(82)
residue of controlling authority which it may
be requisite to retain within the limits of this
country, although I think its exercise may be no
easy task for the immediate servants of the Queen
I doubt whether it would be found when it had
been formally intrusted to the New Zealand
Company either less difficult or less invidious."

• • ..

• • • ---

      "With respect to the establishment of Repre-
      sentative Institutions in the Colony, Her Majesty's
      Government regard it with so much desire, that I
      should approach with very favourable predispo-
      sition any plan which should promise to organize
      them on an efficient footing. For relates to
      the government of the British settlers, which I
      have already taken occasion broadly to separate
      from the regulations of our relations with the na-
      tive race, although it may be attended with much
      difficulty, even when placed on that basis, I can-
      not but perceive that it is the only basis on which
      it is in any manner to be hoped that full justice
      can be done to the capabilities of the colony, and
      that the work of well rearing it in its earliest
      stages, arduous to persons on the spot, becomes,
      if the springs of action are to be moved from this
      distance absolutely impracticable. A large con-
      fidence in a well chosen head of the Executive
      Government is the best and safest rule which
      can be applied to the proceedings of this de-
      partment in reference to New Zealand, and, in
      the Island a similar confidence should be re-
      posed by that Government in the colonists, and
      a regular and constitutional resort should be had
      to their aid, in the mode of which, to their
      substance this country affords a pattern available
      with just modifications, for such colonies as New
      Zealand.

In my Despatch of the 31st January, I alluded
to the division of political functions between
principal and central bodies, but there is a fur-
ther addition to which I may now advert, not as
of certain advantage, but as probably deserving
to arise within a short period between Auckland
and Cook's Straits, the obstacle which their
distance offers to unity of Government, may
be mitigated or overcome. Even if I have no
such remedy in prospect, I can conceive it possi-
ble that arrangements may be made, which by
entrusting much to municipalities, and leaving
less than is usual to a General or Central Le-
gislature, may at once put out of view the alter-
native which I am about to name. Yet, upon
considering how few of the conditions either of
physical or moral unity between the Northern
and Southern settlements can be said at present
to subsist, I cannot exclude the supposition that
it may possibly be found expedient to resort
to a division of the Colony, which should give
one tolerably complete organization to the
Northern part of the Northern Island, with
Auckland for its Capital; and should make Cook's
Straits the centre of another, attaching to it the
Southern Districts of the Northern Island, or any
portion of them, and probably the whole of the
Middle Island. If such an arrangement should
be found advisable, I consider it most likely that
Her Majesty's Government would also find rea-
son to conclude that the two Bodies of Colonial
Institutions thus established ought not to be ab-
solutely co-ordinate and independent one of the
other, but that there should be at least an Execu-
tive attached to one of them, which should be, in
some sense, the head of the other; while the
mother country would of course retain its position
in relation to both. Simplicity is a great advantage
in the institution of any, and especially of a small
community ; still it is often found that complex
ity of structure, if the parts be well adjusted,
affords the best security for ease in operation,
and therefore is best entitled to the praise of real
simplicity.

At this distance, writing at a time when possi-
bly your mind may already have arrived at a ma-
ture judgment on the question to which I refer,
and I must also add having these subjects before
me in a confused mass, without any such clue to
the regular connection and clear apprehension
of them as I trust your reports will afford, it is
less injurious to leave you in suspense, by avoid-
ing the communication of definite conclusions,
than to run the risk of embarrassing or obstruct-
ing you by their premature announcement. On
this ground you will readily account for the in-
determinate and simply suggestive character of
this Despatch. It will afford me sincere gratifi-
cation if I should hereafter find that your own
thoughts, guided by experience, have taken a
direction so far corresponding with that of mine
as to afford me the assurance that this Communi-
cation may, at the least have tended in no de-
gree to aggravate the difficulties of the office
with which you are charged."

I have the honor to be, Sir,
Your obedient humble servant,
(Signed)
W. E. GLADSTONE.

TO G. GREY, Esq., Governor, &c.

No. 20.
Downing Street,
13th August, 1845.

SIR,—Among the Acts passed by the Legis-
lature of New Zealand in the year 1844, there
are three to which it seems to me necessary to
direct your particular attention.

The Ordinance for establishing a Supreme
Court, dated the 30th of January, 1844, by the
6th and 7th clauses, constitutes that Tribunal an
Instance Court of Vice Admiralty, and gives to
the Court, cognizance of
committed within the Jurisdiction of the Vice
Admiral of New Zealand, as fully as if such
crimes had been committed on the land, within
the limits of the Colony. As long as these clauses
shall continue to form part of this Act, it will
not be in the power of Her Majesty to con-
firm it. No power, except that of the Sovereign,
acting with the advice and consent of Parlia-
ment, is competent to confer on any Court with-
in the British Dominions jurisdiction over crimes
committed on the high Seas. This follows not
only from the reason of the case, and from the
inextricable difficulties, which must result from
conflicting legislation, in the different Colonies
of this Kingdom, on the same subject matter, but
also from the terms of the Acts of Parliament
by which the Crown is authorized to constitute
Courts in any British Colony for this purpose.
Those Acts expressly declare that the jurisdiction
of those Courts is to be exclusive, and that no
other criminal Tribunals may assume or exer-
cise it.

In like manner the creation of Courts of
Vice Admiralty is a branch of the Royal Pre-
rogative never delegated to any Colonial Au-
thority. It is exercised by the Queen, on the
Advice of the Lords Commissioners of the
Admiralty, and may not be lawfully exercised
in any other manner.

You will therefore propose to the Repeal of clauses 6 and 7 of
this Ordinance, as the indispensable condition
of the confirmation of it by Her Majesty.

The Native Trust Ordinance, dated 29th June,
1844, contains a clause, No. 14, enabling the
Trustees to appoint School Teachers; and to