74

pointment to any of those offices, that the person appointed should be a member of the Council and should, on acceptance of the office, go back to his constituents for re-election. I still consider these conditions essential to the existence of Responsible Government; and that the Act to which my assent is requested, coupled with the intention referred to, of combining the Secretaryship with the Treasury, is substantially destructive of that form of Government.

I cannot avoid perceiving also, that a Secretary supported by a majority of the Council, and uncontrolled by the check of any other heads of Departments having a legal and ex-officio position in the Executive, would in practice be the Executive Government, reducing the Superintendent to a mere Registrar of his edicts, a position which I must decline to fill.

I fully recognise the importance of the difference of opinion which exists between the majority of the Council and myself on this occasion, and the responsibility which rests on me in this matter. Although this Act, which proposes a fundamental alteration in the form of Government hitherto adopted in the Province, has been passed in haste, having been carried through all its stages in a single evening, under suspension of the Standing Orders, I can scarcely expect that the majority of the Council will reconsider the subject or retreat from the position it has taken. On the other hand, my own decision rests on a principle, and that one which has formed the basis of the policy on which I have hitherto been elected by the suffrages of the constituencies of the Province.

I feel that I have no right any longer to call upon my present Executive to continue to fill the offices they hold, and to act as my advisers, unsupported as they are by a majority of the Council, and three of them not even possessing seats in that body. Neither will I act in contravention of law and of all my former professions, by exercising the functions of the elected head of the Executive Government without the aid of those official advisers by and with whose advice the existing law requires me to act. I have therefore determined to resign the office of Superintendent, and will by the first opportunity forward my resignation to his Excellency the Governor.

It only remains for me to point out to the Council the expediency of making an immediate appropriation for the public service during the interval which must necessarily elapse before my successor can be elected.

I. E. FEATHERSTON,
Superintendent.

LIST of Unclaimed Letters for the Quarter, ended 31st March, 1858.

A

Abbott, Arthur
Abbott, Win...
Abbott, Mrs.
Anderson, Mr.
Anderson, C. J.
Anderson, Robert
Angus, David (2)

Aitkens, George
Ashmore, Win.
Aitken, Jonas

B

Burns, Thomas (3)
Barber, Miss Jessie
Brofield, George

Butler, Mr.
Ball, Thomas
Batty Matthew
Burton F.
Beatson H.
Bewsick, Mrs. Emily
Blackmore, Geo
Breeze, John
Brown, James
Buchanan, Robert
Beaver, Sidney
Blomer, Mrs.
Boorer, George
Beard, James (2)
Benton, Timothy (2)
Boyce, William

C

Chapman, H.
Conway, A.
Cameron, John
Curtis, Thomas
Connell, D. W.
Croft, C.
Cormack, Elizabeth
Carnell, Joseph
Cockroft, Richard
Cockroft, George
Crowther, Thomas (2)
Collins, Mrs.
Cornwall, James
Clark, James
Clark, Joseph
Clayton, H.
Coppins, C. F.
Carter, Edward
Capper, J. H.
Clarke, Timothy
Collis, Charles
Chapman, Henry
Clarke, James
Cameron, Mrs.

D

Doolan, Arthur (2)
Dodge, William (2)
Dyke, Henry
Dare, George
Donald, B. (2)
Dempsey, John
De Vere, Charles
Donald, Robert

E

Elleray, Stephen
Everard, Joseph
Evans, Richard
Edwards, Nathaniel
Edge, Wm.
Elger, Herbert
Eagan, Daniel
Lades, Wm.

F

Fairhall, W.
Field, T. C. V.
Flight,
Fogarty, Patrick
Farrer, John
Full, John
Fowler, Wm.
Fenwick, Wm.
Freeman, Stephen
Foster, John
Field, Wm.

G

Green, Wm.
Green, Agnes
Gordier, Isaac
Gurren, Mrs.
Greenwood, Wm.
Giltinan, John
Gill, Thomas
Gray, John
Gray, W. D. (2)
Geough, George
Gigger, Joseph
Glen, Miss
Griffin, W. E.

H

Harris, W. (4)
Holder, A. J.
Hungerford, P.
Higgins, Ann
Hasewood, Charles
Henderson, J. A.
Hibbert, James
Henryson, H.
Holme, John H.
Hannah, Mrs.
Houghton, G. (2)
Hackshaw, John
Honeyman
Headlam
Hagmae, Miss C.
Hunt, Charles
Howell, Wm. (2)
Hall, George
Higgin, Wm. (2)
Harris, David

J

Jowett, Moses
James, W.
Jones, Mrs.
Jones, Richard (2)
Jefferson, Mr.
Jackson, E.

K

Kingsford, Charles
Kirk, Stephen
Kilsey, W. (2)
Kirkland, H. (3)
Knott, Wm.
Kendrick, Mr. M.
Kendrick, James
Kendrick, Mrs.

L

Lovegrove, G. F.
Lucy, John
Love, C. H.
Lewis, E.
Lewthwaite, J.
Lunn, Wm.
Lask, Wm.

M

Mangles, Frederick
Marshall, B.
Miller, John
McCayland, M.
McMahon, John
Murry, Thomas
Miles, James F.
Mury, John
Meyer, Samuel