THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND A PLEBISCITUM.

Evening Star, Volume 4245, Issue 4245, 4 October 1876, Page 3

THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT AND A PLEBISCITUM.

The following is in exact copy of a telegram forwarded to the Governor by the Superintendent yesterday:—

_ . Dunedin, October 2, His Excellency the Oovernor of New Zealand, Wellington. On behalf of the people of Otago, I beg most earnestly and respectfully to request that your Excellency may be pleased to withhold Queen’s assent from any action of Colonial Parliament, having for its object the giving effect to Abolition Billinas far as this Province is concerned. Great bulk of peome are determined to maintain those rights and privileges of local self-government conferred upon them by Imperial Parliament—privileges which I am advised it is ultra Dire* of General Assembly to take away without their own consent expressed through their own local legislature. I can assure your Excellency that your responBible advisers are altogether misinformed, or have no correct conception as to the deep and earnest feeling which pervades this Province on this subject; feeling which is becoming , the more intense the more the effects of the Abolition Bill ceme to be realised.

. venture to ray that the actions of your advisers in respect of this Province must, if persisted in, result in a dismemberment of the Colony. From an quarters the Proviso! 1 Government is being urgently appealed to to obtain a plebisoitum or the people, with a view of an appeal to the Imperial Government, who, it is confidently hoped, will not tup a deaf ear to what I believe will undoubtedly be found-to be the deliberate and nnmistakeable desire of an overwhelming majority ofthe settlers in Otago, I would only add that the extreme gravity of the situation must be my excuse for thus addressing your Excellency. J.Macasdeew, Superintendent of Otago. To which the Cabinet replied as follows to his Honor to-day

Ministers have the honor to return the telegram addressed to his Excellency on the 2nd inst. by the Superintendent of Otago, and submitted by his Excellency for their perusal. Mr Macandrew requests that it may please your Excellency to withhold the Queen s assent from any action of the Colonial Parliament haring for its object giving effect to the Abolition Bill, so fair as Otago is concerned He appears to forget that the Abolition Act is now law, and hw been left to its operation by Her Majesty, and will come into force without further legislative action. Mr Macandrew says he is advised that the action taken by the General Assembly wd assented to by Her Majesty to amend the Constitution is ultra vires. It is open for him, if he can, to convince the courts of law that the advice he relieson is sounder than that of the law officers of the Crown in London and New Zealand. His Honor assures your Excellency that your responBible advisers are altogether misinformed, or have no correct conception as to the deep and earnest feeling which pervades the Province of Otago on the subject—a fee ing which is becoming more intense the more the effects of the Abolition Bill como to be realised. Ministers are fully aware of and deeply regret the strong feeling against Abolition, apparently held by a portion of the inhabitants of Otago, fermented as it has been by misrepresentation and agitation for which the Superintendent himself is in a great measure responsible. They ore also aware of the strong feeling in favor of Abolition among another section of the Otago people, and they know neither patty has yet had an opportunity of judging practically of the effects of legislation which has not yet been in force. It is contrary to every principle of representative and parliamentary Government to ■How the temporary effect of local agitation to outweigh the deliberate decision of the people in Parliament assembled. Your Excellency's advisers therefore regret that the Superintendent of an important Province should venture to tell your Excellency toat such legislative action must, if persisted in, result in the dismemberment of the Colony. That action is the result of two parliaments, the present one having been elected to carry out the decision of the last. The Superintendent concludes by stating that from all quarters the Provincial Government is being urgently appealed to, to obtain a 'juebiscitum of the people with a view to an appeal to the Imperial Government. Ministers need scarcely remark that aplehiscitvm is a mode of expressing popular opinion unknown to any Constitution based upon representative institutions, that even if a vote of the majority of one Province were to be obtained against any Act of the Legislature, srach vote could not be allowed for a moment to have weight against the decision of representatives of the whole Colony. Yeur Excellency’s advisers are also receiving urgent appeals from Otago, especially from the outlying districts in a directly contrary sense to those relied on by tho Superintendent. They are satisfied that their endeavor to secure local self-government for all districts in the country ‘is welcomed by a large portion of the Province of Otago, as it is by the Colony of New Zealand. The measure now nnder consideration, of Counties, will leave the whole question of the division of the country for the purposes of local Government ultimately in the hands of the people, and Ministers have no reason to believe toat the people of Otego are less desirous than those of the other parts of New Zealand to localise the administration of their local affairs.—H A. Atkinson.

A reply to the memorandum of the Cabinet was forwarded by telegraph to his Honor today, and it will be published through the Press to-morrow.