commissioners, and afterwards that I thought I might safely authorize my name being attached to a Report signed by yourself and the Honourable Mr. Antelme and Mr. Robertson. I knew there was no divergence in the opinions held by Mr. Antelme and myself, and believed there was little between these and the opinions entertained by yourself and Mr. Robertson. When, however, I was asked to sign an authorization to attach my signature to a Report adopted by the majority, I thought it prudent on

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