COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 208, 28 October 1854, Page 4

COLONIAL ADMINISTRATION.

(From the " Spectator.") New Zealand is, or has been for some lime in a slate of suspended government, through the action of no revolutionary party, but of no other than the Governor of the Colony. The case is so flagrant, that Sir John Packington, who, as Colonial Secretary, frequently won approval and praise even from opponents by the fair and reasonable character of his administration, and who framed the New Zealand Constitution Act of 1802, felt it incumbent upon him to put a series of six questions, in the House of Commons to Mr.under-secretary Peel,—The purport of the questions being to ask whether the governor had not set aside the Constitution Act of the colony by anticipating the acts of the general assembly while he delayed the meeting of that body'? whether, in fact, Sir George Orev had not created an interregnum, and appointed himself dictator to the serious injury of the colony and its material interests ? Mr' Peel replied with a smooth statement, — making Yight of all the questions, insinuating that they were theoretical niceties or martinet punctilio's, and representing Sir George Grey as having done nothing hut what was marked by correctness, assiduity, and good faith. It is needless to go over the whole of Mr. Peel's categorical replies to Sir John's questions, but let us fasten on two points.

it was represented, oh behalf of the Governor

that time was required to fix the boundaries of the provinces, to make arrangements for registration, polling places, &c.; and that the general assembly could not be convened until the last of the writs should have come in. " Sir George discharged all those duties," says Mr. Peel, " with as great expedition as was consistent with their being performed in that honest and painstaking manner in which he was wont to do everything that was entrusted to him ; and in the course of about two months he had settled all those matters of detail." How, then, can we reconcile this apologetic statement with the publicly known fact, that the period which had elapsed between the receipt of the constitution in the colony, and the departure of Sir George Grey from the colony, during which period the general assembly had not been summoned, was not for two months, but thirteen months ? Now certainly, eveu allowing Sir George Grey his two months, and a reasonable time for the elections, it would not take the whole eleven months to go the whole "800 miles," from Auckland to Otago and back again ; and the convening of the Assembly might have been fixed for the last day ou which the latest writ could be returned. It is remarked also that the existence of insuperable obstacles does not appear to have occurred to the people of the colony, who must have understood its local circumstances and rates of travelling. In an address to the Queen, passed by the provincial council of Wellington on the 6th January, 1854, the council expressed its " deep regret that the general assembly of the colony has not bjen convened, and appears likely to be suspended for an indefinite time." In this candid address, the council mentions the existence of a minority in its own body, which deems it probable that the governor may have reasons to justify the delay: " but we are all, without exception, unable ourselves to discover any valid reasons for leaving an essential part of the constitution in abeyance; and we are equally of one mind in declaring, that we are impressed more and more every day with a sense of the practical evils arising from the suspension of the general legislature of the colony." In like manner, the provincial council of Nelson unanimously resolved, "That the apportionment of the provincial revenue, before the general assembly has declared what sums shall be appropriated under its authority to specific purposes, is repugnant to the constitutional act, and is not warranted by anycircumstance which would have prevented the meeting of the general assembly." Canterbury and New Plymouth evince their concurrence in the same opinion. But we have the testimony of Sir George Grey himself that there was no such obstacle ; since he asked his legislative council to pass an ordinance appropriating the revenue till the 30th of September, — that is, to use his own words, "until the legislature created l>y the new act should meet." Here he must have referred to the general as well as the provincial legislatures, because the act evidently intended that the general assembly should meet before the provincial councils.

Indeed, the meeting of the Provincial Councils without the General Assembly had created the peculiar difficulty which constitutes our second point, and which Mr. Peel endeavours to slide over. In his explanation, he says, that Sir George Grey did not appropriate the public money ; and theu he proceeds to discredit that assertion by stating the manner in which he did appropriate the money ; adding, that " if it was illegal, it was the fault of the act or its framers." " I am afraid, Sir," said a lady to an eminent Frenchman, "that what I say is not good French." " Madame," replied the courtier, "it ought to be so." The polite gentleman would rather find the language of his country in fault than the lady; and Mr. Peel would rather think the law in fault than the governor who breaks it. But Mr. Peel is wrong in fact. As to " the framers" of the act, we have Sir John Pakington himself, who must have an opinion at least of what he intended in his own legislation, who gave instructions to the governor, and who now finds the conduct of that governor so little conformable to the instructions that he is obliged to appeal to Parliament against the breach of law. So much for the framer. The act itself provides, that " until the writs of the General Assembly should be returned, the legislative council of New Zealand should exercise all its former jurisdiction and authority." When, therefore, the appropriation ordinance passed in January expired in September, the obvious course prescribed by law was to summon the legislative council and to pass a fresh one.

So strong1, indeed, was the feeling of the Provincial Councils, that they hesitated to accept the portion of public monies allotted to them by the Governor. In New Plymouth, they accep- ■ ted it provisionally for three months only : i a Canterbury and Nelson they declined to accept » the money. The Nelson address says, " That the appropriation o( the revenue by the Provincial Councils, before tthe General Assembly shall have determined what sums it will appropriate for its own purposes, is contrary to law, and is not warranted by any circumstance which would have prevented the meeting of the General Assembly." Thus the governor had forced upon the provinces a struggle between their regard for the law and their sense of necessity. Mr. Peel makes light uf an injunction obtained in the Supreme Court against the disposal of land in the district of Wellington ; and he evades the question of Sir John Pakington— whether the Governor did not dispose of laud in defiance of the injunction ?—by saying that he thought it desirable that the Attorney-Ge-neral should be made a party to the suit; adding coolly, that "he could uotsay whether the injunction were issued or not, or whether any sales of land took place in the district to which it applied." By the assumption of this tone, he shows that he and Sir George Grey consider the disregard of the court's authority as a matter of no importance at all. What would be said of such a proceeding on b the part of the executive in this country towards the Court of Queen's Bench?

The facts of this case have, as we learn from the New Zealand papers, been laid before the Duke of Newcastle months ago : but it is evident from the circumstance of Mr. Peel's being permitted to make this statement, that the duke has not had time to digest those facts *. Such is the consequence of our present system, when peremptory attention to war-duties calls the Secretary of ,'State for the Colonies from the function of supervision over the permanent staff; a removal the more to be regretted when the second minister happens to be, by sympathy, natural aptitude, or a .professional choice like that of Governor Grey, the volunteer agent for " Downing-street."

It is plain that Mr. Peel had received his information ex parte, and that it is all taken from one point of view. If the reader will recall our recapitulation of some difficulties felt by the colonists of New Zealand, and the explanation of the governor's conductf, it will be easy to understand how it is that Mr. Peel should make such a statement in the face of the facts to which we have alluded. When any man enters upon that which is now a profession— the profession of a colonial governor—there are the usual " three courses" open to him. First, he may consider himself the creation of the cabinet, for the time being, and carry on his communications with that cabinet, as LordSydenham did in Canada. Secondly, he may identify himself with the colony and its interests, as Lord Harris did in Trinidad. Thirdly, he may make himself the agent of the permanent staff at the colonial office in Downingstveet. Professionally, for a man looking to progressive promotion, this third is the best course, and Sir George Grey is the best example. It seems plain that he did not carry out the legislation or instructions of Sir John Pakington, who calls him to account; but it is equally clear, that he has from first to last enjoyed the confidence of the permanent department whose views Mr. Peel states. We have already explained how Sir George Grey's acts might be reconciled with those instructions and with his defiance of the leading opinions in the colony. It is true that, by lowering the price of land and appropriating monies, he unconstitutionally anticipated functions handed over by Parliament to the general assembly, and that by delaying the general assembly he defied the Constitution Act. But many in the colony, especially those who hoped to profit by the inanamvres of tlie local government, expected profits from these promising offer of cheap land and distributed money ; and Sir George Grey so arranged that the maturity of these promises would happen

• When we received a Wellington newspaper containing the statement of tho whole case against the Governor, and drawn by the facile pen of Mr. Henry Sewell, comprising more than 300 sections, our respect for tho writer could not prevent our being amused at hin simplicity in supposing thnt a miniHter pressed with the buxinpsa of nil thu colonies, could have patience to peruse such a document. But how physically impossible a perusal of such documunt becomes when tho minister, pressed with the business of all the colonies, has to turn his attention from day to day, before everything else, to a war that afl'ects all Europe.

t Spectator, December 3, 1853, pp. 1161-J163

after he should have left the colony. So to speak, he distributed his promissory notes openhanded, but they were all to fall due after his departure; and he comes away backed by the - testimonials of grateful speculators. Having byways done his best to please the permanent staff in Downing street, the permanent staff returns the favour by indorsing his notes for present accommodation.