7 Westminster Chambers
London, S.W.
22 July 1884

Dear Mr Chesson

I am very much obliged to you for your kind invitation, which I received at home this morning, to accompany the Maori Chiefs when they wait upon Lord Derby today. I do not think, however, that I could do so unless the Secretary of State desired me to be in attendance. To this moment I do not know what the memorial of the Chiefs contains: and although they know very well what a pleasure it would be to me to be of any service to them consistently with my official duties, I fear that if the object of the memorial is to ask the imperial government to resume any control over native affairs in New Zealand, their visit to this country can only end in disappointment.

Believe me
Yours sincerely
F.D. Bell

F.W. Chesson, Esq