THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 335

the position you have accepted as a Member of the
Colonial Executive, is in my opinion so utterly in-
compatible with the proper performance of your
duties as a Member of the Provincial Executive, that
I feel it my duty to exercise the power vested in me
by the Executive Council Ordinance, and to remove
you from your office as a Member of my Executive.
I have, &c.,
JAMES MACANDREW,
Superintendent.

The Hon. Donald Reid,
Wellington.

Wellington, 10th October, 1872.
MY DEAR SIR, -The circumstances which led to
your ceasing to be a member of the Provincial Execu-
tive having now determined, I shall be glad if you
resume your former position in the Executive, in
which case directions will be sent to Dunedin to
communicate with you officially to that end. Please
reply as early as convenient.
D. Reid, Esq., M.H.R.,
Wellington.

Yours faithfully,
J. MACANDREW.

Wellington, 12th October, 1872.
SIR,-I have to acknowledge the receipt of your
letter of the 10th inst., in which you inform me that
the circumstances which led to my ceasing to be a
member of the Provincial Executive having now
determined, you would be glad if I would resume my
former position in the Executive. Before proceeding
to reply thereto, allow me to review the position in
which matters stood at the time those circumstances
arose, which youstate led to my ceasing to be a member
of the Provincial Executive. You will, no doubt,
recollect that, before I left Dunedin to attend to the
interests of my constituents in Parliament, arrange-
ments were made and a deputy appointed, with
the concurrence of yourself and the other members
of the Executive, for carrying on the business of my
department during the term of the Session. I may
also state that I informed the Provincial Council that
I would be absent from the Province during the
meeting of the General Assembly. I at the same
time intimated to the Council, that if, in its opinion,
my absence from the Province during that period
would prejudice my position as a member of the
Executive, it would be necessary to make other pro-
vision to fill the office; and the Council acquiesced
in the arrangement, on the understanding that a
deputy should be appointed temporarily to discharge
the duties of the office. It was therefore with surprise
that I received your letter of the 25th ult., intimating
that, in consequence of my acceptance of the appoint-
ment of Minister of Public Works, you had removed
me from office as a member of your Executive, on the
ground that the appointment was, in your opinion,
incompatible with the proper performance of my
duties as a member of the Provincial Executive. It
must have been obvious to you that I had no intention
of filling both offices, and that in due course my resig-
nation would have been placed in your hands; but
I considered it was due alike to myself, to my
colleagues in the Provincial Executive, and to the
Provincial Council, that I should return to the Pro-
vince before tendering my resignation. One reason
which induced me to take this course was my desire
to conclude certain negotiations now pending, which
were entered into by myself, acting on behalf of the
Executive, and which could not be completed before I
left the Province. Having conducted these negotia-
tions so far, I felt it my duty to see them carried out
in the spirit in which they were entered into. I be-
lieve this could have been accomplished in such a
manner as to fulfil the engagements made, and at the
same time conserve the interests of the Province and
allay the excitement which has in some instances been
created in regard to them. It was also my intention,
before resigning, to have asked that the Provincial
Council should be convened immediately after
the prorogation of the General Assembly, in order to
comply with an opinion very generally expressed by
members during the last Session of the Council, to the
effect that it was desirable that the meetings of the
Council should in future be held immediately after
the meetings of the General Assembly, and also
for the purpose of bringing the Highway Boards
Empowering Act into operation within the Province.
Owing to an oversight on the part of the Provin-
cial Solicitor, this matter was overlooked during
the last Session of the Council, and I take
this opportunity of reminding you that it
is a question which very seriously affects the
position of the Road Boards of the Province, and
which, if not attended to, may lead to embarrassment
and litigation. It appeared to me that the reasons
given for requiring my immediate resignation were
not of a valid nature. You must be fully aware that
none of the Executive business was transacted here;
and while I was always ready and willing to give my
opinion on any matter in regard to which I was con-
sulted, it could neither be required from me as a
member of the Executive while I remained in Wel-
lington, nor could I, while residing out of the Province,
interfere in the slightest degree in Provincial matters,
even if I had the desire to do so, which I had not.
Under these circumstances, I am at a loss to know
what necessity existed for the hasty action taken by
you in requiring, in terms at once discourteous and
peremptory, my immediate resignation, or for sum-
marily removing me from office. I have only to add,
in reply to your letter now under consideration, that
while I consider it and trust it will always be
esteemed to be an honorable position to be leader of
the Provincial Council of Otago, and while I will be
prepared, should the Council again require my ser-
vices, to place them with pleasure at its disposal,
nevertheless, after the uncalled for and unmerited
indignity to which I have been subjected, a sense of the
respect which is due to myself, and a consideration of
what is due to the important constituency whom I
have the honor to represent, compels me firmly but
respectfully to decline to accede to your request.
Yours faithfully,
James Macandrew, Esq., M.H.R. D. REID.

Wellington, 19th October, 1872.
MY DEAR SIR,--I have to acknowledge the receipt
of your letter of 12th instant. In doing so I have to
express my regret that you decline to accede to my
request that you should resume your former position
in the Otago Provincial Executive. My action in
this matter has been taken, from first to last,
purely on public grounds, and in the exercise of an
official duty which was incumbent on me, and which,
as the correspondence shows, I should have been glad
to have been spared. I altogether disclaim having
been actuated by desire to cast upon you "indignity"
in any shape or form, and can only reiterate my
regret that our opinions should be so entirely differ-
ent as regards our respective duties in the public
interests under the circumstances in question.
Yours faithfully,
D. Reid, Esq., M.H.R., &c. J. MACANDREW.

[B.]
To His Honor the Superintendent of Otago.
SIR, —We the undersigned, being members of the
Provincial Council of Otago, would most respectfully
request your Honor to immediately convene a meet-
ing of the Council. We ask this for the following
amongst other reasons:—First. The new Land Act