322

THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.

Downing Street,
19th August, 1862.

SIR,-I enclose the copy of an Act of Par-
liament, passed during the last Session, res-
pecting the establishment of New Provinces
and the management of Native Lands in New
Zealand.

2. Your Despatch No. 26 of the 25th of
   November, 1861, brought to my notice a
   series of objections, to which, in the opinion
   of your Law Officers, the Colonial New Pro-
   vinces Act remained liable, notwithstanding
   the passing of the Imperial Act of 1861.
   These are fully stated in a Memorandum
   drawn up by Mr. Sewell, your Attorney-
   General.

3. Passing by various questions of detail,
   the broad legal objection to the Colonial Act
   appears to be this-that whereas by various
   clauses of the Imperial Act of Parliament,
   15 and 16 Victoria, Cap. 72, some alterable
   and some unalterable, the Superintendent, with
   the advice of his Council (a body of which he
   cannot lawfully be made a member), is autho-
   rized to make laws for the administration of
   the Province, the Colonial Act transfers in
   effect the Legislative powers of the Super-
   intendent to the Governor, giving to the
   former officer the power of sitting in the
   Council, in which he is probably intended to
   occupy the place of President or Speaker.

4. This fundamental difference appears to
   be the key to the inconsistencies between the
   Imperial and Colonial Legislation, which are
   pointed out in Mr. Sewell's Memorandum.

5. Now it appears to me that the constitu-
   tion of the Provincial Legislatures may very
   properly be left to the decision of the General
   Assembly of New Zealand, subject only to
   these reservations; first, that these subordinate
   Legislatures shall be required to adhere to the
   rule which places the initiation of the money
   votes in the hands of the Government (15 and
   16 Vic., C. 72, Sec. 25); and secondly, that
   the Provincial Laws not liable to disallowance
   by Her Majesty, shall be liable to disallowance
   by Her Majesty's Representative in the
   Colony (15 and 16 Vic., C. 72, Sections 28
   and 29), and shall be confined to subjects on
   which the final decision may safely be entrusted
   to that Representative (15 and 16 Vic., C.
   72, Sec. 19).

6. It is plain that the provisions of the
   New Provinces Act in no degree impair, and,
   by enlarging the power of the Governor, in
   one respect materially strengthen, the security
   thus required by the Home Government; and
   I therefore not only consider that Act unob-
   jectionable in this respect, but would gladly
   see it extended to the existing Provinces.

7. I had therefore no hesitation in proposing
   to Parliament a Bill to give validity to the
   Colonial New Provinces Act as it stands, and
   to enable the General Assembly to deal as
   they please with the Administrative and
   Legislative Constitutions of the Provinces,
   subject only to such limitations as would
   secure the objects which I have indicated.

8. You will perceive that the first seven
   clauses of the Act which I enclose are calcu-
   lated to effect these objects.

9. The 7th clause is a repetition of the
   4th clause of the Act of last year, and I think
   it as well to explain that it is intended to
   meet a doubt which might be raised upon the
   application of various clauses of the Consti-
   tutional Act. The third section of that Act
   provided for the establishment of a Council
   for each of the Provinces thereby established,
   and for every Province thereafter to be esta-
   blished "as thereinafter provided," that is to
   say, in virtue of the non-repealed 69th section.

10. It might be doubted therefore to what
    extent the third and some of the subsequent
    clauses of the Constitutional Act would apply
    to Provinces established not "as thereinafter
    provided," but in virtue of a Colonial enact-
    ment. This doubt, the 7th clause of the Act
    now forwarded is intended to set at rest.

11. The 8th clause of the Act which
    enables the General Assembly to repeal the
    73rd clause of the Constitutional Act, will, as
    I am advised, place it in the power of that
    body to legislate freely respecting the dispo-
    sition of Native Lands, and to pass, if they
    shall think fit, the Bill of which a draft was
    enclosed in your Despatch No. 39 of the 9th
    April last. I have not, however, thought it
    advisable to add a clause giving the Governor
    the power of provisional Legislation. If im-
    mediate Legislation is of vital importance,
    the General Assembly can be summoned for
    the purpose; but I do not desire in the present
    posture of affairs to intervene by Imperial
    Legislation, in order to enable the Executive
    to anticipate their decision.

I have, &c.,
NEWCASTLE.

Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B.,
&c., &c., &c.

WHEREAS by an Act of the Session holden
in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Years of Her
Majesty, intituled, "An Act to grant a Re-
presentative Constitution to the Colony of
New Zealand," it was provided that certain
Provinces therein mentioned should be esta-
blished in the said Colony, and that in every
such Province there should be a Provincial
Council, and that there should be in the said
Colony a General Assembly competent to
make Laws for the Peace, Order, and good
Government of the same; and by the Sixty-
ninth Section of the said Act it was further
provided that it should be lawful for the said
General Assembly to constitute new Provinces
in the said Colony, and to appoint the Number
of Members of which the Provincial Councils
thereof should consist, and to alter the Boun-
daries of any Provinces for the Time being
existing; provided always that any Bill for
any of the said Purposes should be reserved
for the Signification of Her Majesty's Pleasure
thereon: And whereas by an Act of the Session
holden in the Twentieth and Twenty-first
Years of Her Majesty, intituled "An Act to