88

But the Officer administering the Govern-
ment did not confine himself within the safe,
and easy limits of attending only to esta-
blished routine. Impressed with a belief that
the colony both needed and desired legisla-
tion without delay by the General Assembly,
he took upon himself, contrary to general
usage as respects the functions of mere ad-
ministrators of colonial governments, to
convene the Parliament of the colony. For
having spontaneously incurred this unusual
responsibility, the House saw fit to convey to
him an expression of their thanks in the fol-
lowing words:-" Entirely appreciating the
difficulty of your Excellency's position, and
the responsibility of initiating a course of po-
licy during your temporary administration of
the Government, we desire to record our
deep and lasting sense of the great benefit
which your Excellency has conferred on the
colony by convening the General Assembly at
the earliest possible period after it became
your duty to assume the Government of New
Zealand."

This was said in answer to the speech
by the head of the Government where-
by the session was opened; and it
therefore indicates, by the complimentary
allusion to the initiation of a policy by him,
that Ministerial Responsibility was not at that
moment in the contemplation of the House.

Presently afterwards, however, and very
suddenly, that question became so prominent
as to exclude every other subject from the
consideration of the House. This question
involves principles which, when viewed as
practically applicable to this Colony, were
entirely new to the Officer administering the
Government, as, down to a time not long pre-
ceding the convention of the Assembly, those
principles had been to the thoughts of the co-
lonists, with the exception of a very few of
the most active political minds. When, how-
ever, that question was brought before him
in a practical form, and by means of proceed-
ings in the House which could not but com-
mand his most serious attention, he examined
it with care; and, becoming satisfied that a
concession of the principle was both desirable
in itself on general grounds, and necessary in
order to preserve harmony between the organ
of the Crown and the Representatives of the
people, he resolved to comply with the wishes
of the House. But that resolution on his
part was limited by the condition that, when
fully admitting the principle, he should give
immediate effect to it so far only as he could
do so constitutionally. On an examination
of the Constitution Act with this especial
view, it became manifest, in the first place,
that the Act of the Imperial Parliament makes
no specific provision for Ministerial Respon-
sibility in the exercise of the Governor's func-
tions; and, secondly, that it does contain a
provision whereby the same validity is given
to certain existing Royal Instructions as if
they had been part of the Act itself. Through-
out the discussions on this subject, whether
in the Houses of the Legislature or in the

Executive Council, the constitutional force
of these Royal Instructions has been taken
for granted by everybody. The Officer ad-
ministering the Government was led to
believe that those Instructions absolutely
preclude him from establishing Ministerial
Responsibility in a complete form, and, in
particular, by forbidding him to disturb any
tenure of office derived from her Majesty's
Sign Manual, until he shall receive from her
Majesty express direction or permission to set
aside appointments made by herself. Ac-
cordingly, when the Officer administering the
Government held communication with gen-
tlemen supposed to enjoy the confidence of
the House, with a view to the introduction
into the Executive Council of some members
of the House of Representatives, he made
them fully and distinctly acquainted with his
opinion as to the limits of his power with re-
gard to actual holders of office. In that opinion
he supposed those gentlemen to concur with-
out qualification or reserve; and, on the basis
of that opinion, Ministerial arrangements were
made, which are described by the correspon-
dence that took place at the time, a copy of
which, numbered 4 and 5, is appended to this
Message. Those documents were laid before
the House of Representatives, who, after
ample discussion of the new Ministerial ar-
rangements, expressed to the Officer adminis-
tering the Government, by a formal address
(No, 6 in the appendix) the high satisfaction
and deep sense of obligation towards him
with which they regarded his prompt and un-
reserved compliance with their desire that
Ministerial Responsibility in the conduct of
Legislative and Executive proceedings by the
Governor should be established without delay.
The practical limits of the concession of the
principle were as cordially accepted by the
House as by the new Ministers themselves.

This arrangement, completed on the 14th
of June, appeared to give universal satisfac-
tion, until, on or about the 29th June, the
Ministers asked the Officer administering the
Government to exceed that arrangement, by
adding to the Executive Council a mem-
ber of the Legislative Council, who might
thus represent the Government in the latter
body. In order to facilitate the transaction
of Legislative business, the Officer adminis-
tering the Government instantly com-
plied with this request; and in doing so he
exceeded the original Ministerial arrange-
ment, by giving to the new advisers of the
Governor a majority in the Executive
Council.

Again, when Mr. Bell, the member of the
Executive Council who had been so appoint-
ed, was called away by domestic circum-
stances immediately after having appeared in
the Legislative Council as a responsible ad-
viser of the Crown, the Officer administering
the Government instantly and cheerfully as-
sented to the appointment of Mr. Bartley as
a member both of the Executive and of the
Legislative Councils.

So far as the Officer administering the Go