115

A.—3a

2. As these resolutions are in some respects wholly at variance with and opposed to the wishes of the signers of a memorial this day presented to me, which memorial has already received the signatures of 502 persons, representing a very large amount of property and intelligence, I ought to point out to your Lordship that, although the resolutions enclosed in Dr. Dorset's letter are fifteen in number, the names of only twenty-one persons are attached to them as proposers and seconders, and that it does not appear that they have ever been in any way submitted to the public, or that any opportunity has yet been afforded to the settlers at large of expressing an opinion upon them. I have, &c, The Eight Hon. Earl Grey, &c. G. Grey.

Enclosure in No. 44. My Lord,— Wellington, 12th March, 1852. I have the honour to submit to your Lordship's consideration the accompanying series of resolutions passed by the Settlers' Constitutional Association of this settlement, in answer to the despatch of the Bth August, 1851, addressed by your Lordship to His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief of this colony. I have, &c, John Dorset, The Eight Hon. Earl Grey, &c. Chairman of the Settlers' Constitutional Association.

Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure in No. 44. The following resolutions, in answer to the Eight Hon. Earl Grey's despatch of the Bth August, 1851, to His Excellency the Governor-in-Chief of this colony, were adopted at a meeting of the Settlers' Constitutional Association of Wellington, held the 18th of February, 1852. John Dorset, Esq., in the chair. Moved by Dr. Featherston, and seconded by Mr. Blyth: " That this Association, having carefully perused Earl Grey's despatch of the Bth August, 1851, to Governor Grey, in which his Lordship instructs His Excellency to ascertain the opinions of the settlers on the various points connected with the land question, gladly avail themselves of the opening thus afforded them, both of putting Her Majesty's Government fully in possession of their views and wishes on the matters alluded to by Earl Grey, and also of making suggestions for their determination and final adjustment. This Association would,however, at the outset very respectfully venture to remind Earl Grey that, inasmuch as the colonists of New Zealand have had no voice in the management of their own affairs, as they have been debarred from exercising the slightest control over the acts whether of the New Zealand Company, the Colonial Office, or the local Government, they can neither be held responsible for the difficulties and embarrassments with which every question relating to this colony is beset and surrounded, nor fairly be called upon to suffer the penalties entailed by measures against which they have so uniformly, but in vain, protested. Further, this Association deem it incumbent upon them to state that the suggestions which they submit in the following resolutions to his Lordship's consideration, in regard to the company's debt, to the minimum upset price, to the company's " terms of purchase," &c, are made upon the understanding and under the firm belief that Her Majesty's Government will, during the present session of Parliament, have redeemed its pledge and conferred upon New Zealand a Constitution which, if not in entire unison with the opinions and wishes of the colonists as conveyed in the draft of a Constitution which they last year transmitted to Her Majesty's Ministers by Mr. Fox, their Political Agent, will at all events be such as to bestow upon them not the semblance but the substance of self-government, and that the application of the various remedies proposed for the present evils v/ill be left to the future colonial representative Assembly, the intervention of the Imperial Parliament being strictly limited to conferring upon such Legislature the powers necessary to give effect to and carry out the arrangements now suggested." [The remaining resolutions do not affect the question of the proposed constitution for the colony, and are therefore omitted.]

No. 45. Copy of a Despatch from Governor Grey to the Right Hon. Sir John S. Pakinoton. (No. 108.) Sir, — Government House, Wellington, 23rd August, 1852. I have the honour herewith to transmit for your information a letter which has been addressed to you by a Mr. John Dorset. lam at this moment so pressed by public business that it is impossible for me to show in detail the many mistakes contained in the resolutions in this letter; but I feel that there is indeed no necessity for me to do so, as the real facts are perfectly well known in this country, and have been repeatedly stated and explained in my despatches addressed to your department. 2. One statement in the enclosed papers I ought, however, to allude to. After an extract from a despatch by the Lieutenant-Governor of New Munster to me has been quoted, this paragraph follows: " Nor can the Association refrain from putting on record their opinion that the single extract above quoted (even if there should have been no suppression of despatches containing similar representations) is of itself sufficient to prove the entire untruth of the charge preferred by Sir George Grey, in Council, against Lieutenant-Governor Eyre—namely, that he, the Lieutenant-Governor, had never, previous to the discussions of the Provincial Councils Ordinance, made any representation to him of the opinions and wishes of the southern settlers regarding free institutions." 3. Upon referring to the most correct printed report of the debates in the Legislative Council, I find that what fell from me is entirely opposite to what is above stated. It was as follows: " Sir George Grey said : Before the report on this Bill was brought up he wished to make a few observations, as his intentions were much misunderstood, and from the remarks that had fallen from the LieutenantGovernor a prejudice had been unjustly raised against the Bill, A kind of complaint had been made