THE LATEST MOVE IN OTAGO

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4847, 4 October 1876, Page 2

THE LATEST MOVE IN OTAGO

The following matter will be perused with interest. It does, not need comment. The memorandum of Ministers places the situation convincingly :

Telegrams from his Honor James Macandbew to his Excellency the Governor. Dunedin, October 2, 1876. ■ On behalf of the people of Otago I beg most earnestly and respectfully to request that your Excellency may be pleased to withhold Queen’s assent from any action of Colonial Parliament having for its object the giving effect to Abolition Bill in as far as this province is concerned.

Great bulk of people are determined to maintain those privileges of local self-govern-ment conferred upon them by Imperial Parliament, privileges which I am advised it is ultra vires of General Assembly to take away without their own consent expressed through their own local legislature. I can assure your Excellency that your Responsible Advisers are altogether misinformed, or have no correct conception as to the deep and earnest feeling which pervades this province on this subject, feeling which is becoming the more intense the more effects of abolition will come to be realised. I venture to say that the action of your Advisers in respect of this province must, if persisted in, result in a dismemberment of the colony. Prom all quarters the Provincial Government is being urgently appealed to obtain aplebiscitum of the people, with a view of an appeal to the Imperial Government, who, it is confidently hoped, will not turn a deaf ear to what I believe will undoubtedly be found te be the deliberate and unmistakeable (?) of an overwhelming majority of the settlers in Otago. I would only add that the extreme gravity of the situation must be ray excuse for thus addressing your Excellency. (Signed) J. Macandbew, Superintendent of Otago.

Dunedin, October 3.

With your Excellency’s permission, I desire to publish my telegram of yesterday, as it would tend to allay excitement here. (Signed.) J. MACANDREW.

From his Excellency the Governor to his Honor the Superintendent of Otago, Dunedin.

I beg to acknowledge receipt of your telegram of yesterday’s date, and also a further telegram requesting permission to publish it. I submitted the former for the consideration of my Government, and I beg to send you copy of a memorandum which I have received from them. You are at liberty to publish your telegram to me, together with this reply now sent.

(Signed) Normanby.

Memo, for his Excellency the Governor.

Ministers have the honor to return the telegram addressed to your Excellency on the 2nd instant by the Superintendent of Otago, and submitted by you for their perusal. Mr. Macandrew prays that your Excellency will withhold the Queen’s assent from any action of the Colonial Parliament having for its object the giving effect to the Abolition Bill in as far as Otago is concerned. He appears to forget that the Abolition Act is now law; has been left to its operation by her Majesty, and will come into force without further legislative action. Mr. Macandrew says he is advised that the action taken by the General Assembly, and assented to by her Majesty, to amend the Constitution, is ultra vires. It is open for him if he can to convince the courts of law that the advice he relies on is sounder than that of the Law Officers of the Crown in London and New Zealand. His Honor assures your Excellency that your Responsible Advisers are altogetherjmisinformed, or have no correct conception as to the deep and earnest feeling which pervades the province of Otago on the subject—a feeling which is becoming more intense the more the effects of the Abolition Bill come to be realised. Ministers are fully aware of and deeply regret the strong feeling against abolition apparently held by a portion of the inhabitants of Otago, fermented as it has been by misrepresentations and agitation for which the Superintendent himself is in a great measure responsible. They are also aware of a strong feeling in favor of abolition among another section of the Otago people, and they know that neither party has yet had an opportunity of judging practically of the effects of legislation which has not yet been put in force. It is contrary to every principle of Representative and Parliamentary Government to allow the temporary effect of local agitation to outweigh the deliberate decision of the people in Parliament assembled. Your Excellency’s advisers, therefore, deeply regret that a Superintendent of an important province should venture to tell your Excellency that the action of your Advisers must, if persisted in, result in a dismemberment of the colony. That action is the result of two Parliaments—the present one having been elected to carry out the decision of the last. The Superintendent concludes by stating that from all quarters the Provincial Government is being urgently appealed to to obtain a plebiscitum of the people, with a view to an appeal to the Imperial Government. Ministers need scarcely remark that a plebiscitum is a mode of expressing popular opinion unknown to any constitution based upon representative institutions ; and that even if a vote of a majority of one province were to be obtained against any Act of the Legislature, such a vote could not be allowed for a moment to have weight against the decision of the representatives of the whole colony. Your Excellency’s Advisers are also receiving urgent appeals from Otago, especially from the outlying districts, in a directly contrary sense to those relied on by the Superintendent ; and they are satisfied that their endeavor to secure local self-government for all the districts in the country is welcomed by a large proportion of the province of Otago, as it is by the colony of New Zealand. The measure now under consideration of Parliament, for the establishment of counties, will leave the whole question of the division of the country for the purposes of local government ultimately in the hands of the people ; and Ministers have no reason to believe that the people of Otago are less desirous than those of other parts of New Zealand to localise the administration of their local affairs. (Signed.) H. A. Atkinson.