101

The Officer administering the Government
cannot but express his persuasion, that, under
any circumstances, the House will be indis-
posed to separate without adding some useful
measures to the very small amount of le-
gislation which has as yet been accomplished;
without making some provision for the appro-
priation of the public revenues between the
General and the Provincial Governments;
or, without settling, though in an imperfect
manner, and for but temporary purposes, other
questions of a very urgent character.

In order that the House may have before
them at one view all the documents which
relate to the subject of this Message, they will
be appended to it in the order of their dates.

In communicating with the House by Mes-
sage on the subject of a ministerial crisis, the
Officer administering the Government has been
guided by numerous precedents, and more es-
pecially by the example of the late Lord
Metcalfe; who, as Governor of Canada in
1843, upon the resignation of a Ministry,
conducted all communications between him-
self and the House of Assembly on the subject,
by means of original Messages from himself,
and Messages in answer to Addresses from the
House. Copies of the voluminous documents
in question are now in the hands of the Officer
administering the Government.

Finally, the Officer Administering the Go-
vernment declares to the House his unaltered
adherence to the principle of Responsible Go-
vernment; and he once more assures them of
his most earnest hope that the limited practical
application of that principle, which, from first
to last, he has asserted his inability to exceed,
may not be rejected by them. He therefore
again expresses his trust that the House may
see fit to abstain from coming hastily to any
conclusion on the subject of this Message, but
may, on the contrary, bestow upon it the calm
and patient consideration which it has received
from himself.

R. H. WYNYARD,
Officer Administering the Government.

Government House, Auckland,
August 5th, 1854.

APPENDIX.
No. 1.

To His Excellency the Officer administering the Government
of the Islands of New Zealand.
May it please your Excellency,-

We, the House of Representatives of New Zealand, in
Parliament assembled, desire to express to your Excellency our
grateful thanks for the Address with which your Excellency
has been pleased to inaugurate the opening of the first General
Assembly of New Zealand.

We cordially unite in the language of congratulation with
which your Excellency has been pleased to refer to the pros-
perity which pervades all parts of this Colony; and we desire
to add our own testimony, derived from personal acquaintance
with the various Provinces, to the justice of your Excellency's
expressions. We entertain the strongest convictions that under
the liberal institutions which have been bestowed on this Colo-
ny by the English Parliament, that prosperity will be fostered
and extended.

Entirely appreciating the difficulty of your Excellency's posi-
tion, and the responsibility of initiating a course of policy,
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.

We feel that it would be premature at so early a period of
the Session, to enter upon all the various subjects to which
your Excellency has been pleased to direct our attention; but
we desire to express our earnest wish to co-operate, in the most
cordial manner, with your Excellency, in carrying into effect
whatever policy may ultimately be determined on as most bene-
ficial to the Colony at large, and to the several Provinces of
which it is composed, and to assure your Excellency
that whatever measures may be submitted to the house
by your Excellency's Government, shall receive their most res-
pectful and patient consideration.

(Signed) CHARLES CLIFFORD,
Speaker of the House of Representatives,
[No date, but received on the 1st June.]
True copy.
W. COCKCRAFT,
Private Secretary.

No. 2.

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OPINION.

By the recent Act for granting a Representative Constitution
to New Zealand, no provision has been made for establishing
"Ministerial Responsibility in the conduct of Legislative and
Executive proceedings by the Governor."

By the Royal Letters Patent (13th September, 1852,) issued
to the Governor subsequently to the passing of the Act, it is
provided that the Government of the Colony shall be adminis-
tered by a Governor under instructions from the Crown, and
with the advice and assistance of an Executive Council.

By the Royal Instructions of the same date (13th September,
1852,) and accompanying the Governor's Commission, the un-
dermentioned persons are nominated and appointed by the
Crown to be members of the Executive Council, that is to say,
The senior Military Officer in command of Her Majesty's
Forces.

The Colonial Secretary, or the person acting in that capacity.
The Attorney-General or the person acting in that capacity..
The Treasurer, or the person acting in that capacity.
And such other persons as the Governor shall deem to be quali-
fied and capable to advise him. But it is provided that any ap-
pointment so to be made by the Governor shall be provisional
only, and subject to be confirmed or disallowed by the Crown.

The Royal Instructions further provide that the Executive
Council shall not proceed to the despatch of business unless
summoned by the Governor;-that as a general rule no ques-
tion shall be brought before them for their advice or decision,
excepting such as may be proposed by the Governor;-and
that it shall be competent for the Governor, although he may
dissent from the opinion of the major part, or of the whole of
the Council, to execute the powers conferred upon him, in op-
position to their opinion. But that in such case, it shall be
competent for any member of the Council to record on the
minutes the reasons of any advice he may give, and that it
shall be peremptory on the Governor in such case immediately
to transmit to the Crown a full explanation and a copy of such
minutes.

By the terms of his Commission, and by the Royal Instruc-
tions accompanying it, the Governor himself is made directly
responsible to the Crown, and no power is given to him to de-
legate his authority, or to relieve himself from such responsi-
bility in the conduct of the duties of his office.

By the same Instruments the members of the Executive
Council are also made responsible to the Crown.

Neither by the Constitution Act, nor by the Instruments under
the authority of which he administers the Government, has
any provision been made for enabling the Governor to establish
"Ministerial Responsibility in the conduct of Legislative and
Executive proceedings by the Governor."

Looking to the provisions of the Constitution Act, (sections
55, 56,) by which it is enacted that the Governor may by mes-
sage transmit to either the Legislative Council or to the House
of Representatives for their consideration, the drafts of any
laws which it may appear to him to be desirable to introduce,
and that he may also make such arrangements as he may think
expedient in any bill which may have been passed by the Coun-
cil and House, and return the same for their consideration; and
looking to the recommendation contained in the Report of the
Committee of the Board of Trade and Plantations on the pro-
posed establishment of a Representative Legislature for the Cape
of Good Hope, which appears to have been under the notice
of H.M. Government, when engaged in the preparation of the
New Zealand Constitution Act, it would seem to have been the
decision of the framers of the Act that it was not necessary
that the Executive should be represented either in the Legis-
lative Council or in the House of Representatives, and that it
was intended by them that the Governor should not only exer-
cise the power of assenting to or disallowing the Legislative
measures of the Legislative Council and the House of Repre-
sentatives but that he should form an active and co-ordinate
branch of the Assembly, and with the advice and assistance of
the Executive Council, take a direct and distinct share in the
business of the Legislature. With a general desire on the part
of the members of the Assembly to carry out the apparent in-
tentions of the framers of the Act; it would be possible though
difficult to carry through the Chambers the Legislative mea-