THE QUEEN'S INSTRUCTIONS UNDER THE ROYAL SIGN MANUAL AND SIGNET, ACCOMPANYING THE NEW ZEALAND CHARTER.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume III, Issue 198, 23 June 1847, Page 2

THE QUEEN'S INSTRUCTIONS UNDER THE ROYAL SIGN MANUAL AND SIGNET, ACCOMPANYING THE NEW ZEALAND CHARTER.

[A preamble of considerable length recites the powers vested in Her Majesty by the Act of last session entitled "An Act to make further provision for the Government of the New Zealand Islands ;" in viitue of which Act the present Instructions are issued.]

Chapter I. — On the Executive Government of the Neio Zealand Islands and of the respective Provinces thereof. 1. The islands of New Zealand collectively shall be placed under the government and civil administration of an officer to be designated the " Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand." 2. The Governor-in-Chief shall in bis own person conduct, in all necessary details, the administration of the government of the province within which at the time he may happen to be. 3. The administration of the government of the province from which at the time the Go-vernor-in-Chief may be absent, shall be conducted by a Governor, or, in the absence of any such Governor, by a Lieutenant-Gover-nor. 4. In the administration of his office, the Governor-in-Chief will correspond with and receive all necessary instructions for his guidance from us, through one of our Secretaries of State. 5. In the administration of the duties of his office, the Governor, or Lieutenant-Governor, as the case may be, will correspond with and receive his instructions from the Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand. , „..., 6. The Governor-in-Chief will, in manner aforesaid, preset ibe all such rules as it may to him appear conducive to the good government of New Zealand so to prescribe, for the conduct of the correspondence between himself and the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, and for deciding in what cases and to what extent it shall be the duty of the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor to await his instructions before carrying into effect the powers by law vested in him. 7. The Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand shall, in his discretion, from time to time, resort in person to either of the said provinces, and t'iere continue so long as to him shall seem meet for carrying on in person the administration of the government thereof. 8. It shall be the duty of the Governor or Lieutenant-Govjrnor of either of the said provinces (in obedience to any instructions to him for that purpose addressed by the Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand), to resort in person to either of the provinces aforesaid (to the Government or Lieutenant-Government of which ! he may have been commissioned by us), there to assume the administration of the Government thereof during the absence of the Gover-nor-iu-Chief in the other province. 9. Neither the Colonial-Secretary of either of t e said provinces, nor any other of the public officers thereof shall change the place of their official residence in attendance on the Governor-in-Cbief, or Governor or the Lieu-tenant-Governor, when so passing as~ afore-" said front one of the said provinces to the other, all such subordinate' officers being considered as attached to the respective provinces for and in which they may be respectively appointed to act.

Chapter II. — On the Executive Councils of the respective Governments in New Zealand. 1. la each of the provinces of New Zealand an Executive Council shall be established, for aiding with their advice the officer administering the Government thereof. 2. The said Executive Council shall, in each province, consist of the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney-General, the Colonial Treasurer, and the principal officer in command of our military forces within the province, being a field officer, and if necessary of such other persons as are after mentioned. 3. In the event of the absence from any such province of any of the officers aforesaid, the place in the Executive Council of the officer or officers so absent shall be* occupied by the person or persons provisionally charged with the duties of any such office or offices.

4. It shall be the duty of the said Executive Councils to advise the Governors or Lieu-tenant-Governors of the respective provinces for which they may be respectively appointed, on all questions which may by any such Governors or Lieutenant-Governors be referred to them, relating to their administration and discharge of the duties of such their offices. 5. It shall be competent to any member of any such Executive Council to propose for discussion there any question connected with the administration of the Executive Government thereof, and to record on the minutes of such Council his opin.on and advice on any such question. 6. It shall be competent to the Governor-ift-Chief of New Zealand, if he shall see fit, but not otherwise, to summon to the Executive Council of either of the said provinces, any number of persons not holding any public office therein, provided that such number of unofficial members shall not on the whole exceed the number of the official members thereof. 7. Every person so summoned to either of the said Councils shall in virtue of such summons be a member thereof, subject nevertheless to our confirmation or disallowance of any such appointment, on the same being reported to us by the Governor-in-Chief in New Zealand. 8. The said Governor-in-Chief shall prescribe all such rules as it may to him appear necessary to establuh for the holding of meetings of the said Councils ; for giving notice of such meetings ; for the due and x orderly conduct of the deliberation and proceedings thereof; for taking the votes of the said councillors ; for determining under the presidency of whom any such meetings shall be held during the absence of the Governor or Lieute-nant-Governor from the same ; for recording the "various acts and decisions of the said councils ; for the adjournment or prorogation of the same ; and otherwise for promoting the effective despatch of business thereat. 9. The Governor-in-Chief shall, half-year-ly, transmit to us, through one of our principal Secretaries of State, a copy of the journals of each of the said Councils for the last preceding half-year. 10. In the execution of the powers by us vested in the said Governors or LieutenantGovernors of the said respective provinces, it shall not be obligatory on them to consult with the said Executive Councils in any case in which they shall deem it inexpedient so to do; neither shall it be obligatory on them to adopt, the advice of the Executive Councils, in any' such case, if they shall deem it inexpedient to adopt the same. But the Gover-nor-in-Chief shall make a special report and explanation to us of the motives which may have induced any such Governor or Lieuienant-Governor to decline either to adopt any such advice, or to consult with the said Council on any question of importance.

Chapter 111. — On the Appointment and Removal of Public Officers. 1. Neither the Governor-in-Chief, nor the Governor, nor the Lieutenant-Governorof any such provinces as foresaid shall create, or assent to any law for the creation of any new office, without our consent first had for the same save only in cases where the creation of such new officers, without the delay of such a reference, may be evidently indispensable to the due despatch of the public business of the said provinces, or either of them. 2. The Governor-in-Chief shall provisionally fill up every public office* in our service which may become vacant in New Zealand, by the death, absence, resignation, suspension, or physical or mental incapacity of the holder of it. 3. No such provisional appointment shall be final and conclusive, unless the same shall be confirmed, nor until the same shall be confirmed by us. 4. On reporting every such nomination, the Governor-in-Chief shall'also report what is the nature of the duties, and what the amount oi the emoluments of ever ( y such office. 5. The Governor-in-Chief may suspend from the execution of his office, until our pleasure shall be known, any officer in New Zealand holding such his office during our pleasure. 6. The before-mentioned power of suspension shall not in any case be exercised by the Governor-in-Chief until he shall first have received and considered the report and advice thereon of the Executive Council of the province to which such officer may belong. 7. No public officer may be so suspended from office until a statement in writing of the grounds of such intended proceeding shall first have been communicated to him, ntr until an opportunity shall have been offered to him of being heard in his own defence in person, before the Executive Council of the province to which he belongs. 8. Every suspension of every public officer shall, by the Governor-in-Chief, be reported to us through one of our principal Secretaries of

Mate, for our confirmation or disallowance, and no such public officer shall be considered as being finally dismissed from such his office, until such suspension shall so have been confirmed.

Chapter IV. — On the division of New Zealand into Provinces. 1. For the present, and until further order be made in that behalf, the Islands of New Zealand shall be divided into two provinces, to be known respec'ively by the designations of the " Province of New Ulster," and the " Province of New Munster." 2. The Province of New Ulster shall comprise the whole of the island hitherto called the Island of New Ulster, with the exception of those parts of the said island adjacent to Cook's Straits, wh eh the Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand may, by any such proclamation as aforesaid, except and exclude from the Province of New Ulster. The parts of the Island of New Ulster which may be so excepted and excluded, with all the remaining part of the New Zealand Islands, shall constitute the province of New Munster. The dependencies of New Zealand shall respectively constitute a part of, and be considered as attached and belonging to, the respective provinces to which they are severally most contiguous. 3. In determining the metes and bounds of the several boroughs after mentioned, the Go-vernor-in-Chief shall take care that the limits of the whole of each such borough shall fall exclusively within the same province, and shall never extend to more provinces than one. 4. The Governor-in-Chief shall, in manner afore.-aid, determine which town within each of the said provinces shall be the capital town thereof, that is to say, the ordinary seat of the legislature and of the superior courts of civil and criminal justice of the province.

Chapter V. — On Municipal Corporations. 1. Such parts of the islands of New Zealand as are or shall be owned or lawfully occupied by persons of European birth or origin shall be divided into municipal districts, each of which districts shall be called a borough. 2. The Governor-in-Chief shall by proclamation define the metes and bounds of every such borough, and shall assign to each an appropriate designation. 3. If in any such proclamation any such metes and bounds should be described erroneously, indistinctly, or imperfectly, or if in any other respect the proclamation should fail to express with the lequishe clearness the j meaning with which it was promulgated, any such error may be corrected by a subsequent proclamation to be issued by the Governor-in-Chief for that purpobe. 4. But if it should he thought fit to alter the metes and bounds originally contemplated by the Governor-in-Chief in any such proclamation, or otherwise to change the design with which any such proclamation was originally issued, that change may not be effected by a subsequent proclamation, but only by an ordinance to be enacted for that purpose by the Legislature of the province within which the borough may be situate. 5. In every such municipality or borough there shall be a town to be indicated as the capital thereof by the proclamation, establishing or defining the borough. " 6. In detfimining the number and the extent of the said boroughs, and in defining the metes and bounds thereof, ihe Govemor-in Chief shall be guided by a consideration, first, of the populousness and wealth of the different mm icipal districts into which such parts as aforesaid of the said islands may be divisible; secondly, by a consideration of the general community of local interests which may subsist between the inhabitants of particular districts ; and, thirdly, by a consideration of the facility of access from the different parts of any such district to the capital town thereof; all of which considerations shall be balanced, combined, and adjusted by the Governor-in-Chief to the best of his judgment, and as far as it may appear to him practicable in the case of every such district. 7. The Governor-in-Chief shall by each such proclamation constitute the inhabitants of every such municipality or borough a body corporate, in name and deed, with perpetual succession, and a common seal, by-- the style and title of" the mayor, aldermen, and burgess of the borough of "[adding the name so assigned to each borough respectively ] 8. Every such corporation shall consist of a mayor, of a court of aldermen, and of a common council for the government thereof, and of the burgesses possessing the elective franchise therein. 9. Every such corporation shall be capable in law, by the common council thereof, to do and to suffer all such acts as can be lawfully done or suffered by any municipal corporation in England by the common council thereof. 10. Subject to the exceptions afterwards mentioned every male person, who, on the Ist of January in each successive year, shall be in the occupation of any tenement within any such borough, of which he shall have been the occupier of six months at the least next immediately precediug tbat day, shall during the

next ensuing twelve calendar months, be a burgess of the borough in which the same may be situate. 11. But this franchise shall not belong to or be vested in any alien, nor in any person of unsound mind, nor in any person who at any time theretofore may have been convicted of any felony or any other infamous crime, nor in any person who has during the last preceding six months been maintained wholly or in part by public alms, nor in auy person who may be in arrear for more than six months in respect of any rates or assessments lawfully payable by him to the funds of any such horough in respect of any such tenement as aforesaid or otherwise, nor in any person not able to read and to write in the English language. 12. In order to ascertain what persons are qualified to vote and to act as burgesses of any such borough, a registry of all such burgesses shall be made, corrected, preserved, and periodically revised in such manner and form, and with such security for the accurate making, correcting, preserving, and revision thereof, as shall be prescribed by the Governor-in-Chief by any such proclamation as aforesaid. And the Governor-in-Chief shall in like manner prescribe by what means the expenses of and incident to the due performance of the services last aforesaid shall be defrayed, and what fines or penalties shall be pa, able in the event of tl.e neglect or non-performance thereof. 13. The burgesses of every such borough shall annually elect the common councillors thereof to serve for the year then next ensuing; and the common councillors of each borough when so elected, shall annually choose from their own number the aldermen and the mayor thereof, to serve for the year next ensuing such choice. v 14. The Governor-in-Chief shall, in manner aforesaid, prescribe what shall be the number of the common councillors of every such borough, and when and in what manner all such elections shall be conducted, and how the result of every such election shall be ascertained, and in what manner any erroneous return shall be corrected, and who shall act as returning officers for every such purpose, and at what places and within what periods of time all such elections shall be carried on, and how the expenses thereof shall be defrayed, together with whatever else may be necessary for the due and orderly conduct of such elections. 15. The Governor-in-Chief shall in like manner prescribe in what manner and form any such corporate offices aforesaid may be vacated, and how in any such cases the vacancy shall be ascertained and supplied by new elections, with whatever may relate to the due and orderly conduct of any such new elections. 16. Any person duly qualified, who shall be elected to fill any such corporate office as aforesaid in any such borough, shall, in the event of his refusal or omission to discharge the duties thereof, be liable to the same fines and penalties to which any person is liable in England for the like offence, which fines or penalties shall be recovered and applied as nearly as maybe in the same manner in which the like fines and penalties are recovered and applied in England. 17. The Governor-in-Chief shall in manner aforesaid prescribe all necessary rules re- / specting the appointment of all other corpo-^ rate officers in every such borough, respecting their number, their remuneration, their duties, the tenure of their office, and their removal when necessary from office. 18. The common council of every such borough shall consist of the mayor, the aldermen, and the common councillors thereof, for the time being. 19. The mayor for the time being of every such borough shall, in virtue of such his office, and without any further appointment, be a justice of the peace of and for the borough during the period of two years next following on his election. 20. Every alderman of every such borough, in virtue of such his office, and without any further appointment, shall be a justice of the peace of and for the borough, so long as he shall continue in the discharge of such his office of alderman. 21. All bye-laws of every such borough shall be made, and all other corporate acts of every such corporation shall be done, by the common council thereof, by the authority, and in the presence of whom, and not otherwise, the common seal of the said borough shall be attached to any such acts. 22. The Governor-in-Chief shall, in manner afo.esaid, prescribe the manner in which, and the authority under which, meetings, either periodical or extraordinary, of any such common council, shall be holden, adjourned, or dissolved, End how the votes of the members present thereat shall .be taken, and how the minutes of every such meeting shall be taken and preserved. 23. At every meeting of any such common council, the mayor, or in his absence, some alderman selected for that purpose by the

meeting, shall preside, and such presiding officer shall both have an original and a casting vote. 24. Every such common council as aforesaid shall have power, at any such meeting as aforesaid, to make and ordain bye-laws for the good order and government of the borough. 25. Such bye-laws may so be made for any of the several objects following, thaf is to say: — Ist. For the making or the maintenance of any roads or other internal communications from any one part ot the borough to any other part thereof. 2nd. For the erection and repair of public buildings for any corporate purposes. 3rd. For the purchase or sale of any property for any corporate purposes, and for the management of any such property. 4th. For the maintenance of the police within any such borough, and for the proper government and remuneration of any such police force. sth. For the holding of quarter sessions or petty sessions of the peace of and for any such borough, by the justices of the peace thereof. 6th. For the suppression of all nuisances within any such borough, prejudicial to the health or comfort of the inhabitants thereof. 7th. For draining, paving, lighting, watching, repairing, cleansing, and maintaining, any streets, roads, and other thoroughfares, within any such borough* Bth. For establishing and maintaining schools, hospitals, and other eleemosynary institutions, within any such borough. 9th. For the imposition, collection, accounting for, and auditing of all such tolls, rates, and assessments on property, real or personal, or both, within any such borough, or npon the owners and occupiers of any such property. 10th. For securing the application of the proceeds of all such tolls, rates, and assessments, to the discharge of all expenses of and incident to the execution of all or any of the objects aforesaid. 11th. For determining the amount of the salaries or other remunerations to be assigned to any officers of any such borough. 12. For imposing fines for the breach or neglect of any such bye-laws as aforesaid. 26. If any such bye-law shall be repugnant to any law or ordinance of the General Assembly of New Zealand, or of the Assembly of the province within which the borough may be situate, such bye-law shall be null and void. 27. No such bye-law shall take effect within any such borough, or shall have the force and authority of law therein, unless the same shall first have been approved by the Gover-nor-in-Chief of New Zealand ; and the said Governor-in-Chief shall in manner aforesaid preset ibe how and by whom, and in what form, and within what time, every such bye-law shall be transmitted to him for his approbation, and how and to whom, aud in what manner, his approbation thereof shall be sigr nified. 28. The Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand shall, in manner aforesaid, make all other rules, not being repugnant to the said recited act, which it may seem to him necessary tomake and establish for carrying into full effect the purposes and objects of the preceding instructions, so far as relates to the beforementioned boroughs and bodies corporate ; and it shall be competent for any Governor-in-Chief, by any such rules, to modify or alter or to suspend the operations of any of the provisions aforesaid, which, by reason of any local or temporary causes, it may to such Go-vernor-in-Chief appear either impracticable or inexpedient to carry into immediate effect, and to substitute for any such provisions which may be so suspended as aforesaid, any other provisions better adapted to meet the exigencies and to promote the welfare of the' inhabitants of any such boroughs as aforesaid, or of any one or more of such boroughs.

Chapter VI. — On the Election of the House* of R epresentutives for each Province. 1. The Governor-in-Chief shall, by such proclamation as aforesaid, determine what shall be the total number of the first or origi-. nal members of the House of Representatives, of each of the said provinces. 2. To every such borough as aforesaid, shall be assigned a number of representatives, bearing to the total number of the representatives for the provinces the same proportion which, in the judgment of the Governor-in- Chief, will probably be borne by the contributions of' such borough to the public revenue, to the total amount of such contributions. 3. On the detection of any error in any such estimate, the Governor-in-Chief is authorised by any subsequent proclamation to correct the apportionment in respect of any future elections as nearly as may be according to the actual amount and proportions o£ such contributions. 4. The Governor-in-Chief shall in manner aforesaid determine and prescribe how, and when, and within what periods, the mayor,, aldermen, and commoji, council of every such borough shall proceed to the election of the members for such borough to serve in the House of Representatives of the province in which tbe same ii situate, «nd how, *ad in

what form, and by whom, the writ or precept for every such election shall be issued, and to whom it shall be addressed and executed as the returning officer, and how and to whom the returns to such writs o precepts shall be made, and how the poll shall be taken in case of contested elections, and what shall be the course of proceeding in the case of double returns, or of no returns being made, together with every other rule which may be necessary for the due and orderly election of the members of the said houses, and for lawfully convening and constituting such houses, until other and more effectual provision shall have been made in that behalf by law, by ordinances to be for those purposes enacted by the respective legislatures of the said respective provinces. 5. Every such House of Representatives shall, until provision be otherwise made in that behalf by law, be judges, without appeal, of the validity of the election of each member thereof. 6. Every such House of Representatives shall, immediately on the first meeting, proceed to the choice of one of their own members as their Speaker, which choice, being confirmed by the Governor-in-Chief, tlu Governor, or the Lieutenant-Governor of the province, shall be valid and effectual during the continuance of such assembly, except in the case of some intermediate vacancy of the office, by death, resignation, or otherwise, in which case the choice shall in like manner be repeated and confirmed. 7. Every such House of Representatives shall be elected to serve for four years from the date of the issuing of the writs lor holding such elections. 8. Any vacancy occurring in such House of Representatives by the death or resignation of any member thereof, or otherwise, shall be supplied by a new election, to be holden in such manner as aforesaid, in and for the borough represented by any such member.

Chapter VII. — On the Legislative Councils of the respective Provincial Assemblies. 1. The members of the Legislative Council of each of the provinces of New Zealand shall be appointed by letters patent to be for that purpose issued to each member, under the public seal of the province for which he may be so appointed. 2. Such letters patent shall be issued in pursuance of warrants under our signet and sign manual, addressed to the Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand, or to the Governor, or to the Lieutenant-Governor of such province. 3. But on the first constituting and convening of the said Legislative Councils, or either of thera, the Governor or Lieutenant-Go-vernor for the time being of the province for which the same shall be so constituted and convened, shall, without awaiting such warrants, issue such letters patent as oforesaid, to and in favour of such persons as he may think proper to nominate to the said Legislative Councils or either of them. 4. As often as any member of any such Legislative Council shall die, or resign his seat therein, or be suspended therefrom, or be absent from the province for which the same is appointed, or become incapable, by mental or bodily disease, of the right discharge of his duties therein, the Governor or Lieu-tenant-Governor for the time being of the province shall, in like manner, without waiting our warrant, appoint a person to occupy the place in the Legislative Council of the member by whom any vacancy therein may, in manner aforesaid, have been created. 5. All appointments made to the said Legislative Council without our previous warrant shall be provisional only, and subject to our confirmation or disallowance, but shall nevertheless be valid to all intents and purposes, vi.til our pleasure respecting the same shall have been signified. 6. Every provisional appointment so made to the Legislative Council, on a vacancy created by the absence of any member with leave of the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the province first obtained, shall continue in force only so long as such member shall so continue absent on leave, and on the return of such member to the province, within the time prescribed in his leave of absence, he shall resume his place in the said Legislative Council. 7. Any memler of either of the said Legislative Councils who shall become bankrupt or insolvent, according to any law in force in the said provinces, or who shall be convicted of any felony or other infamous offence, shall thereupon forfeit his place in the Legislative Council to which he may belong, which place shall be considered vacant, and immediately filled up provisionally in manner aforesaid. 8. The members of the said Legislative Councils shall hold their places therein during our pleasure. 9. Every such Legislative Council shall be presided over by a Speaker to be appointed by letters patent, to be issued in our name by the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the province to and in favour Tof such member of the

said Legislative Council as he shall see fit to appoint .or that purpose. 10. No such Legislative Council shall be competent to proceed to the despatch of any business, unless a majority of the whole number of members be present. 11. Every question to be settled by any such Legislative Council shall be proposed for discussion by the Speaker thereof, and shall be decided by the majority of votes, the Speaker having no original vote, but having a casting vote, to be given in the event of the numbers being equally divided on any such question.

Chapter VIII.— On the General Assembly of the New Zealand Islands. 1. The General Assembly of New Zealand shall be holder, at any place and time within the Islands of New Zealand which the Gover-nor-in-Chief shall, from time to time, by proclamation for that purpose appoint. 2. The Governor-in -Chief may prorogue or dissolve at his pleasure any such General Assembly. 3. The Governor or Lieutenanl-Goverri'or of either of the said provinces may at Ins pleasure prorogue or dissolve the assembly of such provinces. 4. During the dissolution of the assembly of either province, no session may be holden of the General Assembly of New Zealand. 5. The Legislative Council of the General Assembly shall lor the present, and until further provisions be made in that behalf, be composed of one-third of the members of each of the Legislative Councils respectively of the said respective provinces. 6. The Governor-in-Chief shall, f or the present, determine which of the members of each of the said Piovincial Legislative Councillors shall be members of the said Legislative Council of the General Assembly. 7. All the rules hereinbefore made respecting the Legislative Councils of the §aid respective province^ shall, as far as may be practicable, be applied to the said Legislative Council of the General Assembly. 8. The House of Representatives of the said General Assembly shall, for the present, and until further provision be made in that behalf, be composed of members to be elected for that purpose by the members of the said Provincial Assemblies respectively, from and out of their own houses respectively. 9. The Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand shall, for the present, determine.in what manner and form, and according to what rules, such elections shall be made by the respective Houses of Representatives of the members by whom they are to be lepresented in the said House of Represeniatives of the General Assembly. 10. But no such House of Represeniatives shall so be represented by more than onethird of the total number of the members thereof. 11. All the rules hereinbefore contained respecting the election of speakers in the said Houses of Representatives of the Provincial Assemblies, and respecting the number of members necessary to form a quorum of each of the said houses, and respecting the casting vote of the Speaker thereof, shall be applied to the case of the House of Representatives of the General Assembly. 12. The dissolution of either of the said Provincial Assemblies s>hall be considered as, and &hall have the effect of, a dissolution of the said General Assembly ; and with the expiration of the time for which any such Provincial Assembly shall have been elected, shall also expire the time for which any such General Assemblies shall be competent to sit and act until such General Assembly be reelected. 13. The Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand shall, by his proclamation, convene every such General Assembly, and shall himself assent to or reserve for the signification of our pleasure, or decline so to assent to or reserve such ordinances as may be passed .by the Legislative Council and the House of Representatives thereof.

Chapter IX — On the qualifications of Members of Assembly, and on the Oaths to be taken by them and other Public Officers. 1. No person shall be qualified to be a member of either of the said Houses of Assembly or General Assembly, who is an alien, or who has been convicted of any felony or other inlaraons offence, or who is of unsound mind, or a minor, or an uncertificated bankrupt or insolvent. 2. No person shall be so qualified unless he shall be in actual possession, in his own right, cf freehold lands or tenements in New Zealand of the annual value of £20, or of leasehold lands and tenements therein of the annual value of £30, or unless he shall be a contributor to the extent of £10 by the year at least, either to the general revenue of one of the said provinces, or to the local rates and assessments of some one of the said bodies corporate within the same. 3. The Go vernor-in- Chief shall, from time to time, in manner aforesaid, determine how

the } ossession by any such person as aforesaid of such proprietary qualifications as aforesaid shall be ascertained and determined. 4. Every mayor, alderman, and common councilman of each of the said corporations, and every member of the sai I Houses of Assembly, or of General Assembly, and every other public ottxer within the said islands, shall, before entering on the discharge of such his trust or office, take and subscribe the oath of allegiance, which oath, and none other, shall be administered to every such officer by such persons as the Governor-ia-Chief shall for that purpose appoint. 5. The said Governor-in Chief and the said respective Governors and LieutenantGoverr.ors of the said provinces shall, before entering on the discharge of the duties of their respective offices, take the oaths appointed to be taken by the statutes in that behalf made in the reigns of King George I. and of King George 111., as amended by the act passed in the tenth year of the reign of King George IV., entitled, " An Act for the Relief of His Majesty's Roman Catholic Subjects," according as the former acts or the last mentioned act shall be applicable to their cases respectively.

Chapter X. — On the Fcrms, the Transmission and the Disallowance of Lows. 1. All laws to be enacted by the said Provincial Assemblies shall be styled, " Ordinances enacted by the Governor or LieutenautGovernor of the Province of with the advice and consent of the Assembly thereof;" and all laws to be enacted by the said General Assembly shall be styled, ".Ordinances enacted by the Governor-in-Chief of New Zealand, with the advice and consent of the General Assembly thereof." 2. No such ordinance of any such Provincial Assembly shall be absented to by any such Governor or Lieutenant-Governor without the previous sanction of the Governor-in-Chief. 3. A transcript of every such ordinance shall be transmitted to us with the least possible delay, through one of our principal Secretatanes of State, duly authenticated under the public seal of the province, and by the signature of the Gcvernor-in-chief, or Governor or Lieutenant-Governor, enacting the same. 4. Every such ordinance shall take effect from a time to be therein for that purpose appointed. 5. If any such ordinance be made to take effect from the time of the signification of our pleasure therein, then, unless our confirmation thereof shall have been signified within the colony or province within three years next a fi ter the date thereof, every such ordinance shall, from and after ' the expiration of that time, be considered as being disallowed. 6. If any such ordinance shall be reserved by the Governor-in-Chief, or Governor, or Lieutenant-Governor, for the signification of our pleasure, then, in like manner, the same shall be considered to be disallowed, unless our confirmation thereof shall have been signified within the colony or province within three years next after the date hereof. 7. If any such ordinance shall be disallowed by us, either in the manner aforesaid, or by a distinct order for that purpose, the said ordinance shall cease to have any operation or effect;, either upon, and from such lapse of time, or upon, and from the signification of such disallowance within the said colony or province ; but such disallowance shall not have any retrospective operation, and shall not render invalid or void any act done under the authority or in pursuance of any such ordinance before such lapse of time, or direct signification of the disallowance thereof, as the case may be. 8. All ordinances made for levying money, or for imposing fines, penalties, or forfeitures, shall grant or reserve the same to us for the public uses, as the case may be, of the whole colony, or of the particular province, and the support of the government thereof, in such manner as by the said ordinance shall be directed ; and no such money shall, by any such ordinance, be made issuable, save only by warrants to be granted in pursuance thereof by the Governor-iri-(Shief, or by the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor of the province, as the case may be. (To be continued. )