338
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
hoped that a new Superintendent and Provincial
Council may be elected, say, within two months from
this date, till when there will be little difficulty in
providing for the public service under authority of
law. At the same time, in order to guard against
any possible inconvenience, the Superintendent would
venture to suggest the expediency of the Council
agreeing to grant temporary supply pending the
assembly of the new Provincial Council.

15th May, 1873.
J. MACANDREW, Superintendent.

[I.]

Mr. Clark to move—
(1.) That, in regard to His Honor's Messages
Nos. 3 and 5, this Council is of opinion that if His
Honor would consent to carry out constitutional
precedent in accepting an Executive from the majority
of this Council, there need be no interruption to
public business. (2.) That the Council will be pre-
pared, as soon as the business absolutely necessary for
the welfare and progress of the Province is disposed
of—especially in the matter of initiating the system of
selling land on deferred payments, too long delayed,
and providing for the better encouragement of settle-
ment, and also determining the best steps to be taken
for the immediate construction of the Clutha and
Mataura and Dunedin and Moeraki Railways, and for
deepening the harbour so that vessels of the largest
tonnage visiting our port may come up to Dunedin—
to take into consideration the question of dissolution
of the Council. (3.) That if His Honor will join issue
with the Council in asking that an alteration of the
Constitution Act should be effected, determining
whether his position is to be that of a dictator or
simply that of an executive officer, this Council
will agree to recommend a dissolution immediately
after the rising of the Assembly. (4.) That Mr.
Speaker be requested to forward a copy of these reso-
lutions to His Honor, and also telegraph the same to
His Excellency the Governor.

Dunedin, 19th May, 1873.

[Κ.]

Message No. 6.—It is with the utmost reluctance
that the Superintendent is compelled to convey
to the Provincial Council his regret that the
Council has not seen fit to reply to his former
messages, an act of courtesy which he had hoped
would have been deemed due to the office which he
holds, apart altogether from personal considerations.
The Provincial Council will have been in session a
fortnight to-morrow without making the slightest pro-
gress in the practical business for which it was con-
vened; and for aught that the Superintendent can
see to the contrary, this state of things is as likely as
not to continue for an indefinite period. There
appears, therefore, to be no alternative but to pro-
rogue the Council and appeal to the people, a course
which, after his ineffectual attempts to form an
Executive, the Superintendent, with the advice and
consent of the Executive Council, has resolved to
adopt. It is hoped that, under the circumstances,
His Excellency the Acting Governor will not refuse
his assent to a dissolution, seeing that otherwise the
affairs of the Province will speedily arrive at a dead-
lock.

The Superintendent need scarcely say that the
step which he has now adopted is a painful one to
himself, and has been taken under a very grave sense of
responsibilty. Elected by and responsible to the whole
body of the people, he should be betraying the trust
reposed in him were he quietly to submit to the
office being trampled upon, and to the business of the
Province being brought to a standstill. The Superin-
tendent would respectfully point out to the majority
of the Provincial Council, that if the somewhat
anomalous political machinery, in the shape of re-
sponsible Government with an elective head, which
the Province has seen fit to tack on to the Constitu-
tion, is to work at all beneficially, there must needs
be, in the choosing an Executive, mutual concessions,
and that the feelings and views of the Superintendent
have at least as much right to be consulted as have
those of the Provincial Council.

The Superintendent has been chosen by the
majority of the people to administer the affairs of the
Province, and has been pledged to a policy of pro-
gress. It is manifest, therefore, that the majority of
the Council, by seeking to force upon his acceptance
Advisers who, it may be, entertain opposite views
from the Superintendent, are seeking to place him in
a false position,—a position which he refuses to accept.
The Superintendent came down to the Council, at its
opening, with very important proposals bearing upon
the advancement of the Province,—proposals which it
was intended to have followed up by others equally
important. Instead of entertaining any of these, how-
ever, the time has been occupied in discussing matters
which have little or no practical bearing upon the
public interests: circumstances which the Superin-
tendent trusts will amply justify, in the eyes of the
people, the action which, in the interest of the
country, he has been compelled to take.

JAMES MACANDREW,
Superintendent.

By Authority: GEORGE DIDSBURY, Government Printer, Wellington.