6
THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE.
[No. 1

I must therefore leave the matter in your Excellency's
hands.

J. BALLANCE,
Commissioner of Trade and Customs.
Wellington, 30th April, 1892.

Upon an Application from Mr. J. T. Arundel for a License
to carry Native Labourers in the "Olive."

To His Excellency the Governor.
As I cannot urge any objection to this application, it is
cast upon me by the Imperial Act and by constitutional
relations to recommend you to grant the license. At the
same time I must point out to your Excellency that the
application is recommended on very slender grounds, that
there is no power in this Government to see that it is worthily
exercised, and that licenses of the kind may be made the
cloak for improper practices instead of a means of preventing
them. I think your Excellency should represent this opinion
to the Secretary of State.
JULIUS VOGEL.
22nd March, 1887.

To the Hon. the Commissioner of Customs.
In the minute addressed to you on the 21st instant by Mr.
Seed, the permanent Secretary of the Customs Department,
Mr. Seed gives several reasons why it appears that there is
no objection to the granting of the license asked for. More-
over, you state that "you cannot urge any objection to this
application." I have therefore signed the license.
As regards the general question of granting applications
for licenses of this description coming from citizens con-
nected with New Zealand, it is to be observed that the
officers of the Government of New Zealand are alone in a
position to investigate the circumstances connected with
such applications. It therefore necessarily becomes the
duty of that Government to make all possible inquiries in
each particular case, and, having done so, to advise whether
there is any reason why an application for a license should
or should not be granted. If any doubt exists as to the pro-
piety of granting any particular application, I presume the
Government would advise that the license should be refused.
It is true that the Government of New Zealand has no
power to see that the license, if granted, is worthily exer-
cised; but this circumstance cannot be held to absolve that
Government from forming a judgment on matters which the
officers under their orders are alone in a position to investi-
gate and advise accordingly.
I have no objection to forward the question to the Secre-
tary of State, but, before I decide on doing so, I shall be glad
if the Government will consider further whether any useful
object can be gained thereby.
WM. F. DRUMMOND JERVOIS.
Dunedin, N.Z., 28th March, 1887.

(New Zealand.—No. 36.)
Downing Street, 10th August, 1892.
My LORD,—I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of
Sir J. Prendergast's Despatch No. 18, of the 16th May, with
its enclosures, relating to the grant of a license, under "The
Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872," to the schooner
"Ivanhoe," belonging to Mr. John Arundel.
As Mr. Ballance, although objecting generally to the issue
of licenses under the Act, left the matter in the hands of the
Officer Administering the Government, the course taken by
Sir J. Prendergast was in my opinion the proper one in this
case; but I need hardly point out that strict inquiry should
in all cases be made before a license is granted.
You will shortly receive a circular despatch, which I am
addressing to the Governors of the Australasian Colonies,
sending copies of a correspondence which has taken place
with Mr. Arundel on this subject.
I have, &c.,
KNUTSFORD.
Governor the Right Hon. the Earl of Glasgow,
G.C.M.G., &c.

(New Zealand.—No. 37.)
Downing Street, 17th August, 1892.
My LORD,—I have the honour to transmit to you herewith,
for your information and for that of your Government, the
enclosed copies of a correspondence which has taken place
between Mr. Arundel and this department, connected with
the subject of issue of labour licenses by the Governors of
the Australasian Colonies under "The Pacific Islanders
Protection Act, 1872."
I have, &c.,
KNUTSFORD.
Governor the Right Hon. the Earl of Glasgow,
G.C.M.G., &c.

Mr. John T. Arundel to Lord Knutsford.
Auckland, 9th May, 1892.
My LORD,—Referring to previous correspondence on the
subject of labour licenses in the South Pacific required by
"The Pacific Islanders Protection Act, 1872," I beg to bring
before your Lordship a fresh development in regard to the
present Executive Government of New Zealand, which has
caused me considerable inconvenience, loss of time, and
annoyance; and, from the tenor of your letter of the 10th
October, 1890, advising that you had communicated with
the Governors of New South Wales, New Zealand, Queens-
land, and Fiji, I feel sure that it is not the wish of Her
Majesty's Government that such delays and inconveniences
should be thrown in the way of merchants like ourselves
carrying on extensive operations in the South Pacific.
I beg to enclose copy of letter I had occasion to address to
His Excellency the Acting Governor of New Zealand on
the 29th April last, and have much pleasure in informing
you that the license required by the schooner "Ivanhoe"
was received by me on the 3rd instant; and, as my steamer
for Tahiti has been unexpectedly delayed, I am able to take
it with me, and thus prevent any of the pains and penalties
which might have been incurred had the schooner prosecuted
her voyage without the said authority, responsibility for
which I should have laid on the Acting Governor of New
Zealand, and also by cablegram on your Lordship as head of
the Colonial Office.
I would, however, respectfully point out to your Lordship
that the position taken up by Mr. Ballance, the Premier of
New Zealand, is a perfectly untenable one, and would re-
quest that some definite instructions be forwarded to the
respective Governors of colonies likely to be required to
issue these licenses, as to whether they are bound to accept
the advice of their Responsible Ministers in anything beyond
being satisfied that the requirements of the Act have been
complied with in regard to the suitability of the vessels and
the security offered by the bonds. If it is really understood
that the principles involved in the Act should be the subject
of recommendation or non-recommendation by the Respon-
sible Advisers of the Governor, not only would merchants
and employers of labour like ourselves be subject to the
varying opinions held by the Executive Governments of
New Zealand and the other colonies on the labour traffic, but,
in addition, we should also be exposed to the possible change
of views by the same Ministers on this very important
question.
I would respectfully submit to your Lordship, by way of
illustration, that in the case of the Colony of Queensland,
had I, some two or three months since, been obliged to apply
to the Governor of that colony for a labour license, the
Premier of the colony, Sir Samuel Griffiths, who was then
known to be bitterly opposed to the labour traffic, might have
assumed the same position now taken up by Mr. Ballance,
and advised the Governor not to grant the same. Whereas,
had I applied two months later, the views of Sir Samuel
Griffiths having been altered in the meantime, the Governor
might have obtained from the Executive a recommendation
to issue the said license. Such a want of uniformity in
practice I can hardly think your Lordship would consider
wise or expedient in the carrying-out of what I have always
understood to be purely an Imperial Act of Parliament.
I think the trouble in regard to New Zealand has largely
arisen from a memorandum by Sir William Jervois, the Earl
of Onslow's predecessor in this colony, in which, I believe,
he lays down the rule that the advice of the Executive
Government should be tendered to His Excellency as to the
issue or non-issue of these labour licenses; and I cannot but
think that Sir William Jervois misinterpreted the views of
the Imperial Government on this question.
As this matter is one involving very large interests, and
possibly the loss of very much time and capital, I should
esteem it a great favour if your Lordship will give your kind
consideration to the subject, and transmit your views to the
Governors of the colonies, in order that there may be no
further inconvenience and loss occasioned to Her Majesty's
subjects carrying on business in the Pacific.
Letters addressed to my representatives in London, Messrs.
Houlder Brothers and Co., will always be transmitted,
and would probably reach me before I start for England,
where I hope to arrive during the months of September or
October. Should your Lordship then wish it, I shall be
happy to personally supply any information in my power as
to the working of "The Pacific Islanders Protection Act,
1872," in regard to the issue of labour licenses.
I have, &c.,
JOHN T. ARUNDEL.
To the Right Hon. Lord Knutsford, Secretary of State
for the Colonies, Downing Street, London.
Enclosures: Letter to Sir James Prendergast, 29th April
(see above); and letter to Sir John Thurston, 9th May.

Auckland, N.Z., 9th May, 1892.
Your Excellency,—I beg to enclose copies of letters I have
addressed to Sir James Prendergast, the Acting Governor of
New Zealand, dated 29th April, and to Lord Knutsford, dated
this day, by which you will see that further difficulties have
arisen with regard to the issue of labour licenses.