98

But the Officer administering the Govern- | Executive Council, the constitutional force
ment did not confine himself within the safe | of these Royal Instructions has been taken
and easy limits of attending only to esta- | for granted by everybody. The Officer ad-
blished routine. Impressed with a belief that | ministering the Government was led to
the colony both needed and desired legisla- | believe that those Instructions absolutely
tion without delay by the General Assembly, | preclude him from establishing Ministerial
he took upon himself, contrary to general | Responsibility in a complete form, and, in
usage as respects the functions of mere ad- | particular, by forbidding him to disturb any
ministrators of colonial governments, to | tenure of office derived from her Majesty's
convene the Parliament of the colony. For | Sign Manual, until he shall receive from her
having spontaneously incurred this unusual | Majesty express direction or permission to set
responsibility, the House of Repre- | aside appointments made by Herself. Ac-
sentatives saw fit to convey to him an | cordingly, when the Officer administering the
expression of their thanks in the fol- | Government held communication with gen-
lowing words :-" Entirely appreciating the | tlemen supposed to enjoy the confidence of
difficulty of your Excellency's position, and | the House, with a view to the introduction
the responsibility of initiating a course of po- | into the Executive Council of some members
licy during your temporary administration of | of the House of Representatives, he made
the Government, we desire to record our | them fully and distinctly acquainted with his
deep and lasting sense of the great benefit | opinion as to the limits of his power with re-
which your Excellency has conferred on the | gard to actual holders. In that opinion
colony by convening the General Assembly at | he supposed those gentlemen to concur with-
the earliest possible period after it became | out qualification or reserve; and, on the basis
your duty to assume the Government of New | of that opinion, Ministerial arrangements were
Zealand."
made, which are described by the correspon-
dence that took place at the time, a copy of
This was said in answer to the speech | which, numbered 4 and 5, is appended to this
by the head of the Government where- | Message. Those documents were laid before
by the session was opened; and it | the House of Representatives, who, after
therefore indicates, by the complimentary | ample discussion of the new Ministerial ar-
allusion to the initiation of a policy by him, | rangements, expressed to the Officer adminis-
that Ministerial Responsibility was not at that | tering the Government, by a formal address
moment in the contemplation of the House. | (No. 6 in the appendix) the high satisfaction

Presently afterwards, however, and very | and deep sense of obligation towards him
suddenly, that question became so prominent | with which they regarded his prompt and un-
as to exclude every other subject from the | reserved compliance with their desire that
consideration of the House. This question | Ministerial Responsibility in the conduct of
involves principles. which, when viewed as | Legislative and Executive proceedings by the
practically applicable to this Colony, were | Governor should be established without delay..
tirely new to the Officer administering the | The practical limits of the concession of the
Government, as, down to a time not long pre- | principle were as cordially accepted by the
ceding the convention of the Assembly, those | House as by the new Ministers themselves.
principles had been to the thoughts of the co- |
lonists, with the exception of a very few of | This arrangement, completed on the 14th
the most active political minds. When, how- | of June, appeared to give universal satisfac-
ever, that question was brought before him | tion, until, on or about the 29th June, the
in a practical form, and by means of proceed- | Ministers asked the Officer administering the
ings in the House which could not but com- | Government to exceed that arrangement, by
mand his most serious attention, he examined | adding to the Executive Council a mem-
it with care; and, becoming satisfied that a | ber of the Legislative Council, who might
concession of the principle was both desirable | thus represent the Government in the latter
in itself on general grounds, and necessary in | body. In order to facilitate the transac-
order to preserve harmony between the organ | tion of Legislative business, the Officer ad-
of the Crown and the Representatives of the | ministering the Government instantly com-
people, he resolved to comply with the wishes | plied with this request; and in doing so he
of the House. But that resolution on his | exceeded the original Ministerial arrange-
part was limited by the condition that, when | ment, by giving to the new advisers of the
fully admitting the principle, he should give | Governor a majority in the Executive
immediate effect to it so far only as he could | Council.

do so constitutionally. On an examination |
Again, when Mr. Bell, the member of the
of the Constitution Act with this especial | Executive Council who had been so appoint-
view, it became manifest, in the first place, | ed, was called away by domestic circum-
that the Act of the Imperial Parliament makes | stances immediately after having appeared in
no specific provision for Ministerial Respon- | the Legislative Council as a responsible ad-
sibility in the exercise of the Governor's func- | viser of the Crown, the Officer administering
tions; and, secondly, that it does contain a | the Government instantly and cheerfully as-
provision whereby the same validity is given | sented to the appointment of Mr. Bartley as
to certain existing Royal Instructions as if | a member both of the Executive and of the
they had been part of the Act itself. Through- | Legislative Councils.
out the discussions on this subject, whether |
in the Houses of the Legislature or in the | So far as the Officer administering the Go-