A.—No. 2.

DISALLOWANCE OF PROVINCIAL BILLS.

No. 1. His Honor W. H. Eras to the Hon. E. W. Staffobd. House of Representatives, Sm > — Wellington, 22nd August, 1867. I have the honor to transmit herewith three copies each of the respective Acts mentioned in the margin, passed by the Provincial Council of Marlborough, and to request that the same may be laid before His Excellency the Governor for his assent thereto. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington. W. H. Eyes.

Public Cemeteries Act, 1867. Public Reseryes Management Act, 1867.

No. 2. The Hon. E. W. Stafford to His Honor W. 11. Eyes. (No. 430.) Colonial Secretary's Office, Sib,— Wellington, 22nd October, 1867. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter of the 22nd of August last, forwarding certain reserved Bills passed by the Provincial Council of Marlborough. The Bill entitled " The Public Cemeteries Act, 1867," is, as the Government is advised, open to the following legal objections which invalidate it, and consequently cannot be assented to. " The Public Reserves Act, 1862," permits a Provincial Legislature by Act or Ordinance to vest Public Reserves in a Corporation or in other persons having corporate succession to be named in such Act or Ordinance, and in effect provides that under it the property shall vest in a body which legally continues to exist notwithstanding deaths, resignations, &c, of members, so that without the necessity for deeds of transfer the property devolves to successors. Unless this corporate succession were secured such deeds of transfer were thought necessary, and it was considered that a Provincial Legislature could not, as is attempted in the case of this Bill, provide, by force of an Act of its own, for the transfer of property without deeds of transfer. The law of the Colony with regard to the devolution and mode of transfer of real and personal property cannot be altered by a Provincial Legislature. The Bill should either have named the first trustees and given to them corporate succession or it might have vested the reserves in an existing body having corporate succession. Moreover, it appears on reference to the Secretary for Crown Lands that one of the sections of land (section 264, Kaikoras Suburban,) has not been granted to the Superintendent, and consequently is not subject to the Reserves Act of 1862. With reference to the Bill entitled "The Public Rsserves Management Act, 1867," further information respecting its object is required before I am able to advise His Excellency to assent to the Bill. The reserves dealt with were made for special purposes, and although the purposes have not been changed, it is proposed by the Bill that the lands should be let on lease and the rents go into the Provincial Treasury without being charged with any particular trusts. Some of these reserves are for "Road purposes," another for a " Public School," and I have to request your Honor to be good enough to explain how the proceeds from these reserves can be secured for tiie special purposes for which they were reserved if they are dealt with as proposed by the Bill in question; and I should also wish to be assured, before I can advise the Bill to be assented to, that these reserves are not likely to be required for their special objects during the period of fourteen years, for which they could, if the Bill become law, be leased. . I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent, Marlborough. E. W. Staffokd.

No. 3. His Honor W. 11. Eras to the Hon. E. W. Staefobd. Superintendent's Office, Sib, — Blenheim, 13th November, 1867. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter No. 430, of the 22nd ultimo, on the subject of two Bills, intituled respectively "The Public Cemeteries Act, 1867," and <:The Public Reserves Management Act, 1867." With respect to the latter Bill, I may observe that it was passed by the Provincial Council unanimously, that body being satisfied that every lease granted by the Government would provide for the rights ot the public in using the reserve for the specific purpose for which it was set aside. .Referring to those reserves mentioned in your letter as being for " road purposes," I may observe that the leasing of them would not prevent the Government taking metal from the gravel pits within their boundaries, which was the object of reservation.