✨ Provincial Council Dissolution
Colonial Secretary's Office,
July 28th, 1857.
116
THE following correspondence, relative to a
dissolution of the Auckland Provincial
Council, is published for general information.
E. W. STAFFORD,
Superintendent's Office,
Auckland, June 22nd, 1857.
SIR,-I have the honour to request that His
Excellency the Governor may be advised to
dissolve the Auckland Provincial Council.
The circumstances which, in my opinion,
have rendered a dissolution necessary, are the
following:-
In the late session of the Council, the return
of a member for the District of the Suburbs
of Auckland having been disputed, the sitting
member resigned, and a Writ for a new elec-
tion was thereupon issued by me. During the
currency of that Writ, a minority of the Pro-
vincial Council adopted a resolution, declaring
the Petitioner duly elected, and he, thereupon,
was introduced to the Council: within a few
days the member returned upon the Writ, pre-
sented himself, and took his seat, when there
appeared to be twenty-five members in the
Council. During the efforts made by the ma-
jority to rescind the resolution before mention-
ed, the difficulty caused by the presence of the
extraordinary Member presented itself, and the
members were locked up on division, upon the
first occasion for 24 hours, and upon the second
for 30 hours. I then prorogued the Council:
-copy of the Proclamation, and of the Message
with which it was transmitted, are enclosed.
The hope which I expressed in the Message
that upon mature reflection a better understand-
ing amongst the Members of the Council might
be arrived at, has not been realized. Indeed,
it has lately been intimated to me by therecog-
nised leader of the opposition, that the present
Council is incapable of any action whatever.
I refrained from preferring the request for a
Dissolution, which I now make, at an earlier
period, for the reason that the time for making
up the Electoral Roll for the year was approach-
ing, and I was desirous that the new Roll
should be published before the Elections took
place.
I beg leave to suggest that the new Elections
should take place at the earliest convenient pe-
riod after the Electoral Roll for the current
year has been completed, and that, in fixing the
time for the return of the Writs, a sufficient in-
terval should be allowed between the Election
of the Superintendent and that of the Provin-
cial Council, to enable the Electors of the seve-
ral Divisions to be informed of the result of the
Superintendency Election.
I have the honor to be,
Sir,
Your obedient Servant,
J. WILLIAMSON,
Superintendent,
To the Honorable
The Colonial Secretary,
&c. &.,
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NZ Gazette 1857, No 20
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
🏘️ Correspondence regarding the Dissolution of the Auckland Provincial Council
🏘️ Provincial & Local Government28 July 1857
Auckland Provincial Council, Dissolution, Correspondence, Electoral Roll, Superintendent
- E. W. Stafford
- J. Williamson, Superintendent