274 Auckland Provincial Government Gazette.

power of governing themselves by means of a Coun-
cill in which every class and portion of the Borough
may be fairly represented, the Borough has been
divided into fourteen electoral divisions or Wards,
and the Council is to consist of fourteen members,
one being returnable for every Ward. If, without
any such subdivision the whole number of Councillors
had been returnable by the entire body of electors,
the result would probably have been that nearly the
whole of the Councillors would have been inhabitants
of the town and would have been chosen by its in-
habitants. Such a body, so chosen, would have had
only an imperfect knowledge of the condition and
requirements of the country districts and of the
Pensioner settlements, whilst they would probably
have had a direct interest in promoting town im-
provements; and if, after assigning to the town a
certain number of members, the remainder of them
had been returnable by the inhabitants of that part
of the Borough which lies beyond the limits of the
town, then the farmers and landed proprietors—the
class which of all others has the most fixed and per-
manent interest in the country—would have been
virtually excluded, forming, as they do, numerically,
a minority taken in connection with the populous
military settlements in the neighbourhood of Auck-
land. For this reason, and to secure, in as far as
practicable, to each class a fair share in the election
of the governing body, each Pensioner settlement
and each agricultural district has been formed into a
distinct Ward, with the power of returning a mem-
ber to the Common Council of the Borough.

15. In defining the metes and bounds of the
    several Wards, it was obviously impossible, under
    the circumstances and with due regard to the prin-
    ciples of the Charter—local self-government—to adopt
    either territorial extent or numerical importance with
    respect to population as the rule. Whatever may be
    the present disparity in these respects of the several
    Wards, a near approach to equality will probably be
    found to exist in the proportion that will be borne by
    the several Wards, in their contributions to the general
    funds, to the Borough under the operation of a rate
    levied on real property. Another important consi-
    deration which has been held in view in determining
    the size and figure of the several Wards was well
    defined boundary lines, either natural or artificial.

16. As the business of the Corporation will be of
    a strictly local nature, namely, to provide for the
    government and improvement of the Borough with
    a due regard to the interests of its several localities,
    it was deemed essential that the governing body
    should be composed of men having accurate know-
    ledge of the condition and requirements of its various
    parts, and this object has therefore been secured by
    that provision of the Charter which prescribes that
    the member to be elected for each Ward shall be a
    Burgess of the Ward for which he shall be elected.
    By this means the Council will possess accurate
    practical knowledge of every part of the Borough,
    and each Ward will be represented by a member
    who will naturally be anxious to promote its im-
    provement, and who will have a direct personal
    interest in its prosperity.

17. The number of natives residing within the
    Borough is but small, and nearly the whole of them
    reside within the limits of the single Ward of
    Tamaki West. I apprehend, therefore, that, though,
    as has been provided for by a recent Ordinance,
    they are not excluded from a voice in the election
    of the Council, they will be practically found to
    exercise but little influence even in the return of a
    single member.

18. You will observe that the powers of legislation
    conferred upon the Council are subject to the limi-
    tation that no bye-law made by them shall be
    repugnant to any law or ordinance of the General
    Legislature, or of the Legislature of the Province.
    As some misapprehension may possibly exist as to
    the precise meaning of these words, I think it right
    to state that, as used in the enclosed Charter, they
    mean no more than this: that although the power
    of legislation on certain subjects has been given to
    the Municipal Council, yet that to such Council the
    exclusive power of legislating on those subjects has
    not been given, and that in case of, or rather to
    avoid, a conflict of laws, the authority of the
    superior legislative body must prevail: for example,
    the Council of the Borough will have the power of
    making bye-laws for establishing and maintaining
    schools; if the General Legislature of New Zealand
    should at some future time enact a law that in every
    district of the Colony a public school should be
    established, it would not be competent for the
    Council of the Borough afterwards to enact by a
    bye-law that the Borough of Auckland should be
    exempt from the operation of such a law, or that no
    public school should be established in the district,
    because such a bye-law would be “repugnant” to a
    law of the General Legislature, and consequently,
    under the provisions of the Charter, such bye-law
    would for that reason be null and void.

19. According to the terms of the Royal Instruc-
    tions, no bye-law is to take effect until it shall have
    been approved of by the Governor-in-Chief, but the
    frequent unavoidable absence of the Governor-in-
    Chief, and the difficulty of communication between
    the different parts of the Colony would, if this rule
    were enforced, often necessitate a lengthened delay
    before a bye-law could come into operation. To
    obviate this inconvenience, the Charter provides, for
    the purpose of carrying its provisions into effect,
    that the term “Governor-in-Chief” shall be taken
    to include the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor
    of the Province.

20. In order that full effect may at the earliest
    practicable period be given to the intentions with
    which the enclosed Charter was drawn, I have to
    direct that, in compliance with the terms of the
    Ordinance herewith transmitted, the Colonial
    Treasurer should be instructed to keep a separate
    account, shewing the proportion of the land fund
    raised within the Borough to which the Corporation
    may be entitled; and the amount which may be so
    due upon the first day of every month, must be,
    upon demand, paid over to the Treasurer of the
    Corporation. The only exception to this rule will
    be in the case of the land recovered from the sea by
    the wharf at Auckland; it will in that instance be
    necessary to repay, from the first proceeds of the
    sale of that land, the sums which have been advanced
    for the erection of the wharf. When this debt
    shall have been liquidated, the proceeds which will
    be realized from the sale of the remaining portion of
    the land will, of course, be treated as the ordinary
    land fund, and one-third of the gross proceeds of
    such sales will be paid over to the Corporation. It
    is only upon this understanding that it is in my
    power to sanction the issue of the advances which
    are necessary for the completion of the wharf.

21. It being probable that not only in the town of
    Auckland, but in other parts of the Borough also,
    considerable portions of land can be reclaimed
    from the sea at a comparatively trifling cost, which
    can then be disposed of to considerable advantage, it
    will be desirable, whenever it is practicable—as the
    Government is itself so largely interested in the
    sale of public lands within the Borough—that it