HOUSE OF LORDS, Friday, July 14th.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 220, 9 December 1854, Page 2

HOUSE OF LORDS, Friday, July 14th.

NEW ZEALAND.—SIR GEORGE GREY.

Lord Lytteltos rose to move for the copies of any insiruciions not already laid before Parliament, from the Secretary of State to the Governor of New Zealand, with reference to the regulation of the price of waste lands during the time previous to the first meeting of the General Assembly of the Colony ; also for a copy of the letter from the Secretary of State to the Governor of New Zealand, giving him leave of absence; and to call the attention of the House'to the proceedings of the Governor of New Zealand in giving effect to die act for granting a representative constitution to that colony." This subject, he observed, had been discussed in the other House of Parliament, and it was because he could not help thinking that the defence of the Governor of New Zealand by. the Government of this country was'unsatisfactory, that he felt bound, in deference to the wishes of many of the colonists, to submit to their Lordships a motion on the subject. He was ready to admit that, in several respects, Sir G. Grey had been an able and good colonial governor; that financially he Lad been an effec-

live governor: that he had maintained peace, discipline, and order; and that he had dealt well and successfully with the native population. He had, however, shown himself unfit for the inauguration of a constitutional system foi* the English people. The noble duke was aware that there were many grounds of complaint against Sir George Grey, but on the present occasion he would confine himself to his proceedings on two points—first, with reference to the regulation of the price of waste lands; and secondly, his delay in summoning and assembling the General Assemby of the colony of New Zealand. He had no doubt that what Sir G. Grey did about the price of land and the revenue was acceptable to many in the colony —acceptable not only to lamisharks and speculators, but to many individuals in the colony who had been long accustomed to the old state of things. But that was not the question—the question was, what were the intentions of Parliament? Now, as to the price of land, he begged to remind the house that the distinguishing feature of the Constitution Act of New Zealand was that for the first time the colonists had conceeded to them, freely and unequivocally, the power over their own waste lands. This was a very grave question, on which great diversity of opinion occurred at the time, and he would admit that in certain circumstances it might have been advisable to retain in this country some control over those wastelands; but, under the circumstances which then prevailed, it was believed that no other course than that which was taken could have been wisely followed. The complaint against Sir G. Grey was, thai on this great concession being notified to the colony he took on himself to exercise the authority given, not to him, but to the colonists, and to issue,:on his own authority, a proclamation making the most sweeping changes in the whole system and price of waste lands tbrouo-h----out the colony, lowering the price one-half™ some cases and three-fourths in others. In the Constitution Act of New Zealand, power was given by the 72nd clause to the General Assembly to make laws for regulating the sale, letting disposal, and occupation of the waste lands of that colony. Bat the justification of the Governor was founded on the 79th clause, which provided that it should be lawful to her Majesty by letters patent, or instructions under the si<ni manual, as signified through one of the Secretaries of State, " to dele-ate to the Governor any of thepowers hereinbefore reserved to her Majesty " relative, among other matters, to waste lands. In the preamble to his proclamation the governor staled that the powers which he exercised were delegated to him by one of her Majesty's Secretaries of State. Now, the question was, whether these words in the preamble we c literally c< rrect. As at present informed, his belief was, that they were not literally correct, and that no such instructions as they pointed at had been issued. He was compelled to believe that some kind of instructions had been issued, because he had been told so, und therefore he moved for those instructions in order that he might know wlia! they were ; but be was bound to say that he suspected there was a confusion of memory on the point, and that reference was here made to two documents which they already had before them—a despatch of Sir J. Pakingion of the 10th. und another of

the 22ud July, 1552; neither of those despatches gave countenance to the view which had been assumed in favour, of the governor. He contended that the power of delegation given in the act was not such as the governor claimed, and that no such power had been delegated to him by Sir J. Pakington. (Hear.) Passing on to the next point, he had to inform the House of what could not but be regarded by most persons as a very startling fact. The case was submitted to the Supreme court of the colony with a view to testing the legality of the governor's conduct, and by that Court an injunction was issued on the ground of illegalitj. The governor took no notice of that injunction, and be would only ask their Lordships how the Court of Queen's Bench in this country would have acted in such circumstances? In the colonies, however, the great principle of the judges being independent of the Crown had not been recognised, and the consequences that would have followed in this country had not taken place. He was not sure that it had not been denied that such an injunction had been issued; but, in answer to this, he could only say that the lact was notorious, and that no doubt could exist on the point. It was said again, that the Chief Justice Martin reviewed*" and reversed this decision ; but this was both untrue and impossible, as the Chief Justice had no power of review or reversal. Then it was said, the injunction was not acted upon. This he could only call a bitter mockery. It meant that the employes of the Court were too weak to carry the injunction into effect. The question was not whether the injunction was prosecuted, but whether it existed. Jt was said, also, that all the governor had done was perfectly right, but this just brought them back to the question whether or not he was discharging a function which the act of Parliament confided, not to him, but to the General Assembly. It raised also the question of the delay that had taken place in calling the Assembly together. On tile 6th of January in the present year Sir G. Grey left the colony. The answer given to the charge of this enormous delay was, that he used all possible expedition, but that from the difficulties he had encountered it was impossible to call the Assembly together sooner. In this country we might be unable to judge of the difficulties which the governor had to encounter, but those on the spot were in a position to do so, and he was prepared to say, on the best information, that any such difficulty or impossibility as had been pointed at was never even conjectured by any friend or opponent of the governor. He took the full time allowed him before he "proclaimed the act, and it was not till the last moment that he issued the writs for the elections. Then it hud been said, that the governor could not summon the General Assembly until the writs were returned ; that the writs could not be issued until he knew who the electors were ; and that there never was a governor who had so much to do, for he was called upon to provide for a multiplicity of details, and that it was impossible for him to have proceeded quicker than he had done. He did not think that Sir G. Grey's friends had acted wisely in calling attention to his conduct under the former act, for, though it was true that between that and the Constitution Act there were differences, yet in minor details they were the same, the electoral districts were the same, ami all regulations with reference to registration and polling had been cut and dried for two years before the governor was called upon to carry them into execution. He would state to iheirlordships a fewof the particular consequences which resulted from the delay in calling the General Assembly—it had caused for several months an entirely'illegal appropriation of the revenue of the colony.' It bad been said that this was an inevitable dilemma, as the act on y gave the General Assembly the power of dealing with the revenue raised by itself; but .tlie act also distinctly provided that the power or the old council should continue until the General Assembly met. It was said on this point that the governor had acted in the spirit Oi the act, but what he did was to issue a decree by which he gave two-thirds of the revenue to the general Assembly, and bad reserved onehiru for the general purposes of the colony; but the act provided that the assembly should take what it thought proper and give the rest to the Provincial Councils. He begged their ordsups would observe the effect tin* had on tie I rovincial {Councils ; it strongly tempted, almost compelled them, to Income participators "i the illegal appropriation of the revenue. .Some ol these councils refused to receive what the

governor proposed, and endeavoured to create revenue within their own limits. This \v-is contrary to the intention of the act, and it w\ s most cruel to have imposed upon these lealslativc bodies, in the first instance,:with .ill xiifo internal arrangements to make, the a^lkion of these seHous and complicated difliculties. The delay in calling the General Assembly, also had the-effect, of crippling and injmiW the Provincial Councils in dealing with their resources: for in the act several important subjects were referred to and reserved for the General Assembly, in which, though the Provincial Councils were prohibited from dealing with them, they' were much interested, and had to look to the General Assembly for directions as to the manner in which they might he dealt with, and for what the General Assembly would do for them in these matters. 'Among these subjects were the regulations of the 'post-office the bankruptcy laws, the regulation of marriages, and, above all, the question,of waste lands, and,'in consequence of the Provincial Councils not knowing how these matters were to be dealt with, they were prevented from clis-. charging their most important functions. Besides this, the governor was called upon by Secretary Sir. J. Pakington to proceed to the selection of the nominated members of the General Assembly. He did not do so, but waited to see whether proper persons would not be elected ; but his duty was to have nominated whom he pleased, and then, in the case of a double election of the member, he could hove made his choice as to which Assembly he would have belonged. He had moved for a paper concerning the leave of absence given to the governor, for he could not believe, until he saw it, that it was intended that Sir G. Grey should leave the colony until the new constitution was in operation; but he supposed it would be said that provisions had been made for this by Colonel Wynyard having been left in authority. After all this, in spite of Sir G. Grey's conduct, he had been rewarded and promoted, but, notwithstanding such reward and promotion, he did not think that the noble duke would defend Sir G. Grey on all the subjects which he (Lord Lyttelton) had mentioned; and there was a time when he would not have believed that the noble duke would have defended such conduct.

The Dukij 01? Newcastle, in proceeding to defend Sir George Grey, expressed his regret that a greater number of peers were not present to hear both the attack and the defence of the Governor. It was not fair in attacking the character and conduct of a public servant, as his noble friend had done, to begin by saying that though there were many causes of complaint, yet only a few should be enumerated; for the public, being left in the dark, might imagine the causes not mentioned were of a serious and grievous character; but he was inclined to believe that in the present instance his noble friend had not brought them forward, because he had become convinced of how trivial and insignificant a character they were, and as such, they were not worthy of being laid before their lordships. He (the Duke of Newcastle) had attended to the complaints that had been laid before the other house of Parliament, and had come down fully prepared to meet every one of them had they been brought forward on the present occasion ; but he was not only not called upon, but would not be justified in troubling their lordships with explanations of attacks which hadnotbeen made in this house. His noble friend had concentrated his attack under two heads, which had branched out info various details that required to be and should be noticed. The two heads were—the conduct of the Governor in reducing the price of the Waste Lands, and the delay in bringing the constitution into operation. Ufs noble friend had said that this great boon of the constitution had been marred and embittered by the way in which it had been given by the Crown. Those words were very strong, and required, he thought, more startling /'acts than those brought Torward to justify therm "\Vitli reference to the price of the waste lamb' his noble friend had said, that the reduction of their price was at variance with Sir G. Grey's duty and with sound principle, and that he might as well, as in the case of ihe gentleman whom he succeeded, have reduced the price c-t" land to Id. per acre. (Lord Lyttelton —" As regarded the strict legality of the act.") As to the; strict legality of the' transaction, lie must remind his noble" friend, that when he, together with other gentlemen waited on him (the Duke of Newcastle) some time .since to remonstrate against this and other acts of Sir G. Grey, when

ill consequence of his (the Duke of Newcastle) not having received despatches from New Zealand lie was not in full possession of information on this subject, his nohle friend said that he and the deputation were prepared to prove that this dealing with the Waste Lands was an illegal act, contrary to the Constitution Act, and had •not Ik-en intended under the instructions given by the Secretary of State (Sir J. Pakington). He (the Duke of Newcastle) expressed his astonishment at this, but did not at the time attempt to controvert it. But he was still more astonished when the statement was made, with the authority, it was said, of Sir J. Pakington, that he had not intended such an act with reference to the^ Waste Lands to have been done by the Government, and that no such instructions had been given. He (the Duke of Newcastle) expressed his astonishment at this, as he knew that there was a clause in the act giving the Governor power over the Waste Lands, and he had also seen a despatch to that effect from Sir J. Pakington. His noble friend, however, on a subsequent occasion, said that on this either the deputation or Sir J. Pakington had made a mistake. But, with reference to the power to deal with the Waste Lands, instruction were given to the lawyer who drew up the bill, to give such power—he thought that he had done so, and other lawyers who had been consulted on this point considered that such power was given, and subsequently instructions was given to Sir G. Grey to carry out the intention of the act on this point by Sir J. Pakington. So much as regarded the legality of the act ; but there still remained the important consideration as to whether the conduct of the Governor was politic and wise. His noble friend had said that this was the grossest abuse of discretionary power that a Governor could be guilty of. From %vhat had passed this evening he must say that his noble friend was entirely ignorant of the circumstances under which Sir G. Grey had exercised this discretionary power. At the time of the Constitution Act the land was at the uniform price of £1, and it could not be sold for less. Under these circumstances, it was necessary for Sir G. Grey to consider what would be the result of leaving to the General Assembly the power to deal with this land, and what it would be necessary for him to do to obviate any mischief that might arise from the exercise of such power on the part of the Assembly. If the real question were as to whether Sir George Grey had exercised this power in anticipation of the General Assembly, with a view of depriving them of tiie opportunity of pleasing the colonists by reducing the price of land, then he should have agreed with his noble friend on that point. But this was not the case, and the land in the possession of the Crown, with which the Assembly had a right to deal, was of a very limited description. But there were vast quantities of land over which the natives held rights appertaining to tliem, not as individuals, but as tribes, and these lands had been a continual source of discord between the English colonists and the natives. The natives had refused to part with their rights and privileges over these lands, except to a very limited extent —and with respect to them the colonists were divided into two parties—one holding that their only right to these lands could be acquired by direct purchase from the natives, while the other party maintained that the Crown, by prerogative, had a right to all these lands—and this might have led to very disastrous consequences, had such opinions prevailed in the General Assembly. On the arrival of the Constitution Act, the Governor, who had acquired great influence over the natives, induced them to abandon the rights they exercised as tribes over these lands fora very insignificant sum of money, and with which money the natives purchased so much of the land as was required for their individual purposes. In this way, nearly the whole of the Middle Island was cleared of the rights of the tribes—and nearly the whole of this land was vested in the Crown, and it devolved on the General Assembly to deal with it. So far, then, from depriving that body of dealing with the lands, the Governor had, instead of the small district belonging to the Crown, handed over to them nearly the whole of the Middle Island, and he considered that it would be most diflieult to point out an act which tended more to benelit tho colony than had the conduct of Sir G. Grey with respect to this land. His noble friend might ask why it was necessary, in older to do this, to lower the price of land ? But if his noble friend bad watched these matters more narrowly, lie would know how obstinately the

natives had persisted in refusing to dispose of the land, on account of the 'high 'price it retained, and the immense advantages which were supposed to accrue to those who purchased it, and then resold to others. They could not deal with the natives in the same manner as with Europeans, and there was no doubt that the natives had refused to sell the land up to this time; and coupling the sales of land, at the time to which he was adverting, with the other facts he had stated , he asserted that Sir G. Grey, instead of blame, deserved the thanks of the colonists. He was astonished at his noble friend's assertion, that all the waste lands had been dealt with in the same manne, that their price had been fixed at a uniform standard. The governor had not extended this uniform price to those portions of New Zealand in which he believed it would be inconvenient or detrimental to the prosperity of the country, and in his proclamation he had expressly included Canterbury from its operation. His noble friend's next charge was a heavy one indeed ; he said that an injunction had been obtained from the Supreme Court to prevent the Governor from carrying his intentions into effect, which the Governor had entirely disregarded. In the first place he must deny that any great discontent prevailed with reference to the conduct of the Governor. Undoubtedly two gentlemen, with one of whom he had been on terms of intimacy, and whom he looked upon with great respect, having just arrived in the colony, did apply to the Supreme Court for an injunction aaainst the Governor, and the injunction was granted, but it was not issued. He was sure his noble and learned friend near him (Lord Lyndhuvst) would bear him out in saying there was a great difference between the two things. Why was it not issued ? His noble friend said the Supreme Court would not have dared to have issued it. He must say that, upon the evidence before his noble friend, it was a little too bad of him to imply 'such a charge as be did thereby imply against the Governor of New Zealand. He understood his noble friend to mean, that the Court did not dare to issue the injunction, because the Governor had the power of superseding the judge. No doubt such a power did exist, but it had been granted to meet great cases of exigency, cases of delinquency, or dereliction of duty on the part of the judges, not for the purpose of vindicating a supposed privilege of the Governor. It was, he supposed, to be assumed that these two gentlemen had not called upon the Court to issue the injunction out of consideration for the judge, who they feared might be superseded by the Governor if he took that course; but he must say, that such a subterfuge was really unworthy of these gentlemen, who ought, at all hazards, if they really believed that Sir G. Grey could have been so forgetful of his duty as to intend to commit so monstrous an act, to have proceeded and obtained the issue of the injunction. He had shown that the Governor was not only justified, under all the circumstances, in proceeding as he had done, but that he had really had no other course to take. His noble friend then proceeded to advert to the delay which he said had taken place on the part of tlie Governor, and the difficulties which he had thrown in the way of the meeting of the General Assembly. The accusations against the Governor with regard to the steps he had taken in bringing the "constitution into operation appeared to him to be of a most extraordinary character, as they amounted to a charge, not that the Governor had disobeyed the act of parliament, but that he had literally fulfilled it. It was admitted that the Governor had in no instance exceeded the time in which any separate act was to be performed, but it was said he had waited until the last moment authorised by the act. Even supposing this to be true—as it was 11( ,t —he thought it was a most frivolous charge, and lie doubted whether any instance had ever occurred in which a new constitution had to be brought into operation in which the last day had not been chosen for that purpose. He believed that this had been the case, at any rate, in the case of the Cape of Good Hope. But his noble friend's statement w;is wrong: for the most important step which could be taken by the Governor, the proclamation for bringing the constitution into operation—which was required by the act to be issued within six weeks of its receipt by the Governor —had been issued within three weeks of that time, and it was, therefore, a fair inference that if, in other instances, tlie Governor bail acted upon the latest instead of the earliest day, he had good reason for doing so. The 12 mouths, which was the time given

by the act for the whole transaction from beginning to end, was a very short period, but within that time everything had been done. The powers which devolved upon the Governor by the act were in fact to form a constitution for the colony, and all matters of detail had not been settled by the Secretary of State or the Imperial Parliament, or thrown upon the Legislative body of the colony, but upon the Governor. He had to revive the six provinces, and the elective districts, to decide how many members should belong to the Legislative Council, how many to the representative body of the General Assembly, and how many to the nominee body, and to select those members. When, in addition to these circumstances, they considered the distance of many of the settlements from one another, and that the only mems of communication between them was by water, they would find that there was no reason to complain of any delay that had taken place in bringing the constitution into operation, even if the act itself did not secure the Governor from such an accusation. His noble friend said it had been intended that the six legislative councils of the Provinces, and the General Assembly should come into operation together, but he could not I ell what cl.iuse in the act substantiated that allegation : and he neither saw any indication of such an intention in the act, nor was he aware that it had been entertained by the frarriers of the bill; but there were very good reasons why the legislative Councils of the Provinces ought to have met before the meeting of the General Assembly. Not only by that course would the legislative Councils have an opportunity afforded them of considering their local interests before the meeting of the General Assembly, but it must be palpable to their lordships that, in a colony of small population like New Zealand, the general representative body must contain many members of the legislative councils of the Provinces ; and, if the two bodies met at the same time, they must be brought to a deadlock, either by the absence from the legislative councils of'members of the General Assembly, or by the absence from the assembly of those persons who were members of thelegislative councils. With regard to the time for returning the writs for calling together the General Assembly,he thought the Governor was perfectly justified in studiously keeping within the letter of the law in all the" steps he took, because there were indications in the colony, on the part of many persons who were now complaining of his delay in bringing the constitution into operation, that an endeavour would be made to render the whole constitution null and void. His noble friend had then branched out into the topic of the illegal appropriation of the revenues which stood over from the collection under the old system, to the legislative councils. Again he must dispute tl>e illegality of that transaction. It had been held by lawyers to whom the matter had been referred, lhat the transaction was legal, and the only question, therefore, was, whether it was politic and right. The provisions which the act contained upon this subject had been introduced into it notwithstanding some remarks which the governor had made with regard to their effect in the previous act, and therefore he was not responsible for the difficulties which had arisen. It could easily be tested whether the appropriation was legal or not, but, on the whole, be believed that the Governor had acted both legally and riditly in the difficulty in which he was placed. He had felt that, with the old legislative body extinct, and the new ones not come into operation—the legislative council at the moment being assembled, but the General Assembly not having been called together—it was more desirable, and m-M-e in accordance with bis instructions upon former occasions, to hand over the balance to be divided equally among the legislative councils. It was most desirable that funds should be placed at the disposal of those councils, instead of their being obliged either to borrow or to proceed wilhouffunds. He would not enter into any of the accusations against Sir tr. hxey except those which had been brought lonvunl by his noble friend; but, at the same tune lie must reneat lhat he was perfectly prepared to deal with them whenever they should be raised. His noble friend considered that Sir Or. t«re\ s conduct, in coining away at the time be did, was reprehensible, and said he was anxious to see the terms in which his leave of absence was couched; but he would at once say that, in his opinion, Sir G. Grey bad not acted at variance with the permission given him in that despatch. When within a fortnight or three weeks of his

accession to olliee he had received Sir G. Grey's application in his predecessor, he felt that his Ion? services justified him in granting him leave of absence from lie colony, provided that care were taken that the pnhlic service did not suffer by his absence. He, therefore, wrote to him a despatch which would be laid upon the table, giving him leave of absence upon two conditions—first, that he should wait until all the arrangements had been made for bringing the constitution into full operation —and he had waited until the very last stage: and secondly, that he should be assured before his departure that the slate of the native population was sound, and thai there was no apprehension that they would take alarm at these free institutions being given to the colony and show a tendency to insurrectionary proceedings. Sir G. Grey had attended literally to these instructions, for he left the colony in a state of profound peace and contentment, and received addresses of regret at his departure, not merely from the colonists who had gone out from this country, but also from the natives, of the most affectionate and interesting description. He must say then that it was somewhat hard to charge Sir G. Grey with culpability for leaving the colony at the time when he did leave it. " What had been the services of Sir G. Grey to the colony, and how lonir had he been absent from his country? He had been in the colonial service for 17 years, and for 13| years had never visited this country. While he was serving in South Australia, the colony of New Zealand was in a situation of difficulty, and he was asked by Lord Derby, who was then Colonial Secretary, to proceed there and assume the Government. Lord Derby, in his despatch upon that occasion, bore testimony to the public services of Sir G. Grey, and expressed the wish that he had felt able to recommend him to an office of higher rank and emolument, instead of calling upon him to undertake duties of a still more arduous character, but, as his aid was urgently required for carrying on the administration of the government of Jsew Zealand, he requested him to proceed to that colony as soon as possible. In a subsequent portion of the same despatch, Lord Derby expressed his belief that Sir G. Grey would fulfil all the duties which might devolve upon him with firmness. That anticipation had been realized ; Sir G. Grey had fulfilled all the duties which devolved upon him, and yet he was now accused of having- come home too soon. The circumstances under which Sir G. Grey returned home were these. He had left in England one relation—his only relation—his mother, and her he desired to see once more ere death should separate them for ever, for her health had been for some time failing. Yet, strong as was his desire to see her once more, his earnest zeal in the fulfilment of his public duties induced him to remain in the colony until he had satisfied himself that he could leat-e it with safety to the State : ami this very delay, the result of his devotion to his duties, occasioned to him the loss of the dearest object of his filial affection, for his mother breathed her last just before he arrived in England. Was it not, ilien, cruel to make such attacks as these upon a man who had, at so dear a sacrifice, fulfiile<! the duties of his government? (Hear, hear.) Nor did the claims of Sir G. Grey to the high consideration of the public terminate with liisanivnl in England. When lie readied his country he found her involved i:i a threat and, perhaps, long continuous war. Amid the grief of the henvv do-me-tic calamity that had befallen him he reflected that, under such circumstances, it was the part of every patriot to he at his post, and accordingly, immediately on his return to town, he called upoii the permanent Under-Secretary for the Coi-mies—he himself (the Duke of Newcastle) lu-iug absent at the m<>ineni—and said that, if it were ci>u-i;ieieil expedient for the public service, he was ready t<> return at mice tv Xc v Zealand. (Hear, hear.) Upon a niui of such zeaioii- and disinterested devotion

ly Ijis coiintry attacks siich ;is these wen; as iu;p<-t, as they v.ere ciue! toward* the individual -and <ietii!!ici)iiii t<i th" public st'i vice. (Hear, !i:-ar) 'J'lierc- was ;ti:i,i!) L -j- ciru!nn-.ti!t;f:e \vii)f:i>, as iii(ist:-:itin_if tiiu hi^h ciiaracter of Sir

(i . I'rV'-y. ii •• cm) i iuit. omit t<> luentioti. Ai'ler )n: iiiid (,tT i/ii i<> Sir (i. (jf-y ijie appoiiniiH'iit it!! wh'.ch i;c «:<ji-ii;';(l iiim so juculiariy ii;i<-< 1, the G..v-ri;-tr.si;!:! of iln; Cape of G-io-'l J-Jopt-,' tii'-i-- wire .-it:.-!'. ];> ni;i,;tj "ijio.'j Sir G. Grey dsewi;e:i: oi a M;iiii:ir ohar.ictvr willi liiiis-; ihjw ]ji:nit: hy t!i': \i>>;>\<i lorn. Tbi-reupin), Sir G. (Jm-v liu<i i;.ilii';i u;:;j!i liiii!,:iti(l said liial, ft-ei-jut,' i;'>•■>■ c-.-L'iili.il il was tljai a pci'S'JU yinjj

out to the government of a colony should assume his charge IVoe from reproach, lie was ready, "ratified as lie was with the mark ol confidence which the Government had conferred upon him, at mice to resign the appointment, if it were at all considered that the means of his usefulness would he impaired by llie attacks which had been so made upon him. (Hear, hear.) lie had, however, dispelled these doubts, and it would always he a recollection of pride and gratification to him that the last act of his colonial administration had been to reward and promote so excellent an officer as Sir G. Grey. (Hear.) He considered that there was no wav more effectual to prevent the recurrence of such costly and inglorious wars as those against the Zulus and Kaffirs, than to send over to the Cape a man who had been so eminently successful in the conciliation of native tribes as Sir. G. Grey had been in New Zealand ; and he was sure that, when success had crowned Sir G. Grey's efforts in the new field of his exertions, and of that success he had no doubt, his noble friend himself would he the first to regret the attacks which he had been induced to make upon Sir G. Grey, so utterly at variance with Sir G. Grey's character, and so monstrously unjust to his great merits. (Hear).