The abandonment by the rebels of their positions at Maungatautari, which followed the capture of the works at Orakau, and is reported in your despatch of the sth April, is a proof of the effect produced upon them by the severe losses which they had suffered in the attempt to defend the latter post. I have brought to the notice of the Queen the names of , the various officers and non-commissioned officers mentioned in your despatches ; and her Majesty has been pleas ed to signify her approval of their conduct. I earnestly trust that the continued success which attends your vigorous and well-planned operations will lead to the speedy termination ofv tij^ present conflict, and to the complete re- of her Majesty's authority over tribes. — I have, &0., (signod) De. .''•QsGt? and Ripon. — To Lieutenant General * JROl? A. Cameron, &c."

THE GREAT PRIZE OF PARIS. (From The Times, June 7.)

THE LAW OF LIBEL. (From the Daily Southern Cross, August 27.)

Allusion was made in our issue of yesterday to the libel action of Bailey v. Fairfax, as furnishing a very important decision with re gard to the law of libel. We now propose to give our readers a brief outline of the case as disclosed at the trial. The ground of action was a leading article which appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald, commenting upon the action of Naah v. Bank of New South Wales, which was to recover £2,400, the amount of a forged cheque which had been placed to plain tiffs account, and which* the man Cust was nfterward's found guilty of having uttered. The action was de'ended on the plea that it had not been proved that the cheque was not a genuine one. In the course of the trial one of the legal gentlemen employed in it illustrated the frauds to which families and individuals were subjected by forgeries, by quoting the ease of a clergyman, the Rev. William Bailey. The Herald, in its leading article, refers to this case in the "( Modern State Trials, by William C. Townsend, Recorder of Macclesfield," pub lished in 1850, and condensed the following particulars from it, which, of course, were read on the trial, and are therefore open for repub lication: — "Dr. Bailey saw in a newspaper the death of an obscure miser named Smith. 