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doubt if in a young country it would be easy to procure a sufficient number of qualified persons to constitute two distinct Chambers, and because ultimately probably a single Chamber is that form of body which is best adapted for a distinct council possessing extensive powers.

It also appeared probable to me that the founders of the new settlements which are likely soon to leave England for New Zealand, such as the Free Church of Scotland Settlement, and the Canterbury Settlement, might perhaps wish to avail themselves of the provisions of the Ordinance enclosed in this despatch, by having the members of their single Chamber nominated by Her Majesty previously to their leaving the mother country, in which case they might agree on a considerable number of local enactments before they left England, which they could pass immediately on their arrival in this country.

In reference to the proportions which I have recommended should be ultimately observed in the Provincial Legislative Councils between the number of members nominated by Her Majesty and those elected by the people, I should state that I thought it better to name, in the first instance, such a proportion, rather than to name any specific number of persons as that which Her Majesty might call to these Councils. Because in several Provinces with such various amounts of population great differences must exist in the size of the respective Councils, and in those Provinces in which the number of the native population is a large one, it may be necessary to call to the Council the Native Secretary, the Surveyor General, and other officers whose presence might not be required in the Councils of other Provinces. Upon the whole, therefore I thought it better to name the proportions which I have done as those which should be first adopted, leaving it to the General Assembly with the assent of Her Majesty to make any alterations in these proportions, which experience might hereafter point out as necessary.

It appears unnecessary for me to enter into any detail upon the subject of the various reasons which have led me to recommend that the several powers of legislation should be conferred respectively upon the General Assembly and the Provincial Legislative Councils.

The general object I have in these respects had in view, was, as I have before stated, to constitute one General Legislature for the whole territory, with complete powers of legislation upon all subjects of general interest which could pass laws binding throughout the whole of the New Zealand Islands, yet, at the same time, to make ample provision for the existing difficulties of communication, and for the scattered state of the settlements by providing legislative bodies which, whilst they had large powers for the purposes of local legislation, were precluded from legislating upon subjects of general interest. It is also proposed to prohibit them from legislating upon points connected with the natives, all such questions being reserved to the General Assembly, where the number of Representatives from different Provinces, some of which will be in no manner mixed up with native questions, will probably ensure an impartial and dispassionate consideration of such questions.

I have recommended your Lordship to sanction the principle of direct election of the Representatives to the several Chambers, instead of causing them to be returned through the intervention of another body, because the whole of my experience in these colonies induces me to think that the system which I have recommended will work far better in practice than any other, and because I believe it will be more agreeable to the wishes of the settlers themselves.

In the various provisions which I have introduced into the enclosed Ordinance relating to the amount of the Civil List which is to be reserved, its appropriation, &c., I have followed the exact words of the constitution which was sent out by your Lordship, the whole of these provisions appearing to me with one exception to be most excellent. The one I allude to is the amount of the Civil List to be reserved in each Province, and in respect to that, looking to the large amount of the native population, and the sums they will contribute to the revenue, whilst they will be nearly wholly unrepresented, I think it might upon the whole be more prudent to reserve for the next few years, a Civil List of ten thousand pounds per annum in each Province. In fact I think that the reservation of a larger Civil List might enable Representative Institutions to be introduced into New Zealand at an earlier date than could otherwise be prudently done by reserving a sum which could be applied for the benefit of that large portion of the native population, who, whilst they will contribute largely to the revenue, will, under a system of Representative Government, have no voice as to the mode in which it is to be applied, an evil which, I confess, I can never contemplate without a great degree of apprehension.

In proposing the low rate of franchise which I have done in this despatch, I have been influenced by the desire of including amongst the voters all those persons who have acquired small properties on which they intend to reside themselves during the remainder of their lives, and to settle their children.

Persons of this class have such a stake in