THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 911

your referring to me, as Her Majesty's Minister, any question affecting your conduct as the Queen's
representative in New Zealand.
2. The further consideration which I have been able to give to your despatch, and its enclosure,
leaves no doubt in my mind that, as on the first perusal I was inclined to think, it is my duty, as the
Minister responsible for advising the Queen on any matter connected with your conduct as Governor,
to support the views which you have clearly and accurately expressed. These are briefly: First, that
under the Constitution of New Zealand the Governor is bound to communicate to the Secretary of
State any difference of opinion which may arise with respect to his responsibility in relation to the
responsibility of his Ministers in any particular case; and, secondly, that so long as the Ministers
retain office, they, and not the Governor, are solely responsible to the local Parliament for the
Governor's acts.
3. I do not understand how there can be any question as to the correctness of this statement of the
position and duty of the Queen's representative, and the relations between the different branches of
the Colonial Legislature; nor have I found in the papers before me any grounds for disputing the
propriety of your application of these well-known principles of parliamentary government to the
particular circumstances of the case which had occurred.
4. I am glad, indeed, to observe that the Ministers admit that they advised, and, therefore, are respon-
sible for, your action in laying before Parliament the papers which included your memorandum of the
27th October; and this being the case, the question whether the privileges of the House of Represen-
tatives had been infringed, became really one as to whether the Ministers, in having tendered the
advice which they gave to the Governor on the subject, had infringed them. Their continuance
in office is to be taken as showing that the House did not feel that there was any serious cause
of complaint.
Governor the Most Hon.
The Marquis of Normanby, G.C.M.G., &c.
I have, &c.,
CARNARVON.

No. 4.

His Excellency the GOVERNOR to the SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES.
(No. 55.)

MY LORD,-
Government House, Wellington, 16th November, 1877.
I have the honor to inform your Lordship that on the 14th instant, I received from Sir
George Grey the enclosed memorandum, in which he advised me to dissolve the present Parliament. See A.–7, 1877.
I also enclose a copy of my answer.

2. No doubt the present state of parties in the House is such as cannot possibly continue;
   but at the same time it appeared to me that it was not my duty, taking all the circumstances of the
   case into consideration, to grant a dissolution, at any rate until every other expedient had failed to
   reconcile matters in the House. I was the more confirmed in this opinion, because I am not without
   hope that combinations may yet be made by which another Government could be formed, which would
   command a fair working majority. I may be wrong in this conclusion, but at any rate I did not feel
   justified in promising a dissolution to Sir George Grey until the attempt had been made.

3. It is quite evident that Sir George Grey does not command a majority in the present House,
   nor is there the slightest evidence that he has ever done so.

4. It is perfectly true that the vote of want of confidence was defeated by the casting vote of the
   Speaker, in a catch division; but Sir George Grey has omitted to state that there were three members
   accidentally absent, who subsequently explained in the House the reason of their absence, and stated
   that they had intended to have voted against the Government; and the Government have since been
   placed in a minority—I admit only of one—in the conduct of the business of the House.

5. I am quite aware that, in England, Parliament is always ready to vote the supply necessary for
   the service of the country, and no doubt it is a very constitutional and proper principle to act upon;
   but I also know, as a fact, that it is a principle which is by no means uniformly acted upon in the
   colonies; and Sir George Grey having distinctly informed me that if I would grant him a dissolution,
   he was prepared to go to the country, whether the House would vote the supplies or not, I felt bound
   to take that question into my consideration.

6. If I had granted a dissolution conditionally upon supply being voted, I felt that I should be
   putting a pressure upon the action of Parliament, to induce them to take a step which they might
   otherwise be unwilling to take; and besides that, I should have been placing the exercise of the Royal
   prerogative openly and entirely in the hands of the House. I thought it, therefore, my duty to refuse
   the dissolution at present, intimating at the same time to Sir George Grey that if he could show me
   that even three months' supply had been granted, I should be ready to reconsider the question.

The Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon, &c.
I have, &c.,
NORMANBY.

No. 5.

The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES to His EXCELLENCY the GOVERNOR.
(No. 6.)

MY LORD,-
Downing Street, 7th January, 1878.
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your despatch No. 55, of the 16th of Novem-
ber, enclosing for my information a copy of a memorandum which you have received from Sir George
Grey, on behalf of your Ministers, advising you to dissolve Parliament, together with a copy of your
reply; and I have to thank you for the full explanation with which you have accompanied these papers.
Governor the Most Hon.
The Marquis of Normanby, G.C.M.G., &c.
I have, &c.,
CARNARVON.