SIR GEORGE GREY AND THE COMMISSIONERS.

Globe, Volume V, Issue 589, 9 May 1876, Page 2

SIR GEORGE GREY AND THE COMMISSIONERS.

{Per Press Agency .) Auckland, May 3

The Superintendent’s letter to the commissioners is as follows: —*• Auckland, Bth May, 1876. Gentlemen—l have received from Sir Julius Vogel a circular note and enclosure, purporting to be issued to you, copies of which are enclosed. The Act which provides a Constitution for New Zealand gives no power or authority to any person not being one of the constituent authorities of this province to enquire into its finances, expenditure, or administration, nor to delegate such powers to others. The only persons or bodies who have any lawful right to make such inquiries are Superintendents and Provincial Councils, or officers by them or either of them appointed ; and to an extent and for certain _ objects specified by law, the Provincial Auditor. As Superintendent of Province of Auckland my duty to its people, whose representative I am, and the responsibility of whose Government 1 have at their request taken upon myself, forbids me to communicate to any person or persons not legally authorised in that behalf anj information whatever beyond that which I communicate to the public at large, unless I had been previously authorised so to do by a resolution of the Provincial Council. The provinces derive their existence and their privileges from the Constitution Act, and I

beg to point out to-you that by prosecuting the enquirips mentioned in the circular, you are attempting to assume control over the lawfully constituted Government of this province, which is both unconstitutional and contrary to law. I rema k that the persons or body which are deputed to perform the illegal acts are called in the cbcular note, ‘The Colonial Government,’ and the ‘ Government,’ and the ‘ General Government.’ These are altogether unknown to the Constitution Act, and the thoughts and language of the Imperial Legislature when that Act was passed. The only Government known to this country are General Assembly of New Zealand, and Superintendents and Provincial Councils of the respective provinces. lam aware that by Royal instructions to his Excellency the Governor, that high officer is expected to act in accordance with the advice of his Executive Council, unless he sees good reason to differ in opinion from them; but. I deny the right of that Executive Council to alter or depart from the rules and usages of constitutional government, or to usurp powers which belong only to Provincial Governments or to the General Assembly in Parliament assembled. These Executive Councils are but advisers of his Excellency, and with all due respect to the representative of her Most Gracious Majesty, I must, as the elected guardian of the rights and interests of the people of Auckland, be watchful that the authority even of the Crown be not carried a single step further than the law permits The Governor has no right to instruct you to take the steps you contemplate. Even her Most Gracious Majesty herself would have no right, without the authority of Parliament, to instruct you so to do ; and most certainly her Majesty would not sanction so unconstitutional and unlawful an act being carried out in her name. Much less can those who are only the Governor’s advisers for the time being have any lawful authority to authorise you to follow the c arse you are now pursuing. I find also that in the instructions issued to you, a.uasures are evidently contemplated not only destructive of the rights and privileges of this province, but also actually opposed to the provisions of the Abolition of Provinces Act, 187 P, should that Act be intra vires and good law, which, however, I do not admit. I am compelled therefore to say that I shall by all constitutional means oppose anj steps which may tend in the slightest degree to compromise the rights and constitutional freedom of this province. I have the honor further to remind you of that rule of law which provides that no commands or order by a superior will avail as a defence when persons commit an act in itself unlawful. I have therefore to require you not to venture to attempt to carry out within the province ot Auckland the errand on which you are professedly sent. You were appointed to the Civil Service of this colony, and hold ’your respective offices in it, for the purposes of fulfilling the duties imposed on these offices by the General Assembly of New Zealand, You have no lawful authority for entering on the duties you have now undertaken. In so doing you are acting outside of the Civil Service of the colony, and have become the emissaries of single gentlemen who had no right or power whatever to despatch you on such a duty. If, therefore, in defiance of my warning and in breach of the lawful and constitutional rights of the province, you enter upon or attempt to prosecute any such inquiries within its limits, I shall feel it to he my duty as Superintendent to appeal to the proper tribunals, in order that you may be individually or collectively dealt with as they may direct. I shall cause a copy of this letter to be sent to the Provincia' Auditor, at the same time calling on him to decline to give you any information or take any action whatever, save such only as he is authorised and empowered to give or take by the law under which and to carry out which he was appointed to that office, and which law, moreover, accurately defines and limits the power and duties he can lawfully and constitutionally exercise and perform sa Provincial Auditor.—l have, &c, G. Grey,— To Wm. Gisborne, Esq., Commissioner of Annuities ; Wm, Seed, Esq., Secretary and Inspector of Customs ; John Knowles, Esq., P.W. Dept.”