THE GOVERNOR, THE MINISTRY, AND THE SECRETARY OE STATE.

Globe, Volume IX, Issue 1359, 22 June 1878, Page 3

THE GOVERNOR, THE MINISTRY, AND THE SECRETARY OE STATE.

[By Tklbgeaph.] [PEB PSBSB AGENCY.] Wellington, June 21. A supplement to the “ Gazette” issued this evening contains despatches and memoranda from the Governor, Secretary of State, and Premier. The series begins with a despatch from the Governor to the Secretary of State, in which he submits for his Lordship’s decision a’ statement of the whole circumstances connected with the dispute which occurred last session between himself and Ministers in regard to the appointment of Mr Wilson to the Legislative Council. In the fourth paragraph the Governor says “I own at once it never occurred to me that by privilege of Parliament tbe Crown is not supposed to take notice of any matter in agitation or debate in the House.” Otherwise lie would probably have taken time to consider the matter. Paragraph 13 runs: “ The constitutional question, however, as to the extent to which Government are responsible to Parliament for the acts of the Governor still remains to be settled, and I consider it is a question of such vital importance to the future good government of the colony, and to the position which is to be held by Her Majesty’s Representatives, that I must ask your Lordship to inform me whether I am right in the opinion which I hold, namely, that so long as they retain office it is the Government, and not the Governor, who are solely responsible to Parliament for the acts of the Governor.” The Governor concluded by saying he simply stated facts, and awaited his Lordship’s decision. The Secretary of State replies to the Governor, under date 15th January. In the second paragraph he eays : —“ It is my duty as the Minister responsible for advising the Queen on any matter connected with your conduct as Governor, to support the views •which you have clearly and accurately expressed. These are briefly First, that under the constitution of New Zea.and, the Governor is bound to communicate to the Secretary of State any difference of opinion which may arise with respect to his responsibility in relation to the responsibility of his Ministers n any particular case ; and, secondly, that so ong as the Ministers retain office, they, and not the Governor, are solely responsible to the local Parliament for the Governor’s acts. I do not understand how there can be any question as to the correctness of the statement of the position and duty of the Queen’s representative, and the relations between the different branches of the Colonial Legislature. Nor have I found in the papers before me any grounds for disputing the propriety of your application of these well known principles of Parliamentary Government to the particular circumstances of the case which had occurred.” The concluding remark is:—“That their (the Ministry’s) continuance in office may be taken as showing that the House did not feel there was any serious cause of complaint.” In a dispatch of 14th November the Governor says Sir George advised him to dissolve the present Parliament, but ho did not feel justified in promising a dissolution until every other expedient had been tried to reconcile matters in the House. Clause 3 says : —“ It is quite evident Sir George Grey does not command a majorily in the present House, nor is there the slightest evidence that he has ever done so.” Clause 4 says“ It is perfectly true that the vote of want of confidence was defeated by the casting vote of the Speaker in a catch division, but Sir George Grey has omitted to state that there were three members accidentally absent who subsequently explained in the House the reason of their absence, and stated that they had intended to have voted against the Government, and the Government have since been placed in a minority, I admit only of one, in the conduct of the business of the House.” The Secretary of State, in reply, thanks the Governor for the full explanation with which he accompanied the papers. In his next despatch, dated 10th December, the Governor lajs before the Secretary of State Sir George Grey’s action with regard to the proposed visit of Sir Wm. Jervois. In the concluding paragraph his Excellency says ; —“ I consider it is much better that the visit of Sir Wm. Jervois should bo indefinitely postponed, rather than that he should have pome here and had difficulties thrown in his way, which would necessarily have impeded his work being properly carried out, and that the consideration due to the position which he holds should not have been accorded to him.”

The Secretary of State in his reply says “ I approve the course which you have taken in the matter.”

The Governor’s next despatch is dated 10th December, and refers to Sir George Grey’s request to him to refuse his assent to the Land Act, as there were provisions in it of which the Government did not approve. Ho says : “No intimation whatever had been given to Parliament that the Government intended to adopt the very unusual course of advising me iO veto the Bill, and nearly the whole of the niembers of both Houses had loft town on Saturday night, on the assurance that, although the printing and preparing the various Acts which had been passed would prevent Parliament being prorogued till Monday, there was no necessity for their remaining, as all the business of the session was over. No doubt some amendments in the Bill had been carried against the Government, and that might have been very good reason for the Government throwing out or dropping the Rill in its passage through Parliament, but the proposal that I should refuse my assent to a Government Bill, after it had passed both Houses, simply because the Government had failed to see the point of certain amendments, or had been unable to resist them, seemed to me so extraordinary a proceeding that I at once refused to veto the Bill,” Upon finding Sir George Grey refused to attach his name to the usual fo*m advising his Excellency to assent to the Bill, it appeared to him that ho should he lending himself to something little shirt of a trick upon Parliament by taking so unusual a course as to veto the Bill. After detailing all the circumstances of the case as they arose, the Governor says—“ I think the occurrence was of so unusual a character that I should not be doing my duty wex-e I not to report it to your Lordship. The Secretary of State on the 15th of February, in reply, approves the action taken by the Governor in the matter of the Land Bill.

In the Governor’s next despatch (1-lth December) ho argues that the Government were not in a position which constitutionally entitled them to demand a dissolution. Keplving to this despatch, the Secretary of State says:—“ I have read tluscorrespondcncc ■with trm care and attention which the subject demands, and 1 feel bound to express my dissent from the view's which Sir George Grey has advanced, which would seem unduly to limit the prerogative of the Crown.” In the next paragraph he says —“ In discharging this responsibility the Governor will of course pay the greatest attention to any representations that may be made to him by those at ®ny time his constitutional advisers, but if ho pbQuJd feel himself bound to take the res.

ponsibility of not following his Ministers’ recommendation, there can, I apprehend be no doubt that both law and practice empower him to do so.”

In the Premier’s memorandum to the Governor, he argues that his Excellency bus gone much further than he ought to have done in causing the despatches of the Secretary of State in reference to his responsible advisers to be laid before Parliament, and further, that the Secretary of State has no authority to interfere with the proceedings of either branches of the General Assembly or to communicate to them any decision or opinion for their guidance. In relation to their rights or privileges, in clause 9 Sir George states that the Constitution Act has strictly defined the powers of the Crown, of the Secretary of State, and of the General Assembly, of which the Governor is a constituent part. The Act also conveys to the people of this colony the power of working out their own future within the limits fixed by the British Parliament. He also believes the people of Now Zealand are quite prepared and competent to build up institutions under which their descendants may have assured liberty and equal laws and regulations, and believes the people of this colony are not inclined to permit any interference of any exterior authority either with their Parliament or Ministers. In clause 12 the Premier goes on to state that he is justified in thinking that there are additional strong reasons for chocking the Secretary of State interfering with this Parliament, or offering unasked-for opinions. In clause 18 Sir Geo. Grey says: —“ For instance, if his own views wore strongly in favor of breaking the empire up, in a few years measures could be taken which would nnder such an event ultimately highly probable. Hid he desire to set up an aristocracy in the colony in some novel form, landed or titular, or both, he could have many firm steps made towards the achievement of such an object. A man who constantly believes either of these principles, armed with the vast and generally long continued power possessed by the permanent Under-Secretary of the Colonial Department, could hardly avoid, perhaps almost unconsciously, adopting measures which would tend to the fulfilment of his cherished convictions.” He then goes on to say—“ It must also bo remembered that the Colonial Department only communicates to the colonies such information as suits them to impart, and these communications are sent to the Governor, and he only imparts what he wishes.” He shows that the Colonial Office is often pressed to adopt some line of policy by returned colonists or disappointed colonial statesmen who could not get the New Zealand Assembly to adopt their views. It was on account of the Colonial Office having so much power that leading British statesmen tried to secure to the colonies the power of controlling their own affairs. The people of New Zealand, mindful of this, will probably struggle against all efforts unlawfully made to meddle with their constitution, and they would be wise in doing so. The Secretary is an officer of high position, and whose authority is highly respected. It is an unpopular thing in any colony for a Ministry to differ with the Secretary of State. Sir George then says he declines to have his conduct.in reference to the relations between himself and the General Assembly and between himself and the Governor submitted for the opinion of the Secretary of State, and he also declines to discuss these questions, and says it is for these reasons (not through disrespect) that he has noticed or replied to the arguments used in the despatches of the Governor or Secretary of State, which his Excellency has been pleased to send to Ministers. The Governor, in return, says in his memorandum to the Premier that ho must decline to enter into any argument or discussion with Sir George Grey as to the position or authority which belongs to the Secretary of State under the Constitution Act, and he points out that whatever opinion may be entertained by Sir George Grey, there can he no doubt the Governor is responsible to the Secretary of State as the constitutional adviser of Her Majesty. _ Sir George replies in a long despatch, in which he says he believes -“ That the moment the Governor assumes office in this colony and begins to act under the Constitution Act, he is responsible to the law and not to any other authority, and that he would not be justified in obeying the commands of the Secretary of State,_ or in noticing any instructions from him except in go far as these were in strict conformity with law, that is the authority which should be recognised, and which should be obeyed.” He also adds that the Governor should not carry out the instructions of the Secretary of if they were considered detrimental to the interests of the people of the colony. The correspondence closes by the Governor intimating that no public advantage can be derived by its prolongation.