184 Auckland Provincial Government Gazette.

You will, as soon as you arrive in the Province, present to the Superintendent the accompanying let- ter of introduction. If, as I do not doubt, the Superin- tendents meet you in the courteous and conciliatory spirit in which you are accredited to them, you will defer as much as you feel justified in doing to their advice, and when you do not concur with it, you will not fail to represent it to the Government. You will be careful to treat them with the respect their high position merits, and to remember that their functions still continue, and that the General Government are not entitled to do more at present than to seek information which will enable them to adequately discharge the responsibilities the law devolves on them after next session.

The Provincial Auditors, who are General Govern- ment officers, will render you such aid as you may require from them, for which these instructions will be sufficient warrant.

The following transfers of Provincial Departments are proposed:

All Executive Departments connected with un- completed clerical work, the keeping of records, &c., to be in the Colonial Secretary’s Department.

The Police Forces to be in the Minister of Justice’s Department.

The Crown Lands, Survey, Goldfields Depart- ments, and the Inspectors of Sheep to be in the Secretary for Crown Lands’ Department.

The Railway and Public Works Departments and the Public Plantations to be in the Minister for Public Works’ Department.

The Harbour Departments to be placed in the Commissioner of Customs’ Department.

Education, for a time, at least, in the Minister of Justice’s Department.

The Hospitals, Lunatic Asylums, Industrial In- stitutions, Charitable Aid organizations, Orphan Asylums, Public Libraries and Museums—subject to arrangements to be made for the continuance of local control of Charitable Institutions—to be in the Colonial Secretary’s Department.

I have, etc.,
Julius Vogel.

Messrs. W. Gisborne,
W.M. Seed,
John Knowles.

(3.) Superintendent’s Office,
Auckland, 8th May, 1876.

Gentlemen,—

I have received from Sir Julius Vogel a Circular note, and an enclosure, purporting to be instructions issued to you, copies of which are enclosed.

The Act which provides a Constitution for New Zealand gives no power or authority to any person, not being one of the constituted authorities of this Province, to enquire into its finances, expenditure, or administration, nor to delegate such powers to others.

The only persons or bodies who have any lawful right to make such enquiries are the Superintendent and Provincial Council, or officers by them, or either of them appointed, and to an extent and for certain objects specified by law, the Provincial Auditor.

As the Superintendent of the Province of Auck- land, my duty to its people, whose representative I am and the responsibility of whose Government I have at their request taken upon myself, forbids me to communicate to any person or persons not legally authorized in that behalf, any information whatever beyond that which I communicate to the public at large, unless I had been previously author- ized so to do by a resolution of the Provincial Council.

The Provinces derive their existence and their privileges from the Constitution Act, and I beg to point out to you that by prosecuting the enquiries which are mentioned in the Circular note above alluded to you are attempting to assume a control over the lawfully constituted Government of this Province which is both unconstitutional and contrary to law.

I remark that the persons or body by which you are deputed to perform these illegal acts are called in the Circular note “the Colonial Government,” “the Government,” and “the General Government.” These are altogether unknown to the Constitution Act and the thoughts and language of the Imperial Legislature when that Act was passed.

The only Governments known to this country are the General Assembly of New Zealand and the Superintendents and the Provincial Councils of the respective provinces.

I am aware that under the Royal Instructions to His Excellency the Governor, that high Officer is expected to act in accordance with the advice of his Executive Council, unless he sees good reason to differ in opinion from them; but I deny the right of that Executive Council to alter or to depart from the rules and usages of constitutional Government, or to usurp powers which belong only to Provincial Governments or to the General Assembly in Par- liament assembled.

The Executive Council are but the advisers of his Excellency, and with all due respect to the represen- tative of Her Most Gracious Majesty, I must, as the elected guardian of the rights and interests of the people of Auckland, be watchful that the authority even of the Crown, be not carried a single step fur- ther than the law permits.

The Governor has no right to instruct you to take the steps you contemplate. Even Her Most Gra- cious Majesty herself would have no right, without the authority of Parliament, to instruct you so to do, and most certainly Her Majesty would not sanction so unconstitutional and unlawful an act being carried out in her name, much less can those who are only the Governor’s advisers for the time being have any lawful authority to authorize you to follow the course you are pursuing.

I find also that in the instructions issued to you measures are evidently contemplated not only de- structive of the rights and privileges of this prov- ince, but also actually opposed to the provisions of The Abolition of Provinces Act, 1875, should that Act be intra vires and good law, which, however, I do not admit. I am compelled, therefore, to say that I shall by all constitutional means oppose any steps which may tend in the slightest degree to compro- mise the rights and constitutional freedom of this province.

I have the honour further to remind you of that rule of law which provides that no command or order by a superior will avail as a defence when a person commits an act in itself unlawful. I have, therefore, to require you not to venture to attempt to carry out, within the Province of Auckland, the errand on which you are professedly sent. You were appointed to the Civil Service of this Colony, and hold your respective offices in it, for the purpose of fulfilling the duties imposed on those offices by the General Assembly of New Zealand. You have no lawful authority for entering upon the duties you have now undertaken. In so doing you are acting outside of the Civil Service of the Colony, and have become the emissaries of a single gentleman.