GOVERNOR GREY ON REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 345, 23 August 1849, Page 4

GOVERNOR GREY ON REPRESENTATIVE INSTITUTIONS.

(Copy. No. 4.) Government Hou«e, Auckland, 2nd February, 18<i°. My Lord,— ln reference to my Despatch, No. 106, of 29th November last, in which I detailed for youi information, the measure; I had, in obedioncß to youi lordship's command, adopted for the introduction Into this colony of a complete Representative form of Government, if such a ronslhntion of the nature I propose^ met with *our Lorddnp' 8 approbation, I have now lie honor to report the fnvthr.r proceedings which I have tat eu in refeiencc to this subject. In the despatch to which I h-»ve before alluded, ] stated us my opinion, that at the end of about 'four years I had every icison to bene\e thut a Representative form of Gove/nnunt might with fat'- ty be simultaneously brou»hc into opera) ion tluoughout the whole of N< w Zealand, mid my i'ltenlion at the ti.rje I wrote thnt dispatch was nor to have promulgated in the c;lony the outline of the form of Government, which I had rccommtnued for your Lordship's approval, until I hail veccived your direct ions to hy my proposed plan before Jlic Provincial Councils in these I.'landu, who might then have leported their opinions regarding it, and your Lordship with thfse lepoits before you, could then have gone to Parliament for such a measure as, witb the informalion before yon, might luve appealed 1h»s1 adapted to promote the prospeuty ot this country. I h«d calculated that in point of time the whole of these preliminary steps mi(;ht lnvc been taken in less than two J ears, which would lii> j n have loft an ample peiiod for the settlement of the details of the future Institutions, and for (lie neurswry .nrang«Minents lor 1 its mtioduction bcfoit' din e\pnatio» of the period] which I still think should In- allowed to elapse before ; an attempt is made to introduce a Representative form ] of Government into these Islands. Upon my anival at Wellington I found, however, that many of the persons who were most interested in ' the coiony, appeared to regard it aa essential to its future welfare, and to the t.inmution of emigration to this country, that the nature of the plan I intended to lecommend for your LonUbip's adoption should at once be made known, and as this desire upon their part nppeired to me to be reasonable, and »* what I propobed was merely n moclinration of a form of Representative Government which your Lordship had wished to confer upon this country, but which, upon my reoommendation, you had nisjieuded, I thought that I sihouhl in no wny embarrass her Majesty's Government by at once making public the purport of my recommendations to your Lordship, and by allowing at the earliest possible peiiod that public opinion should be expressed regarding them. When, therefore, upon the 22nd December last, the Legislative Council of the colony of New Muniter brought up to me an address, a copy of which I have the honour to enclose, ] felt justified in returning to them the reply, a copy of whicn is also enclosed. When my reply was dehveied to the Council, a long discussion ensued, which ended in their unanimously adopting, upon the 26th December, the Report, of which a copy is enclosed. The Council, at the same time, passed unanimously the enclosed resa ntion, expressing their flatisfaction at the exposition of my plans for tin* introduction ot Repreientative Institutions into New Zealand. Throughout the whole of these proceedings I understood that the form of Representative Government vfhich £ bad recommended for your Lordship's approval, met with the cordial approbation of every member of the Council, with thi» exception of the single point alludVd to in their Report, viz., the num. ber of peison.s who I proposed should be summoned to the Provincial Councils by Her M.ijesty, to which point I need not b.ive alluded, as my reasons for the recommendations I made upon this subject are fully explained in nty despatch No. 10G, ot the 29th November list, and I should add, that after waiting to the present date no representation adverse to the form of Constitution I have proposed has reached me trom any quarter. only objection regarding any general part of my plan, which was raised in the Legislative Council of New Munßter, was the time at which I proposed Representative Institutions t-hould be introduced into this country, a feeling in favour of their almost immediate introduction being very prevalent there, — as it is amongst one party in the colony, — although I believe that ft large portion of ihe most intelligent members ot the community feel with me that their immediate introduction would be impossible. The only other objection that I hare heard raised is an objection to the constitution of the present Provincial Legislative Councils composed of members nominated by the Crown, a very general feeling I believe existing, that the inhabitants of the colony generally would rather be governed by a Governor and Executive Council alone, than by a Nominee Council, until Representative In» siitutions are introduced, at they think that if they are to be bound by laws made by their fellow colonists ■who are not Government Officers, they should themselves choose which of their fellow colonists should make the laws which they aie to obey. On this latter point IJiad cleaily no choice but to adopt the course I did, because Parliament had already created a Nominee Council for the whole of New Zealand, the members of which being composed of Auckland gentlemen, hat) no knowledge of the requirements or wishes of the inhabitants of other portions of New Zeoland, and I was theicfore, from the necessity of my position, compelled to govern by a Nominee Council of this kind, and I cannot but thi/ik that J have hiibstitutcd a less objectionable one in its place, and I have no doubt that it will shortly be generally admitted that I have done so — for I know fhat I, in this respect, carry with me the feelings of a large number of most intelligent persons. The other point, namely, the objections which exist tj the delay I ptopjse in the introduction of a coirplete foim oi Representative Government into No* Zealand appears to lequire moie lengthened remarks Iwm me. Your Loidship will remember that all my previous recommendations to her Majesty's Government for the introduction of Representative Institutions into New Zi aland have been o{ a partial kind, being restricted to l, at portion of the Southern Ptovince which embraces the dibtrict immedintely Hurroumlmg tit" town of Wellington and the Middle Island , and that looking to the Jaige number of the native inhabitants in the North of New Zealand, 1 have always expensed jjieat d. übts ai to the period when Representative Institutions might safely he introduced there. But the state of continued tranquillity and proiperity which the whole of these Islands have now for gome time enjoyed, has led me to think that within the reasonable p. nod of time I have stated to your Lord* ship it might now be possible to introduce throughout the whole of New Zealand a Representative Government of the form wlucli I have recommended, and the q re,.t a Ivan a;e which would result to the whole ol these Islands Irom an uniform system of Government co'ituuine to prevail thioughout their entire extent, is one r son which makes me ikink that the pi, n I hate recoil! in ndedfor adoption w uhJ be prt fcrablc to any

attempt that might be made immediately to introduce Representative Assemblies into the South of New Zealand, confining the Province in which Wellington i<j situated to the district immediately round the town, and leaving the North of the Island under the wine form of Government as now exists, a proceeding which would evidently defeat the whole of that portion of my much more extended plan, which contemplates the currying out the recommendation-, wh-ch your Lord- ( ship has made, that New ZcalanJ should be divided into four Provinces of neatly equal extent in that man. nor in which the magnitude and system of colonuatiou about to be put sued in reference to this country appear to render nreeasary. Another reawn which milker me think that the introduction of Representative liihiitulioiw even into the South of New Zealand, should fur the pickenl be deayed, is, that from causes over which 1 hail no control, iray plans in reference to the completion ol military road% and the entiie amalgamation (if the interests of the native population with thone of the European h.ivc not been completed within thepeiiod of time at winch I hud calculated, and cannot be .so for a fuither puiod of three or perhaps four years. These plan* have, up to the present period, been, as I believe is admitted by all, completely successful. Any suduen stoppage in them would rentier useless all that has been done, and would teitainly entail a greatly increased military expenditure upon Great Britain, besides again arresting; the projrwss ot the colony, and throwing it back into the state of difficulty from which it has emerged. Whereas, when these plans are completed, there will be no farther chance of any extraordinary military expenditure bemir tendcied w»ccssaiy, bytbcG.iveiniiU'iit hi'in« required to undertake offensive or defensive operations against the natives, and even the ordinary mili'i-ry expenditure may then be much reduced by the withdrawal of a considerable portion of the troops now stationed in the country. , The completion of these plans involves, however, the necessity of the continuance for a short time of the aid which has hitherto been received from Parliament in order that the requisite expenditure may be defrayed; a considerable red uci ion in which expend!- | ture can, however, be made dm ing the year 1850; and i tapid decreases in the expenditure can be carried on , in each yeir sub'equent to th.it date. It is always, ! however, difficult to make such i eductions in the expenditure of a colony, particularly when it is defrayed by the Home Government, without civating gieat discontent. And this would be, I fear, especially the case if the legislature of the country were a representative one, which had been habituated for several years to see a great proportion of tin* Civil expenses of the country defrayed by the Bi 111011 Treasury. 1 think that, such a legislature could hardly fail to sympathise with their constituents, who would very unwillingly relinquish the advantages they at present derive from the Government expenditure. The misfortune of this country is, that any great discontent on the part of the European population reacts upon the native population, the turbulent amongst whom always become enoujaged at any signs of weakness in the Government, and this discontent amongst the native population would be heightened in the instance under consideration, from the fact of the natives, as well as the Europeans, being equal y interested in the continuance of the Government expenditure, and being certum equally to feel its reduction, unlest that reduction is moat judiciously conducted, and considering the large number of natives who would be thrown out of employment, this discontent might produce most dangerous results. I feel therefore that there is, in the present instance, great necessity for enforcing the rule that the inhabitants of the colony should be required to defray the expenses of their own government before a Representative form of government is granted to them, and I think that if a guarantee were afforded to them, that such a form of government »• 1 have recommended ahull be introduced into this country 60 soon as they can defray the expenses of their own government, I could then make the requisite reductions in the government expenditure with the cheerful concurrence and co-operation of the great n>a«s of the colonists ; and that all danger of dscontent and distuibance would thus be avoided. Your Lordihip will see, from the whole of the pro« ceedings which passed in the legislative Council of the Province of New Munster, that theie appears to be o general desire th.it some guarantee should be given thai a Representative form of government should be intro duced into New Zealand at the period which I have named, and the best mode which has yet suggested itaelf for seeming such a guarantee, is that the piovisiona of the pioposed form of government mould be embodied in an Act of Parliament, to take effect at the dfcte named. 1 think, that after having stated at such length as I have done, the reason! which induced me to recommend that the introduction of Representative Institutions into flic whole of these islands should he delayed till the period I have recommended, it will not be necessary for me to trouble your Lordship further on this subject, and this the more especially as in my despatch, No. 106, of the 29th November last, I detailed also at some length other teasons winch made me think that the country was not in a fit state for the immediate introduction of a Reprc»eiUative form of government. I would therefore only add, that should her Majesty's Government think proper to declare that a Representative Government should be introduced into this colony at the period named, or at such earlier date, either throughout tha whole colony or in any Province or Provinces as may for that purpote be proclaimed by the Governor- in-Chief, that I would neither shrink from the responsibility of declining to introduce such Institutions into any Province until I believe they can safely be conferred upon it, nor wiil I, upon the other hand, for a single day uunfcensarily delay obtaining for the inhabitants of this colony a boon which I am molt anxious to see conferred upon them. I have, &c., (Signed) G. Grey. To the Right Honourable Earl Grey.