✨ Text of Royal Instructions




29

Council; that is to say, the Senior Mili-
tary Officer for the time being in command
of our Land Forces in our said Islands,
the Colonial Secretary of and for our said
Islands, or the person for the time being
lawfully acting in that capacity; the
Attorney-General of and for our said
Islands, acting in that capacity; the
Treasurer of and for our said Islands, or the
person for the time being lawfully acting in
that capacity, and such other persons as you
shall deem to be qualified and capable to ad-
vise you. Provided, nevertheless, that any
appointment so to be made by you of any
person not hereinbefore expressly designated
to be an Executive Councillor shall be pro-
visional only, and subject to be confirmed
or disallowed by us.

And we do declare our pleasure, to be that
you forthwith communicate to our said
Executive Council these our instructions and
likewise all such others from time to time
as you shall find convenient for our service
to be imparted to them.

And we do hereby, and it is our pleasure
that our said Council shall not proceed to the
despatch of business unless duly summoned
by your authority, and unless two members
at least exclusive of yourself, or, in your ab-
sence, exclusive of the member presiding, be
present and assisting throughout the whole of
the meetings at which any such business shall
be despatched.

And it is our will and pleasure, that you do
attend and preside at the meetings of our
said Executive Council, unless when pre-
vented by some necessary and reasonable
cause, and that in your absence the senior
member of the Council actually present shall
preside at all such meetings, the seniority of
the members of the said Council being regu-
lated according to the order in which their
respective offices hereinafter mentioned.

And we do further direct and command
that a full and exact journal or minute be
kept of all the deliberations, acts, proceedings,
votes, and resolutions of our said Executive
Council, and that at each meeting of the said
Council the minutes of the last preceding
meeting shall be read over, confirmed, or
amended, as the case may require, before
proceeding to the despatch of any other busi-
ness.

And it is our further will and pleasure, and
we do hereby command you that in the exe-
cution of the several powers and authorities
granted and committed to you by our said
Charter and Commission, and these our In-
structions, or by any additional Instructions
hereafter to be given to you by us, you do
all things consult and advise with our said
Executive Council, and that you do not exer-
cise the powers and authorities aforesaid, or
any of them, except by and with the concur-
rence and advice of our said Executive
Council, save and except only in such cases
as are hereafter saved and excepted, that is to
say: Provided always that nothing herein
contained shall extend to prevent your exer-
cising without the advice and consent of our
said Executive Council, the several powers
and authorities or any of them which may be
of so urgent and pressing a nature as not to
admit of the delay unavoidably incident to
the deliberation of our said Council. It is
nevertheless our pleasure that the measure
adopted by you without the advice of our said
Executive Council upon any such emer-
gency shall with all convenient speed
be by you brought before our said
Executive Council for their revision or sanc-
tion: Provided also that nothing herein con-
tained shall prevent your exercising the
several powers and authorities aforesaid, or
any of them, without the advice and concur-
rence of our said Executive Council, in any case,
or upon any occasion which may yet appear
to you to be sufficiently important to require
their assistance and advice, or which may be
of such a nature that in your judgment our
service might sustain material prejudice by
consulting our said Executive Council there-
upon.

And it is our further will and pleasure, that
no question shall be brought before our said
Executive Council for their advice or decision
excepting only such questions as may be
proposed by you for that purpose. Provided
nevertheless, and it is our will and pleasure,
that if any member shall deem it expedient
that any question should undergo the deli-
beration of the said Executive Council, and
shall by application in writing to you
request and propose that such question should
be so discussed, it shall be competent to any
such member to enter upon the minutes of
the said Executive Council such his written
application to you, together with the answer
which may be returned by you to the same.
And it is our will, and we do further direct,
that if in any case you see sufficient cause to
dissent from the opinion of the major part or
of the whole of our said Executive Council
upon any question brought by you under
their consideration, it shall be competent to you
upon any such occasion to execute the powers
and authorities vested in you by our Com-
mission and these our Instructions in opposi-
tion to such their opinions, it being neverthe-
less our pleasure that in every case it shall be
competent to any member of our said Council
to record at length, on the minutes of the
said Council, the grounds and reasons of any
advice or opinion he may give upon any
question brought under the consideration of
such Council; and it being also our pleasure
that, in the event of your acting upon any
occasion in opposition to the advice of the
whole or the major part of the said Executive
Council, you do by the first opportunity
transmit to us, through one of our principal
Secretaries of State, a full explanation of the
grounds of every such measure, together with
complete copies of the minutes if any of the
said Executive Council relating thereto. And
we do further direct that twice in each year a
full transcript of all the minutes of the Exe-



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Online Sources for this page:

VUW Te Waharoa PDF NZ Gazette 1854, No 7





✨ LLM interpretation of page content

πŸ›οΈ Continuation of Her Majesty's Instructions regarding the Executive Council procedures (continued from previous page)

πŸ›οΈ Governance & Central Administration
25 March 1854
Executive Council, procedures, minutes, authority, Governor, Royal Instructions