The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1888. THE QUEENSLAND DEADLOCK.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1793, 22 September 1888, Page 2

The Temuka Leader SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 1888. THE QUEENSLAND DEADLOCK.

The dispute between the Governor and the Government of Queensland is ended. The Governor has received a severe snubbing, and a very important constitutional question has been finally settled. Prom the facts to hand we gather that a man named Benjamin Kitts was convicted, at a place called Townville, of having stolen three pairs of boots, and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment. It was suspected that the man had stolen more than three pairs of boots from the store in which he was employed, but there was no proof of this, and it was considered that three years was too great a sentence for such a small offence. On the ground that the sentence was out of proportion to the crime, the Colonial Secretary, in whose department it was, recommended His Excellency the Governor to release the prisoner under the Offenders’ Probation Act. This the Governor refused to do, on the ground that it was his prerogative to pardon a criminal or remit a portion of his sentence, 'J his opened up the question as to the prerogative of the Governor. The Government held that the Governor was bound to accept the advice of his Ministers, so long as they retained the confidence of the country, and that if he refused to do so his plain duty was to dismiss them and fill their place with other men. The Premier, Sir Thomas Mclllwraith, on the Governor thus refusing to comply with the request to release the prisoner, placed the resignation of his Ministry in His Excellency’s hands. The Governor next sent for Sir Thomas Griffiths, the ex-Premier, to form a Ministry, but he asked for time. Meantime the matter created a good deal of excitement, and meetings were held throughout the colony in support of the Government. The matter, it appears, was referred to the Colonial Office in London, and Lord Knutsford at once condemned the action of the Governor, and ordered the prisoner to be released. This we learn now has been done; the Government have withdrawn their resignation, and everything has settled down happilly again. The London telegram further states that Lord Knutsford was very much annoyed at the action of the Governor, and that general instructions have been forwarded to all Governors to avoid falling into such an error in future as to decline the advice of their responsible advisers. There can be no doubt hut that the Governor in this instance was wrong. So long as Ministers retain the confidence of Parliament, it is the proper function of the Governor to accept their advice and act upon it, and in no instance should he depart from this until the House, by an adverse vote, shows that they can no longer transact public business. Then they have no right to tender advice to him ; their duty is to resign. It is only fit and proper that this should be so, as it is the Government who are responsible to the people for their actions, and it is they certainly who ought to have the power to remit a sentence passed upon a criminal. However, colonial Governors are not likely to fall into such errors again, after the experience of Sir A. Musgrave.