COLONIAL APPOINMENTS.

New Zealander, Issue 502, 5 February 1851, Page 3

COLONIAL APPOINMENTS.

Examination of Earl Grey before the Committee ot ihe Home of Common* on Official Appointments :— What are the offices which rome within ihe patron* ut>e of the Colonml Office ? TecbwiruUy, the number ib very gmit indeed ; techinically, officei beyond a ccrUui amount of snluiy 111 the colonies are yeoeialiy filled up by wdtrutit uuriet the Queen's sign muuual ; but, practically, is uliuust ull the colonies iu»w these

oflicea are really filled up by the governors j the recommendation of the governor is taken ai a matter of course. Has there been a change in the practice in that re* spect in the office within the last few yeirs? — There has been a growing change for u great many years. Formerly, a much larger proportion of the civil expenditure of the colonies was puid by this country than is tne case at present ; also colonial society has greatly increased. There are a great number of persons fit for all important employments to be Lund there. The consequence is that in a great majority of the colonies, any offices, except that of governor, are almost invariably filled up in the colony ; almost invariably. There are lometimes special reasons for filling up* a particular office from this country. You find persona more fit for them here than there ; but the ordinary rule is to fill them up from the colonists upon the recommendation of the Governor. Do you think it is absolutely necssary that the Coloni "1-Office should be represented in boih Houses of Parliament ?— I think it is absolutely necessary. Do you find that the Parliamentary duties attached to (he office of one of the Uuder-Secretttties interfere with the discharge of his duites in the office? — Very much indeed. Ir must necessarily interfere with his attention to the detail* of the ordinary official business, very much indeed, to pass a great number of hours every day in the House of Commons. Do you contemplate any reduction in the amount of business transacted at the Colonial-office, when the colonies have the power of Government placed more in their own hands than they have now ?—Undoubtedly the tendency of that is very greatly to diminish the aranunt <>f correspondence. Ten years ago, the corres-. pondence with Canada was exceedingly heavy. The con espondence with Canada is now extremely light indeed ; it is the least troublesome department in the office in ordinary times. Mr Bright : They do not give you near so much, trouble as the Cape people lately did? — The Cape it not, in general, a troublesome department; but during the Caffre war, and during the controversy about transportation, there was a gie^t deal ot correspondence. If the Government ot all '■ he colonies could be pla« ced upon a footing us satisfactory as the Government of Canada now is, would not the duti a of the Colonial Office, and the number of points in dispute that would arise, be vtry much diminished?-—! think the tendency ot the measures now and for many years in progress is to biing about that sort of change. And that would be the result ?— Undoubtedly; for example, the correspondence with New South Wales is by no means so heavy as it WBS at one lime. Can you state what is the extent o( patronage in. governois, secretaries, judge?, and other officers, civil and ecclesiastical, ot which the Secretary ot Stale for ihe Colonies has the appointment? — Generally all governors, that is the governor or lieuten ant-go vernor of each colony* are appointed through the Secretary of State ; a list of the colonies will give you at once the extent of the patronage. With regard to the secretaries to the governors, in. each colony are their appointments geneially made also by the Secretary of state ? — That vanes according^ to the colonies ; in some the appointment is always made by the Secretary of State; for mst.mce, in the small colonies on the coast of Africa, such as Sierra Leone, there Europeans are required for the service ; in others a» in the North American colonies, they are never made by the; Secretary of State ; and in the West Indies tbe appointments are sometimes made by the Secietary of State from home ; more often, perhaps, they are filled up on the recommendation of the governors ; it varies in different colonies according to circumstance!.. Are those appointments m»de in the Australian colonies by the Secretary of State ?— Sometimes l>y the Secretary of State ; it vanes in the different coLnies. In geneial, hitherto, t think the isecretauts are person* who have gone out o.iginally in tbe public service, and have been promoted there on the recommendation of the governor. Tbe colonial gecretaurs are appointed technically by the Secretary of State. The appointment always receives his sanction; but ylrtutlly it is not made by him. In Australia, the only appointment that I remember to have matin bince I have been Sec retary of State was in South Australia; that became vacant the other day ; the gentlemen who held the office came back to England, and reigned it, and it was filled up by the promotion ot another officer who was in the public service in South Australia, Captain Sturt, who is very well known for his travels in Australia ; he was promoted from an inferior officer to the becretaryship, and that is the ordinary prattice I think. Mr. Bright: Is not it much more the practice now than it was some time ago, to appoint gentlemen recident in the colony to offices, instead ot sending officials from this country ?—lt? — It is much more the practice than, it was a good many years a^o, certainly. Is not it a practice satisfactory to the colonies, and one which the Secretary of state would do well to per* severe in, and to txund?*— l think it is satisfactory to the colonists when the colonial society U such as to afford proper means of selection ; but that is not always tbe case ; fur instance, my predecessor, in the case of Ceylou, sslected a gentleman, from this country to ssnd out, and I believe the reasons he had lor doing so were quite conclusive. Witli regard to judicial appointments in the colonies, how are they filled up, fioou parties in the colony, or from persons seiu out from hence? — That also varies according to the colony ; in the American colonies they aie invariably filled up from tbe colonial bar *, in Jamaica, som times from the colonial bar, and sometimes from the bar at home ; it is very much according to circuinsiai.ee!) at i be time. Sometimes it is lepoited that there is no barrister in a particular colony at the moment who can be strongly iee.o«n mended for the office ; at other times there are persons who have »troni; claims, and they me appointed. But perhaps judicial offices are tbe offices ot all others which, in a small society, it is most detiraole not to fill up i athe colony. lam rather cinxiou-., wheie it is possible, to make interchanges between the colonies ; to fill up a judgeship in one colony fn m tbe bar ot another, so as to give each a fir ohare, but at the same time, not to put upon tbe bench a person who is connected with, tbe society there by various family ties, and has been, perhaps, also engaged on one side or the other on all the causes which are pending, winch may make it inconvenient that he should be upon the bench iv that particular colony. Are there any ecclesiastical appointments st the dis* po&al of the Colonial Office ?-—£>ca<cely any ; they are now almost all filled up at the recommendation of the governor or of the bishop. Has the Secretury of Slate for the Colonies anything to do witli the election of colonial bishoprics, or the appointment of colonial bishops ? — Yes ; no uew c olonial bishoprics can ,be erected without the sanction o f the Secretary of State. With regard to the appointment of the bishops, has the Secretary ct State tor the, Colonies anything to do with thai .' — The Secretary of State invariably (submits to the Queen ihe name ot ever) bibbop wlio is appointed. Doer, he stand, with icgard to colonial bishops, in the pubitiou in which the Pume Miuister. does wUhJregiirU to bikhops in EngUnd ?•— Not exactly.

Almost all the colonial bishoprics, of late years, have been founded by private subscriptions, by a society called the Co'omal Bishops' Society. It i* a soc.etj, formed for raising subscriptions for endowing colonial bishoprics. There a--e hardly any of them endowed by pubic irrant, and it was a sort of understanding bv th<' subicrtbers to that fund, thai the Secretary ofSta'e would in general be guided by the Archbishop of Canterbury in recommending bishops to the Crown, and nil that have been appointed since I have been Seeretnn of State, have been in consequence recommended by the archb shop. Arc not the bi»hnps of the North American colonipa paid by this country?— The bishops i<> the North American colonies are paid by this country dm ing the lives of the existing incumbents. That vote is to be continued during the lives of the existing holders of these appointment!. Mr. Ellice : In the patent appointing tbe<ie bishops do you appoint them " Lord Bi«hoi>s" ?— The patent doei not style them " Lord Bishops"? I believe, but I cannot answer that question. The question nf th^ir having the titl° of " Lord" was settled, as I believe, •oon Hfter the first appointment of west Indian bishops by Mr. Pitt, and all other colonial bishops have followed that rule. Do not you think that the giving them the tile of 4C Lord" and the superiority which they assume from it in the colonies, is a cavie of great jealousy amongst thp clergymen of other denominations in those colonies?—l am not aware of that; I think it w.n very unfortunate in the first instance, that they took the title. I think it would have been much better if they had been like the bishops of the Si-otch Episcopal Church, who do not take the tide, for many of them have not income to support it. I think it was a great mistake in the fi-s' instance