The Governor and the Premier.

Thames Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2918, 22 June 1878, Page 2

The Governor and the Premier.

(Pee Pbess Agency.)

Wellington, Friday, 10 p.m.

A supplementary gazette issued this eTeniog contains despatches and memoranda from the Governor, the Secretary of State, and the Premier. The series begins with a despatch from the Governor to the Secretary of State, in which he submits, for his Lordship's decision, a statement of the whole circumstances connected with the dispute which.occurred last session between himself and Ministers with regard to the appointment of Wilson to the Legislative Council. In the 4th paragraph the Governor says :— " I own at once it never occurred to me th«t, by privilege of Parliament,, the Crown is not supposed to take notice of any matter in. agitation or debate in the House," otherwise he would probably hare taken time to consider the matter. Paragraph 13 runs thus:—"The constitutional question, however, as to the extent to which the Government are responsible to Parliament for acts of the Governor, still remains to be settled,'and I consider it a question of vital importance to the future good government of the colony, and to the position which is to be held by Her Majesty's representatives,> that I must ask your Lordship to inform me whether I am right in the opinion which I hold, namely, that so long as they retain office it is the Government and not the Governor who are solely responsible to Parliament for the act's of the Governor. The Governor concludes by saying he simply stated facts, and awaits his Lordship's decision. The Secretary of State replies to the Governor, under date 15th January. In the second paragraph he says:—" It is my duty, as Minister responsible for advising the Queen, or any matter connected with your conduct as Governor, to support the views which you have clearly and accurately expressed. These are briefly:—-First, that under the Constitution of New Zealand, the Governor is bound to communicate to the Secretary of State any difference of opinion which may arise with respect to his responsibility in relation to the responsibility of his Ministers in any particular case; and secondly, that so long as the Ministers retain office they, and not the Governor, are solely responsible to the local Parliament for the Governor's acts. 3. Ido not understand how there can be any question as to the correctness of this statement of the position and duty of the Queen's representative, and the relations between the different branches of the Colonial Legislature ; nor have I found in the papers before me any grounds for disputing the propriety of your application of, these well known principles of parliamentary Government to the particular circumstances of the case which had occured. The concluding remark is that "their (the Ministry's) continuance in office may

be taken as showing that the House did not feel that there was any serious cause of complaint. In despatch of 14th Nov. the Governor says Sir George Grey advised him to dissolve the present Parliament, but he did not feel justified in promising a dissolution until every other expedient had been made to reconcile matters in the House. Clause 3 says it is quite evident Sir George Grey does not command a majority in the present House, nor is there the slightest evidence that he has ever done so. Clause 4 says it is perfectly true that the vote of want of confidence was 'defeated by the casting vote of the Speaker in a catch division, but Sir George Grey has omitted to state that there were three members accidentally absent who subsequently explained in the House the reasons of their absence, and, staled^that they had intended to have voted against the Government, and the Government have since been placed in a minority, I admit only of one, in the conduct of the business of the House. The Secretary of State, in reply, thanks the Governor for the full explanation with which he accompanied the papers. In his next despatch (10th December), the Governor lays before the Secretary of State Sir George Grey's action with regard to the then proposed visit of Sir William Jervois. In the concluding paragraph His Excellency says:—" I consider it is much better that the visit of- Sir William Jervois should be indefinitely postponed rather-than that lie should have come here and had difficulties thrown in his way which would necessarily have impeded his work being properly carried out, and that the consideration due to the position which he holds should not have been accorded to him.—The Secretary of State, in his reply, says:—"l approve of the course which you have taken in the matter."—The Governor's next despatch, dated 10th December, refers to Sir George Grey's request to' him to refuse his assent to the Land Act, as there were provisions in it of which the Government did not approve. He says no intimation whatever had, been given to Parliament that Government intended to adopt the very unusual course of advising me to veto the bill, and nearly the whole of the members of both Houses had left town on Saturday night on the assurance that although the printing and preparing the various Acts which had been passed would prevent Parliament from being prorogued on Monday there was no necessity for their remaining, as all the business of the session was over. No doubt some amendments in the bill had been carried against the Government, and that might have been a very good reason for the Government throwing out or dropping the bill in its passage through Parliament. But the proposal that I should refuse my assent to a Government Bill after it had ppssed both Houses, simply because the Government had feiled to see the point of certain amendments, or had been unabla to resist them, seemed to me so extraordinary a proceeding that I at once refused to veto the bill. Upon finding Sir George Grey refused to attach his name to the usual form advising him to assent to the bill, it appeared to him that he should be lending himself to something little short of a trick, upon Parliament by taking so unusual a course as, to veto the bill. After detailing all the circumstances of the case as they arose, the Governor says:—-'I think the occurrence was of so unusual a character, that I should not be doing my duty were I not to report it to your Lordship." The Secretary of State,- writing on the 15th of February, in reply, approves of the action taken by the Governor ia the matter of the Land Bill. In the Governor's next despatch (14th December) he argues that the Government were not in a position which constitutionally entitled them to demand a dissolution. Replying to this despatch, the Secretary of State says :—" I hare read this correspondence with the care, and attention which the subject demands, and I feel bound to express my dissent from the views which Sir George Grey has advanced, which would seem unduly to limit the prerogative of the Crown. In the*next paragraph he says in discharging this responsibility the Governor will, of course, pay the greatest attention to any representations that may be made to him by those who at the time are bis constitutional advisers; but if he should feel himself bound to take the responsibility of not following his Ministers' recommendation, there can, I apprehend, be no doubt that both law and practice empower him to do so. In the Premier's memo, addressed to the Governor he argues that bis Excellency has gone much further than he ought to have done in causing the despatches of the Secretary of State to his responsible advisers to be laid before Parliament.; and further that the Secretary of State has no authority to interfere with the proceedings of either branch of the General Assembly, or to communicate to them any decision or opinion for their guidance in relation to their rights or privileges. In clause 9 Sir George Grey states that the Constitution has strictly defined the powers of the Crown, of -the Secretary of State, and of the General* Assembly, of which the Governor is a constituent part. The Act also entrusts \to the people of this colony the power of working out their own future within tha limit fixed by the British Parliament. He.also believes the people of New Zealand are quite prepared and competent to build up institutions under which their descendents may have assured liberty and equal laws and rights, and believes the people of this colony are not inclined to permit any interference of any exterior authority either with their Parliament or Ministers. In clause 12 the Premier goes on* to state that he is justified in thinking that there were additional strong reasons for checking the Secretary of State interfering with" this Parliament, or offering unasked-for opinions. In clause 18 Sir George Grey says :—" For instance, if his own views were strongly in favour of breaking the empire, up in a few years, measures could be taken which would render such an event ultimately highly probable. Did he desire to set up an aristocracy in the colonies in some novel form, landed or titular, or both, he couldget many firm steps made towards the achievement of such a project. man who earnestly believe« in^ either of those principles,, armed with the vast and generally long continued power possessed by the permanent Undersecretary of the Colonial Department could hardly avoid, perbaps almost unconsciously, adopting measures which would tend to the fulfilment of his cherished convictions. He then goea^on to say it must also be remembered that the Colonial Department only communicates to the colonies such information as ■uits them to impart, and their communi-

cations, are *ent to the Governor, and he only imparts what he wishes. He shows . that the Colonial Office is often pressed to adopt the same line of policy; by returned colonists or disappointed colonial statesmen who could not get the New Zealand Assembly to adopt their views, it was on account of the Colonial Office having so much power that leading British statesmen, to secure to the colonies the power of controlling their own affairs. The people of New Zealand, mindful of this, will probably struggle against all efforts unlawfully to meddle with their constitution, and they would be wise in doing so. The Secretary is an officer of high position, and whose authority is highly respected; it is an unpopular thing in any colony for a Ministry to differ with the Secretary of State. Sir George then says he declines to have his conduct in reference to the relation between himself and the General Assembly, and between himself and the Governor, submitted for the opinion of the Secretary of State; and he also declines to discuss these questions, and says it was for these reasons (not through disrespect) he has not notified or replied to the arguments used in the despatches of the Governor or the Secretory of State, which His Excellency lias been pleased to send to Ministers. The Governor, in return, says in his memo, to the Premier, that he must decline to enter into any arguments or discussion with Sir George Grey as to the position or authority which belongs to the Secretary of State under the Constitution Act, and points out that, whatever opinion is entertained by Sir George Grey, there can be no doubt that the Governor is responsible to the Secretary of State as constitutional adviser of Her Majesty. Sir George Grey replies in a long despatch, in which he says he believes " that the moment the* Governor assumes office in this colony, and begins to act under the Constitution Act, his responsibility is to the law, and not to any other authority, and that he would not be justified in obeying the commands of the Secretary of State, or ia noticing any instructions from him, except in so far as these were in strict conformity to the law. That is the authority which, should be recognised, and which should be obeyed." He also adds the Governor should not carry out the instructions of the Secretary of Stite if they were considered detrimental to the interests of the people of tbe colony. The correspondence closes by the - Governor intimating that no public.advantage can be derived by its prolongation. - . '• ■