A.—7a.

Enclosure 4 in No. 1. From His Excellency the Goveenoe to the Hon. the Peemiee. (Telegram.) 20th January, 1891. The Governor has received the Premier's telegram, informing him that the Cabinet recommend him to call Messrs. Whyte, Ormond, Johnston, C. C. Bowen, Fulton, and Downie Stewart to the Council. In view of the Premier's memorandum of the 17th December, to the effect that, having regard to the uncertainty of the strength of parties in the House of Eepresentatives since the general election, it is desirable that Parliament shall be summoned at the earliest possible date, the Governor, before taking action on the recommendation tendered, requests the Premier to advise him whether the names that are suggested are in his opinion best calculated to strengthen the efficiency of the Upper House; and, further, whether they are the six names, if not in New Zealand, at least from among the supporters of the Government, best calculated to effect that object. Onslow.

Enclosure 5 in No. 1. From the Hon. the Peemiee to His Excellency the Goveenoe. (Telegram.) 20th January, 1891. In reply to your Excellency's telegram re the appointment of Legislative Councillors, I have the honour to state that I have submitted it for the consideration of the Cabinet, and, in their opinion, the six names submitted from among the available supporters of the Government are those best calculated to strengthen the efficiency of the Council. H. A. Atkinson.

Enclosure 6 in No. 1. From His Excellency the Goveenok to the Hon. the Peemiee. (Telegram.) 20th January, 1891. Upon the assurance contained in the Premier's memorandum that the six names submitted are best calculated to strengthen the efficiency of the Council, the Governor appoints Messrs. Whyte, Johnston, Ormond, Fulton, Downie Stewart, and Bowen to the Legislative Council. Onslow.

No. 2. The Earl of Onslow to Lord Knutsfoed. (Eeceived 2nd March, 1891.) My Loed, — Wellington, 24th January, 1891. I addressed your Lordship in a despatch on the 23rd instant (No. 1) with reference to the recent appointments which I have made to the Legislative Council of New Zealand. In that despatch your Lordship will have noticed a paragraph in which I informed your Lordship of the action which I should have taken in a hypothetical case. As a matter of fact, that case actually presented itself, though it never assumed an official character, and my Ministers are anxious that the negotiations which took place between us should not be made public, lest it should embarrass them in Parliament. I desire, however, that your Lordship should be in possession of the whole of the facts, as it is possible that the course of recent events in New Zealand may form a precedent for future action. Ministers informed me early in the last session of Parliament that they were desirous of adding to the Legislative Council, but were not anxious to tender any advice on the subject till the latest possible date, and they inquired whether I would accept their advice at any time. I replied that I would carefully consider their advice on the subject, with a view to its acceptance; but I thought that, both for their sakes and my own, that advice should be tendered before any catastrophe occurred to the Ministry. None of the votes of want of confidence moved had any chance of being carried, and Ministers did not, therefore, deem it necessary to tender advice. The general election took place, and the result was as unexpected by Ministers as by the Opposition. The leader of the Opposition, Mr. Ballance, in a public interview, and in the paper of which he is editor, demanded the dismissal of Ministers if they should not voluntarily resign, and maintained that, constitutionally, Ministers had no right to offer advice as to any fresh appointments. It subsequently appeared that the prospects of parties were neither so favourable to the Opposition nor so disastrous to the Government as was at first generally believed to be the case. Ministers agreed to summon Parliament, and to resign as soon as it had met, but intimated privately to me that they wished to advise the appointment of not less than eleven Councillors in a House of thirty-nine. This appeared to me to be so undue a proportion as to make a dangerous precedent, in case a Minister should wish, for party purposes, to swamp an adverse vote in the Upper House. The Premier asserted that the Government had pledged itself to these gentlemen, as to some of whom it could not possibly be pretended that they would strengthen the House, or that they were appointed for any but party purposes. Iα some cases the appointments were, without doubt, merely rewards for desertion from the Opposition cause. The Premier then said that either Ministers had my confidence or they had not. If they had, I ought to accept all their advice ; if not, to dispense with their services; and he directed that the

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