THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY TO THE SUPERINTENDENTAL TELEGRAMS.

Evening Star, Issue 4254, 14 October 1876, Page 2

THE GOVERNOR'S REPLY TO THE SUPERINTENDENTAL TELEGRAMS.

[By Telegraph.]

The following is the full text of the papers laid on the table of the House last night, re the Abolition Bill, and not previously published :

June 21st, 1875. My Lord—l have the honor to enclose a letter which has been addressed to your Lordship by Sir George Grey. This letter was received by me about an hour before the sailing of the last mail, and after my despatch-bag had been closed and sent to the Post Office, and as it was one which could not be forwarded by me without comment, T was of course, obliged to hold it ever till this mail.

Sir G ; Grey is pleased to state to your Lordship that " no such opportunities as in a free country are allowed to the inhabitants of expressing their opinion upon the destruction of their Constitution, and the substitution of another for it, have yet, in this case been afforded to the inhabitants of New Zealand." lam perfectly aware that it is hard to convince Sir George Grey that any decision can be right which does not coincide with his own preconceived opinion, but undoubtedly the question of Abolition or non-Abolition was the distinct issue raised at the last election, and there was no one who pressed the matter more strongly, or used his influence more strenuously, than Sir George Grey, he having consented to be put in nomination for the Thamet district after he had been returned for Auckland City West, with view, by his own personal influence, of preventing the return of an Abolition candidate by that constituency. Sir G. Grey then goes on to compare the subordination of Provincial Councils to the Colonial Legislature to that which exists between the latter and Imperial Parliament, and claims therefore that the Provincial Council should be consulted before their privileges can be taken away by an Act of the General Assembly. It appears to me, however, that he entirely omits a circumstance which utterly destroys the parallel which he attempts to draw. The Parliament of England, although undoubtedly supreme, very wisely while legislating on Colonial matters refrains from enforcing the regulations which it has passed until confirmed by the Legislature of the C«lony affeeted; but I what Sir George Grey entirely overlooks is. the fact that the Imperial Parliament is elected by constituencies who are unconnected with the Colony, and, probably to a great extent, are ignorant of its feelings and requirements, whereas the General Assembly and the Provincial Councils are elected 1 on exactly the same franchise— the former representing the general interests of the whole Colony, while the latter are elected to manage purely local matters, and are in their nature chiefly of a municipal character. That the proposed change in the constitution of the Colony is a matter of general policy is a matter which admits of no question, and to suppose that the legislation of the General Assembly on a matter of this importance should be subservient to the will of one or more of these local Councils appears to me to be utterly untenable. But, admitting for the sake of argument that such a thing were possible, how could it be carried out in practice. There are in the Colony nine Provinces. Supposing that five, or possibly seven, of these local Councils decided in favor of Abolition, and the remainder opposed it, how is the question to be decided ? Are the majority of the Councils to carry the day, or is the population of each Province to be taken into consideration, or is the Provincial system to be abolished in those Provinces which agree to the proposal, and retained in those which oppose it? With all deference to Sir G. Grey's experience, it appears to us that he has taken up a ground which is entirely indefensible. The General Assembly is elected by the people of this Colony, under a very liberal franchise, and without in any way wishing to prejudice the decision at which it may arrive on the subject ot Abolition, I believe that it is as well able to express and carry out the general requirements and wishes of the community as the Assembly of any other Colony in the world, and, at any rate in my opinion, it is the best and only constitutional mode by which the real feelings of the country can be obtained.

It seems to me also that the calculation into which he has gone with regard to the relative population of Auckland and Ofcago and the l'est of the Colony is equally unsound. Whether such a system may be right or wrong, equal electoral districts form no part of the British Constitution, as evinced by numerous constituencies in England, especially in London. By the constitution of this Colony, the Legislature has full power to alter or increase the representation of the Colony, but they have not seen fit to adopt equal electoral, districts ; .and what, I would ask, would be said of auyone in England who would venture to deny the power of Parliaineut to carry out such changes as it considered desirable, upon the ground that one portion of the country was not as fully- represented, according to population, m another !

Sir G. Grey also omits to inform your \ Lordship that al hough possibly the majority of the members from the Province of Auckland are opposed to the Abolition of the Provincial system, that feeling is certainly not unanimous, except perhaps in the city of Aackland and its immediate neighborhood. Neither does he state that in May last year a resolution in favor of Abolition was carried by a majority of five in the Provincial Council itself, and was only rescinded.the next day by a majority of one, at the direct instigation and dictum of Sir George Grey himself. I think, therefore, he is hardly justified in claiming the whole of the Pro* vince as adopting his views.

That the Legislature has power under the Imperial Parliament to make the change proposed by the Abolition Act is, I think, amply proved by the fact that your Lordship has informed me that Her Majesty will not be advistd to disallow the Act.

As regards the concluding portion of his letter, were it not that Sir G. Grey most emphatically asserts his belief in tne report to which he alludes, I should certainly have treated it as a bad joke, and even now I hardly know how to treat such a preposterous idea in a serious manner. That Sir G. Grey should seriously inform your Lordship that he believes that there is the slightest foundation for the report which he says exists, that opposition to the Ministry might involve the attacking of the city of Auckland by Her Majesty's ships, or that he should consider it incumbent upon him to ask your Lordship to send a telegraphic message to me to dispel all apprehension of Her Majesty's forces being used for such a purpose is, I think, a sufficient proof of the spirit and tone in which he has entered into this controversy. Sir G. Grey contents himself with endorsing the truth of the report without stating the source from which he obtained it. I can only say that I never saw it, and, if I had, I should have looked upon it as.a pure invention circulated for party purposes, and I should have treated it with the same contempt that I am convinced it will receive from every man, woman, and child in Auckland, except, I am bound to say, upon his own assertion, by Sir G. Grey. Were I as much inclined to take alarm at absurd rumors and newspaper canards as he seems to be, I might indeed inform your Lordship that on more than one occasion, Sir G. Grey himself has been reported to have indulged in dark and mysterious hints at the possibility of armed resistance to the law being resorted to by those who are opposed to the Abolition of the Provinces,', and. the same tone has been more frequently adopted by th 3 'Evening Star,' a paper in Auckland, which strongly supports his views. But placing, as I do, entire reliance on the loyalty and good sense of the inhabitants of this Colony, I have hitherto treated them as empty threats. As, however, Sir G. Grey has seen fit to make the formal complaint to your Lordship, I now .distinctly charge him with being himself the first to five currency to a report similar to the one e has brought under your Lordship's notice, and in support of this accusation, I enclose to yeur Lordship the copy of a letter which has been addressed by Mr Dargaville to my private Secretary for my information. Mr Dargaville was at the time a member of the Provincial Council of Auckland, and the occurrence he narrates occurred about a year ago—before the meeting of the General Assembly and consequently before the Abolition Bill was before the public. The circumstance came to my knowledge soon after it took place. _ The conversation narrated by Mr Dargaville is so identical with the language used in Sir George Grey'sletter to yeur Lordship that there can be little doubt that it must have been the origin of .the report of which he now complains. It is therefore not surprising that he should state: "lam so entirely satisfied of the honor and good faith of the paper from which I quote that I feel sure there _ are substantial grounds for the 'statement it contains." But in my opinion it would have been more ingenuous on his part if he had stated at the same time that he himself had been the first to give expression to such an idea.

Sir G. Grey, when he wrote this letter to your Lordship, nrast, from his long experience as a Colonial Governor, have been perfectly aware of the fact that the Government of a Colony have no control whatever over Her Majesty's forces, and that they could, under no circumstances, be brought into action except through the intervention of the Governor himself. To suppose, therefore, that it could be possible for Her Majesty's Bhips to be used for the purpose of cannonading the City of Auckland, he must in the first place have presumed thst I had entirely lost my senses before I could be induced to make such a requisition to the officer in command of Her Majesty's ships, and, in the second, that that officer must have been equally mad to comply with it. I beg to append, a memo, from my Government, to whom I submittted Sir Geo. Grey's communication.—l have, &c.j _ NORMANBY. The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon, &c.

Northern Clnb, « „ ~ ~ Auckland, Jnne 8, 1876. Mr Dear Maling,—l was surprised yesterday when reading in the * Herald * Sir G. Grey's letter to Lord Carnarvon te find the following passages: —" I heard that in two parts of the Colony reports had,been circulated that Her majesty's seamen and marines are to be used to pot down by armed force all opposition to the Ministry," &c., and " that opposition to the Ministry might -involve the city (Auckland) being cannonaded by the men-of-war in the harbor;" also, " I feel sure there are subßtan. tial grounds for the statement." Now I can assure your that this monstrously absurd canard, which every intelligent man in the Province treats with ridicule, was first given currency to by Sir G. Grey himself some twelve months ago during the last session of the Auckland Provincial Council. Mr Reader Wood, the Provincial Secretory, intimated to the Council that it was the intention of the Superintendent to assume control of the Police Force within the Province. Upon hearing that I, as member for Auckland City East, gave notice of a motion affirming the desirability of the Police remaining as .they were, -under, the control of the General Government. The motiowas subsequently carried by a large majority; but, just before the debate upon it came on, I remember holding a long conversation on the subject with Sir George Grey, who endeavored to dissuade me from going on with it. In the course of that conversation he expressed himself in, as nearly as I can recollect, the following words:—" There may come a time when, in some conflict-of authority between the Provincinl and Central Governments, I should find myself seriously e nbarrassed by reason of the control of the Police being out of my hands;" and upon my expressing astonishment at what his words implied, he went on te say, " Tee; and what's more, I can easily believe it within the range of possibility that we may yet see a British man-of-war in that river (the Waiteinata) witli her guns pointed towards the city to coerce us into submission to some intolerable measure of the Government at Wellington." I could not help laughing at the outburst, which, however, was uttered with apparent sincerity and much earnestness that evening, and next day I related what had occurred to several gentlemen, who all ridiouled Sir George Grey's notion. During the last session of the General Assembly, a telegram from the Wellington correspondent of the • Auckland Evening Star' appeared in that paper attempting to give further currency to the canard which Sir George Grey affects to have heard now for the first time. I cannot find that any section of the Press, so far, has attempted to justify Grey'B conduct in this matter, aud every supporter of his here with whom I have spoken on ihe subject expressed regret that he should have magnified what at most could be only idle street gossip, into a matter of sufficient importance to treat it as worthy of communication to' the Imperial Government. I think it only my duty to write you this letter Ton can show it to Lord Normanby if you think fit.—l have, Ac., J. M. DiJUUVIXLB. Captain Maling, Government House, Wellington. [Memorandum for his Excellency.] Wellington, 12th June, 1876. Ministers have considered the letter to Lord Car* narvon from Sir G. Grey, dated June sth, whioh his Excellency has been asked to forward to theflatWi

itxj of State, and which Ms SztwUmoyhurtlec-ed to njs advisers for .any remarks they daslr* to make. Sir George Grey mere and more gives way to an irrepressible desire to wrjte • long despatches threatening legal proceedings, and harping mpon fancied grievances and baseless rumors. \ Ik is scarcely necessary to assure the Secretary of State that there is no groand whatever for the rumors to which Sir George Grey refers. Ministers hope his Excellency will express to; I Lord Carnarvon their regret-at the annoyanoe to whioh he must feel himself subjected by having to take netice of these long and purposeless letters written to him by a colonist of Hew. Zealand. The general feeling in the Colony is certainly averse Co flying to the Saoretary of State needless trouble, or asking him to interfere in matters relating to the Colony.

Julius Vooba.