Superintendent’s Office,
Christchurch, March 21, 1854.

HIS HONOR THE SUPERINTENDENT

DIRECTS the publication of the following correspondence for general information.

Edward Puckle,
Private Secretary.

Colonial Secretary’s Office,
Auckland, Jan. 30, 1854.

Sir,

I have had the honor to receive and submit to the officer administering the Government, your Honor’s letters as noted in the margin, enclosing copies of the following Ordinances:—

“Limitation of Patronage Ordinance;”
“Provincial Revenue Ordinance;”
“Scab and Catarrh Ordinance;”
“Government Gazette Ordinance;” and
“Executive Government Ordinance.”

In reference to these Ordinances I am directed by His Excellency to inform you that there is nothing in them to call for the exercise of the power of disallowance vested in the Governor by the New Zealand Constitution Act.

As regards the “Empowering Ordinance,” Session I., No. 8, I am directed to observe that although the powers conferred upon the Superintendent by this Ordinance are very extensive, His Excellency would not on that ground have disallowed it: it being obviously for the convenience of the public that many of these powers should be exercised by some local authority without the delay of a distant reference; but it is enacted by the second clause of the Ordinance that in case of the death or absence of the Superintendent, the powers given to him may be exercised by the “President of the Executive Council.”

Between these two officers there is this marked difference. The Superintendent is an officer known to the Constitution; on the one hand, elected by the people of the Province, and whose election, on the other hand, is liable to be disallowed by the Governor, and who is subject to be removed by the Crown. There may be, therefore, no valid objection against entrusting to an officer, so appointed, the powers conferred upon the Representatives of the Crown by the Ordinances in the schedule.

The President of the Executive Council, however, is an officer unknown to the Constitution of New Zealand, and neither elected by the people, nor appointed by the Crown, but nominated by the Superintendent, and holding office at his pleasure. The name, character, and qualification of this officer may be wholly unknown to the Government of the colony.

Under these circumstances His Excellency could not sanction the delegation to the officer in question of the numerous powers given to the Governor by the several Ordinances comprised within the Schedule. And the 2nd clause of the Ordinance is deemed to be so objectionable as to call for the exercise of the power of disallowance vested in the Governor by the New Zealand Constitution Act.

Your Honor will observe, therefore, by the copy of the Government Gazette herewith enclosed, that the disallowance of the Ordinance in question has been proclaimed by the officer administering the Government.

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your very obedient Servant,
ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

His Honor the Superintendent,
Canterbury.

PROCLAMATION.

By Lieutenant-Colonel ROBERT HENRY WYNYARD, Companion of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, and Chief Officer in Command of Her Majesty’s Military Forces within the Colony of New Zealand, &c., &c., &c.

WHEREAS by an Act made and enacted in the Parliament holden in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, intituled “An Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the Colony of New Zealand,” it is amongst other things enacted that the General Assembly of New Zealand shall be holden at any place and time within New Zealand which the Governor shall from time to time by Proclamation for that purpose appoint. Now, therefore,

I, the Officer administering the Government of New Zealand, Do hereby proclaim and appoint that the said General Assembly shall be holden, and shall meet for the Dispatch of Business at Auckland, on the 24th day of May now next ensuing, at twelve o’clock at noon. And the members of the said Assembly are hereby warned to give their attendance at the said time and place accordingly.

Given under my hand, and issued under the Public Seal of the Islands of New Zealand, at Auckland, this eighteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.

R. H. WYNYARD,
Chief Officer in Command of Her Majesty’s Military Forces within the Colony of New Zealand.

By His Excellency’s command,
ANDREW SINCLAIR,
Colonial Secretary.

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN.