SPEECH BY LORD KNUTSFORD. London, February 16.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 344, 20 February 1889, Page 5

SPEECH BY LORD KNUTSFORD. London, February 16.

A'l a banquet to-night at which Lord Onslow, the new Governot ot New Zealand, was entenamed, Lord Knutsioid presided, and in proposing the toast of the guest, said it was imperative that the responsibility of selecting all Go\ernors for the colonies should rest with the Imperial Government, though it was their duty to select the best possible gentlemen. Lord Onslow, in reply, expiessed sympathy with the colonies, and he - hopt-d *o promote a closer union between the colony and the home coun'ry. The Maiquis oi Lome, who also addressed the assemblage, contended that the days ot Downing-street dictation were at an end. M io,r.o ltkne, February 16. A sensation has been caused in the city by the publication of official coirespondence which passed between Chief Justice Higginbotham, Sir Henry Loch, the Governor, and Lord Ivrmtsford, the Secretary of State for the Colonies. The correspondence discloses that Sir W. Robinson, of South Australia, was appointed ActingGovernor because the opinions he held were widely divergentfiom those of Mi Higginbutham, the Chief Justice, and the Colonial Office. The former states that every new Governor has held erroneous views with regard to his constitutional rights, until he found that the colonial law was superior to, and in many instances at variance with, his instructions from the Colonial Office. He asserted ihat the native-born population was rapidly replacing the Eng-lish-born, consequently there was a growing feeling oi dislike at the action of England towards the colonies, and iht* attitude of the Colonial Office showed there was a probable danger of geneial alienation.