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until the premises were agreed upon, no antagonism of opinion could exist upon them. As the opinion expressed by the Superintendent has been disputed, it is advisable that he should explain some of the grounds upon which he has formed it.

"When addressing the memorandum to the Executive Council, the Superintendent did not enter into details, which are somewhat trite, having assumed rather too hastily, as it would seem, that the facts were patent to members of the Provincial Legislature.

"The opinion appears to be erroneous, because it could be shown that the administrative powers of the Superintendent were not derived from the legislation of the Provincial Council only, but in many important matters from other sources.

"The Constitution Act authorises a Superintendent to convene a Provincial Council, to prorogue it, to issue writs for the election of members to vacant seats in it, to grant warrants for the issue of public money—to give, withhold, or reserve for the assent of the Governor all Bills passed by the Provincial Council.

"Here are administrative functions of a very important character, and incidentally, the information is afforded as to various powers so vested, with regard to which the 11th paragraph of the reply states that the Council has no knowledge.

"Acts of the Assembly—such, for example, as the Superintendent’s Deputy Act, the New Provinces’ Act, the Marine Boards Acts of 1862 and 1863, directly, and others, such as the Waste Lands Act, 1858, Gold Fields’ Acts of 1860 and 1862, among others indirectly—have conveyed large administrative powers. It cannot be maintained that these depend on Provincial legislation, and it therefore follows that the administrative powers of the Superintendent are not derived from the legislation of the Provincial Council only, some of the most important having been conferred by Imperial and Colonial Acts.

"If the Provincial Government Ordinance vests the administration of the affairs of the Province in the Superintendent and Executive absolutely, then whatever administrative powers the Superintendent may possess—whether derived from Provincial Legislation or otherwise—must be exercised with the advice and consent of the Executive. Now the Provincial Council are aware that the Waste Lands Act, 1858, authorises the Governor to delegate powers under that act to the Superintendent of a Province, or to ‘such other person as he may think fit.’—(Section 6.) If the Governor saw fit to delegate those powers to a private individual in this Province, neither the Provincial Council nor the Executive could claim any authority to control him in their exercise. Those delegated powers would give the holder authority to appoint and remove the officers of two of the most important departments in the Province—namely, the Waste Lands and Survey Departments; so that, in the presence of a superior authority, the Provincial Government Ordinance would be absolutely powerless, either to control the administration of those departments, or to vest it in the Superintendent and Executive.

"But on the supposition that those were delegated to the Superintendent, it might be contended that the mode of conducting the administration could become a matter of agreement between the Superintendent and the Provincial Council. The Provincial Government Ordinance would probably be cited as an instance.

To this it might be replied that the provisions of a Provincial Ordinance are valid only in so far as they deal with a subject upon which the Provincial Legislatures have not been forbidden to legislate, or are not repugnant to any Imperial or Colonial Acts. In either case, infraction of those conditions would render provincial enactments null and void.—(Constitution Act, Sec. 53.)

"For example, in the early days of New Zealand provincial institutions under the Constitution Act, before the principles of constitutional legislation came to be thoroughly understood in all the provinces, various Provincial Ordinances were passed, which, although assented to by the officer acting as Governor at the time, yet were invalid, inasmuch as they were contrary to the provisions of the Constitution Act.

"These irregularities were soon challenged. Much inconvenience and confusion followed, until an Act was passed by the General Assembly—Provincial Laws Act, 1856—which declared these Ordinances to be valid retrospectively, ‘in the same way as if they had been passed by the General Assembly.’

"Another example must be fresh in the recollection of the Council. The 6th clause of the Marine Boards Ordinance, passed by it in February, 1863, provided that—‘It shall be lawful for the Superintendent