Copy of a Despatch from. Governor Hobson to the principal Secretary of State for the Colonies.

It is with extreme regret I have to report the death, by drowning in the Manukau, of the late Captain Symonds, of the 96th Regiment, which occasions a vacancy in the office of Deputy Surveyor-General of this colony. The loss to New Zealand of so valuable an officer as the late Captain Symonds will be long felt as a public calamity. His energy, zeal, and manly bearing are qualities much wanted in a new colony, and these he possessed in an eminent degree; in addition to which, his urbane manners secured for him the affection and respect of all classes, both Native and European.

I have the honour to enclose a paragraph, cut from a newspaper, which describes more particularly the melancholy event which consigned this excellent officer to a premature grave.