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An Epitome of Official Documents Relative to Native Affairs and Land Purchases in the North Island of New Zealand

[No. 87.]

No. 87.

Copy of a Despatch from Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B., to the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.

Re Government of Native Affairs.

Sir,—

Government House, Auckland, 26th August, 1864.

I have the honour to transmit, for your information, the copy of a memorandum which I have received from my Responsible Advisers, and which they have requested me to transmit to you, in which, in reference to your Despatches No. 43 of the 26th of April, and, No. 65 of the 26th of May, 1864, they state that they deem it to be an imperative duty to place on record without delay their protest against the introduction into this colony of a new form of government, under which Native affairs would be administered partly by the Governor and partly by his Advisers.

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  • 2. I have given this memorandum the best consideration in my power, and beg to offer the following remarks upon it: My Responsible Advisers think that practically no difference of opinion as yet exists between the Governor and themselves. What constitutes a difference of opinion admits of question. I think that several discussions which have taken place between my Responsible Advisers and myself regarding the terms which should be given to the Natives who have been in arms, regarding the confiscation of Native territory, the entering upon military operations, and other cognate subjects, constitute differences of opinion upon important points connected with Imperial interests; but, as copies of the greater part of such discussions have been transmitted to you for your information, you will be able to determine whether or not I am right in thinking that they show that considerable differences of opinion between my Responsible Advisers and myself have, from time to time, arisen upon subjects which are of great Imperial concern.
  • 3. I would next state that I am of opinion that the publication in the colony of your Despatch No. 43, of the 26th of April, has produced a very happy effect upon the Native population here. To it I attribute in no small degree, and in spite of adverse causes, the surrender of the rebel Natives at Tauranga, and I believe its contents and the publication of them will go far to bring the war to a close in several districts of the colony. In all this I may be wrong, but I have carefully observed and considered recent events, and as the result I have arrived at the conclusion I have above stated.
  • 4. Since the direction of Native affairs was originally assumed by the Colonial Ministers, a great change has taken place in this country. Then a war had recently been in appearance, concluded, and there seemed grounds to hope that peace between the two races might be permanently preserved. Now a very different state of things prevails. What may with justice be regarded as a civil war is raging in New Zealand. The parties engaged in this conflict are the whole of the European population and a part of the Natives on one side, the remaining portion of the Native population on the other. Both parties to this war are subjects of the Queen and citizens of the Empire, and they mutually allege against each other wrongs. Great Britain, to bring this war to a close, furnishes an army of nearly ten thousand men, a considerable naval force, and a large military and naval expenditure.
  • 5. The Colonial Ministers at present possess and exercise here, upon all ordinary subjects, all the powers usually held and exercised by Ministers in those countries where the system of Responsible Government prevails. In addition, they now, as I understand them, protest against not being allowed to exercise absolutely powers which would virtually give them a very large control over the naval and military forces and the naval and military expenditure of Great Britain.
  • 6. I think that in deciding upon the protest now transmitted the following points should be considered. The Colonial Ministers are responsible to the General Assembly for colonial matters; but, as I will presently show, the General Assembly does not even in such matters exercise such an active supervision or control over their acts and proceedings as the Parliament of Great Britain exercises over those of the British Ministry; and when it is remembered that the General Assembly is in no way responsible for the mode in which Her Majesty's naval and military forces are employed, or for the naval and military expenditure of Great Britain, I think that that body would exercise little or no control over the Colonial Ministers in reference to those matters.
  • 7. The members of the General Assembly are collected from great distances, are drawn away from their own private avocations, to which they are anxious to return as speedily as possible. The settlements from which they come are also removed by long distances from the capital, and have frequently interests of a totally different character from those of the population inhabiting districts where there are many Natives. From their remoteness from the seat of Government the information the inhabitants of such settlements possess regarding public affairs is limited: it is frequently only such as the Ministry of the day thinks proper to suffer to transpire. Hence less interest is taken in what may be termed general public affairs, as distinguished from provincial public affairs, thau would be imagined, and public opinion regarding general public affairs is, in the settlements remote from the capital, formed upon limited, often erroneous, information. When, therefore, the General Assembly meets, some time elapses before the members can thoroughly acquaint themselves with what has passed since their last meeting and ere they have fully mastered this the time for their separation has almost arrived. Sometimes also papers upon important subjects are only called for after the Assembly has met for some time. I believe in some cases the printing of these papers has been hardly completed when the Assembly ban separated. The sessions of the Assembly are also not only short, but by far too infrequent to enable them to exercise such a control over public affairs as is exercised by the Parliament of Great Britain.
  • 8. For instance, the General Assembly met at its last session on the 19th of October, 1863, and was prorogued on the 14th of December of the same year, after a session of only fifty-six days, and it may probably not meet again until the month of March, 1865—that is, not until after an interval of fifteen months.
  • 9. Whilst the General Assembly exercises so feeble a control over public affairs, what is termed the Cabinet bears but a faint resemblance to the strong and powerful Ministry which can be formed in Great Britain. Since September, 1861, there have been three Ministries in New Zealand. The present Cabinet consists of five members, one of whom has been absent in. England during the greater portion of the time of the existence of the present Ministry. Two other members of the Ministry have been frequently absent from the capital; so that the direction of affairs, involving largely the interests of Great Britain in the employment of her military and naval forces and the expenditure of her funds, has rested at such times in the hands of the remaining two members of the Ministry, who are the two partners who compose one of the legal firms in the Town of Auckland. And it was on advice thus tendered to him that the Governor was frequently expected to act in the most important affairs of Imperial concern. The protest I now enclose is made by this Cabinet, and not by the General Assembly, and it is made before your last despatch is known in the colony, and before public opinion has been in any way formed or expressed on the subject.
  • 10. The position of the Governor in this colony is also peculiar, from the relations existing between the Mother-country and a colony. The Governor is the person who here issues in his ownpage 92name all orders to the chief military and naval authorities; such orders are, in fact, openly and ostensibly his orders, and he is apparently responsible for all acts done under them; and when his Ministers require him to sign such orders he is really their servant, and yet is responsible to the British Government for the orders they compel him to give, and which may be repugnant to his own wishes and feelings; and he has also here none of the facilities for forming a new Ministry which the Crown in England or the Governors of neighbouring colonies possess; for, from the great distance of the several settlements from each other, the defective information they possess on public affairs, and the rare and short occasions on which New Zealand statesmen are brought together in the General Assembly, it is almost impossible for the Governor to consult them as to whether they will, or will not, form a new Government, or for them to determine what support they can reckon upon in the General Assembly if they undertake to do so.
  • 11. It should also be remembered, in reference to the two distinct populations in this country, that the Native population, who are the largest landed proprietors in the Northern Island, are unrepresented in the General Assembly: the other population, the European one, is the governing body. Necessarily in a civil war the feeling of race exercises some influence, and men's passions more or less lead them to adopt extreme views, and too hasty and often ill-considered acts, in which they are sustained by a public opinion to which there is little or no counterpoise, so that surrounded by such influences it would be very difficult for a Minister, endued with the very calmest mind to arrive at a correct conclusion; and this difficulty is greatly increased when he has to please a constituency in which almost universal suffrage prevails, and which is composed of one race engaged in a civil war with a race which it is to govern, and which is to be subdued by an army supplied by the Mothercountry.
  • 12. Great Britain, in whose service the officers and men of her naval and military forces have engaged themselves, often from the highest motives, owes something to the feelings of these officers and men, and something to the welfare of the wives and children of her soldiers; and I do not think that when two populations are arrayed against one another, as is now the case in this colony, the uncontrolled power over the lives, actions, and honour of these officers and men, and over the welfare of their wives and children, should be handed over to irresponsible persons, or at least but feebly responsible to a Colonial Legislature, the seats of the members of which depend upon constituencies who must, by the course of events, be more or less excited against another race which is unrepresented in that Legislature.
  • 13. I have used the words "irresponsible persons," for in truth a Colonial Ministry cannot be said to be responsible to the Parliament of Great Britain, nor even in any indirect manner to the British taxpayer, whose resources they would direct the expenditure of. I cannot but think that, whilst a civil war prevails in New Zealand, Imperial officers, responsible to the British Government, should exercise such a control over the management of public affairs as is directed in your despatch against which my Responsible Advisers protest. At the time of their protest being made they had not sanctioned the publication in the colony of your Despatch No. 65, of the 26th May, 1864, so that no expression of public opinion had taken place here regarding it. I am not at all satisfied that when this subject has been fully considered public opinion will be adverse to the instructions you have issued for the management of public affairs during the present crisis. I think that all would see that these instructions, which have been issued to meet a temporary emergency, would lapse the moment a normal state of things was restored in the colony, and that they were suited to meet the exigencies of the present moment and to provide for the restoration of peace to the country. I think no doubt should be entertained of the good sense and good feeling of the inhabitants of New Zealand, that you should feel satisfied that you will be supported by a large majority in this country in doing that which is right, and that when, after full consideration, you have determined that a certain line of policy is that which justice to Great Britain and to both races in this colony requires to be pursued, you may direct that it should be carried out in the full confidence that the Governor here will, when all the facts become known, have ample support in giving effect to your instructions.

The Right Hon. Edward Cardwell, M.P.

I remain, &c.,

G. Grey.

Enclosure.
Memoranda relative to Relations existing between the Governor and his Responsible Advisers.

Memorandum by Ministers on Native Government.

In their memorandum of the 2nd of August last, which forms the subject-matter of His Excellency's despatch to the Secretary of State of the 26th August, No. 124, Ministers stated that a passage in Mr. Cardwell's despatch of the 26th of May, No. 65, was capable of an interpretation subversive of the arrangements by which responsibility in Native affairs was transferred to the Colonial Government; but it appeared to His Excellency's Responsible Advisers that the following sentences were intended to qualify that interpretation, and that such a reading would render Mr. Cardwell's despatch harmonious with and not antagonistic to that of the Duke of Newcastle of the 26th of February, 1863, which embodies the arrangements between the Imperial and Colonial Governments as to the conduct of Native affairs.

It thus appears that, in the opinion of Ministers, the despatch referred to was capable of two interpretations,—one by which the arrangements made would be subverted, and the other consistent with it. It was against the former interpretation, which would, in fact, introduce a new form of government under which Native affairs would be administered partly by the Governor and partly by his Advisers, that Ministers thought it their duty to protest.

It is very remarkable that throughout His Excellency's very long despatch he does not commit himself to an opinion as to which interpretation is the correct one,—his despatch will suit either.

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This is no doubt very safe; but Ministers most respectfully submit that it is neither candid nor fair. His Excellency, in the last paragraph of his despatch, states, "I am not at all satisfied that when the subject has been fully considered public opinion will be adverse to the instructions you have issued for the management of' public affairs during the present crisis." If those instructions are intended to subvert the arrangement of February, 1863, and to authorize the Governor without qualification to act on his own judgment, irrespectively of his Responsible Advisers (and it was against this Ministers protested), they beg to express their dissent from His Excellency's opinion; but if, on the other hand, the instructions are not inconsistent with that arrangement, but only point out the manner in which it is to be carried into practice, the opinion of Ministers is not adverse to, them, nor do they believe will be that of the public.

Ministers now beg to be permitted to make some corrections in matters of fact, and to point out what appear to them to be some false inferences

  • 1. His Excellency states it to be his opinion that several discussions which have taken place between his Responsible Advisers and himself constitute differences of opinion. It would have been folly for Ministers to have said that these discussions did not exhibit differences of opinion, but Ministers did not say anything which could be construed to bear such an interpretation. The words used by Ministers on the 2nd of August last were these: "Practically no difference of opinion as yet exists between His Excellency and his Advisers." At that time the statement was true—no difference did then exist of a practical nature; for, although differences had frequently arisen, they had been obviated by Ministers, with an earnest desire to yield to His Excellency as the representative of the Imperial Government, surrendering their own opinions; and therefore, although differences had arisen, no practical result was then in existence.
  • 2. His Excellency next states that he is of opinion that the publication in the colony of Mr. Cardwell's Despatch No. 43, of the 26th of April, has produced a very happy effect on the Native population, and that to it His Excellency attributes, in no small degree, and in spite of adverse causes, the surrender of the rebels at Taurariga. Ministers feel bound to express their dissent from this opinion; and it is quite clear that the Tauranga Natives had made up their minds to surrender before they ever heard of Mr. Cardwell's despatch or its contents. The despatch was published in the New Zealand Gazette on the 30th of June, and was republished in the Auckland newspapers on the following day, which reached Tauranga on the 4th or 5th of July. The Natives who surrendered were at that time dispersed in the forests at the back of Tauranga, 150 miles distant from Auckland. On the 5th of July Mr. Rice received a communication from them that they desired to surrender, and it was several days after that before they became aware that Mr. Cardwell's despatch was in existence. The true cause of their submission may be found in their defeat on the 21st of June at Te Ranga, by the forces under Colonel Greer, and the straits they were reduced to by the want of food. These, indeed, are the reasons they themselves assigned for their submission.
  • 3. Paragraph No. 4 of His Excellency's despatch is calculated to convey a very erroneous impression as regards the assumption of responsibility in Native affairs by the Colonial Government. The facts are these: In 1856, when Ministerial responsibility in the management of public affairs was granted to the Colony of New Zealand, an exception was made of Native affairs, the entire control of which, by arrangement then made, was reserved to the Representative of the Imperial Government. Soon after the arrival of Sir George Grey, in September, 1861, the then Ministers accepted the transfer from the Governor of that responsibility, subject to the confirmation of the General Assembly; but both Houses, in the following session held in August, 1862, passed resolutions declining the functions which had been relinquished to them; and in a despatch from His Excellency to the Secretary of State, dated the 26th of August, 1862, he stated that he had consented to act in the spirit of these resolutions until further instructions should reach him. His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, in a despatch dated the 26th of February, 1863, informed the Governor that the Imperial Government would not recall its decision with respect to the administration of Native affairs; but no alteration was made till November, 1863, when the General Assembly, having had under their consideration the despatch of the 26th of February, 1863, "conveying the fixed determination of Her Majesty's Government to revoke the arrangement of 1856, and for the future require the colonists to undertake the responsibility of the management of Native affairs," by resolutions passed in both Houses accepted the responsibility thus placed on the colonists. It is true that a great change has taken place, as stated by His Excellency, since the direction of Native affairs was originally, that is, in 1861, assumed temporarily by the Colonial Minister; but it is equally true that that direction was accepted by them subject to the confirmation of the General Assembly, which was refused, and that no change has taken place in this country since November, 1863, several months after the present war had broken out, when responsibility in the management of Native affairs was definitively transferred to the Colonial Ministry.

    The same paragraph of His Excellency's despatch is at least inaccurate when it states that the parties engaged-in the present conflict are the whole of the European population and a part of the Natives on one side, and the remaining portion of the Native population on the other; the fact being that in addition to the two hostile Native parties there is a third, exceeding in number the other two conjointly—namely, a party which has taken no active part on either side, but has remained neutral, watching the course of events.

  • 4. In their memorandum of the 2nd of August, Ministers stated that His Excellency is bound to judge for himself as to the justice and propriety of employing Her Majesty's troops, and that Ministers do not claim the right to enforce their policy with Her Majesty's Imperial forces. Ministers are unable to reconcile these declarations with His Excellency's understanding that they "protest against not being allowed to exercise absolutely powers which would virtually give them a very large control over the naval and military forces and the naval and military expenditure of Great Britain."
  • 5. Ministers feel assured that His Excellency's opinion that because the General Assembly is not responsible it would therefore exercise little or no control over the Colonial Ministers in reference to military and naval matters, is clearly erroneous. Experience has proved exactly the reverse. Nopage 94questions have been more fully and energetically discussed in the General Assembly of New Zealand than those having reference to advice tendered to the Governor on questions as to the employment of forces; nor indeed could it well be otherwise, for such questions are of the utmost importance to the colony, involving not only its welfare, but the safety of the lives and property of the inhabitants.
  • 6. It is quite true that the members of the General Assembly are collected from great distances, from settlements having a totally different character from those of the population inhabiting districts where there are many Natives, and it must be admitted that generally the information the inhabitants of such, settlements possess regarding public affairs is limited, though certainly a more general interest is taken in public affairs in New Zealand than in England, and a greater knowledge of them possessed by the public at large. His Excellency, however, does not state what inference he wishes to be drawn from his statement, but it is clear that it is not a favourable one. On the other hand, Ministers regard the facts admitted as beneficial rather than otherwise to a due appreciation and just management of Native affairs during the excitement necessarily incident to the suppression of a formidable rebellion; for the settlements distant from the seat of hostilities may be fairly expected to send to the Assembly men of calmer judgment, and the totally different character of the population will act as a counterpoise to each other. The main object, however, of the 7th and following paragraphs of His Excellency's despatch appears to be to depreciate Responsible Ministries in general in this colony, and the present Ministers in particular, to disparage the General Assembly and find fault with public opinion, with apparently the object of proving that there is no one in the colony at the present juncture fit to be intrusted with the management of public affairs, and therefore it should be handed over to Imperial officers, or, in other words, to His Excellency himself. The charge that the information given to the Assembly by the Ministry of the day is frequently only such as it thinks fit to transpire, conveys of course the imputation that papers are frequently purposely kept back. This charge Ministers distinctly deny; it is entirely without foundation; and Ministers can indeed with confidence appeal to the Parliamentary papers published in every session of the Assembly in proof of the truth of their denial. The several statements which follow on the same subject Ministers feel bound in justice to say are either without foundation or greatly exaggerated.
  • 7. His Excellency states that the sessions of the General Assembly are not only short, but by far too infrequent to enable them to exercise such control over public affairs as is exercised by the Parliament of Great Britain. It may be observed that if the meetings of the General Assembly were infrequent it would be iu strict conformity with the plan of a Constitution proposed for New Zealand by His Excellency himself in 1851, and substantially adopted by the Constitution Act. But how far His Excellency is correct may be judged by the following statement, commencing with the year 1860, that in which the Maori disturbance first broke out in Taranaki:—
    Day of Commencement of Session.Date of Prorogation.Duration. No. of Days.
    186030th July5th November99
    18613rd June7th September97
    18627th July15th September71
    186319th October14th December57

    It must be borne in mind that mere local matters are not subjects of legislation in the General Assembly, as they are dealt with by the Provincial Councils, so that only questions of general interest engage the attention of the General Legislature; and it is unquestionable that no subject introduced into the Assembly has received the same consideration and has been so fully discussed as those relating to the Maoris, or has occupied one-fifth part of the time: in fact it may be safely affirmed that during the last four sessions—those above referred to—few days have passed in which Native affairs, in some shape or other, were not under consideration, and a very large period of the session of 1863 was exclusively devoted to them.

  • 8. It would be presumption in a Ministry in New Zealand to institute any comparison between themselves and the "strong and powerful Ministry which can be found in Great Britain." But, because a New Zealand Ministry is comparatively very weak, it can be no justification for the inaccurate and exaggerated statements made by H is Excellency in paragraph No. 9 of his despatch. It is not true that the direction of affairs, involving largely the interests of Great Britain, have frequently rested in the hands of two members only of the Ministry; and it is not true that it was on advice thus tendered to him that the Governor was frequently expected to act in the most important affairs of Imperial concern. The present Government entered office in October, 1863, and from that time to the present Mr. Fox has been absent from time to time 38 days collectively on urgent public, business, and Mr. Gillies 144 days, for the most part in accordance with the arrangement made when he joined the Government, that he should generally reside in the South, with a view to special attention to southern business. And Ministers beg to state most distinctly that no Ministerial advice has ever been tendered to His Excellency by any two members of the Government which had not been previously considered and decided on invariably by one and frequently by two other members of the Government, and that such advice has been in furtherance of plans previously agreed to by every member of the Government. As His Excellency has considered it necessary, for the information of the Secretary of State, fully to express his opinion, in rather personal terms, of the New Zealand Colonial Government, both Executive and Legislative, it seems necessary, in order to render the information of the Secretary of State complete, that the opinion entertained in the colony in reference to His Excellency himself should not be omitted. Ministers, however, will not follow His Excellency's example by descending into personalities, but will confine themselves to a simple expression of opinion, without entering on the reasons on which it is founded. Ministers are clearly of opinion—and on this they certainly believe that they speak the sentiments of a large majority of both House of Assembly and of the public in general—that Responsible Government in New Zealand can never be successfully worked under His Excellency Sir George Grey.
  • 9. Many of, the observations of His Excellency in reference to the difficulties of a Governor under Responsible Government in New Zealand are more or less correct. But it may be said that with ordinary tact and management they are not insuperable. No doubt there is an essential differencepage 95between Responsible Government in New Zealand and in the Mother-country. It is true that in the colony the Governor issues orders in his own name, and that in matters not involving Imperial interests they are the orders of his Ministry who are responsible, and are invariably so considered at all events in the colony. If Ministers advise that which is repugnant to His Excellency's own feelings he is not compelled to give his assent; but he has his constitutional remedy, and, although there certainly are impediments in the way of forming a new Ministry, they are much exaggerated by His Excellency, and there is no difficulty which could not be easily overcome if his views coincided with those held by a majority of the House of Representatives, or with those held by a majority of the Executive.
  • 10. No doubt, with a civil war raging in a country, there is danger of men's passions misleading them; but Ministers refer with the utmost confidence to their acts and expressed opinions since they have been in office as a refutation of any charge that may be brought against them that their passions have led them to "adopt extreme views," or to do "hasty and ill-considered acts."
  • 11. What Great Britain owes to the feelings of her naval and military forces—and His Excellency reminds her that she does owe something—is not a question for the Colonial Government; but His Excellency's observations are equally applicable to the colonial forces, and Ministers cannot therefore permit them to pass without notice. They beg most respectfully to express their dissent from what to them appears to be a new and dangerous doctrine, that the feelings of the naval and military forces of a State are to be consulted as to the political justice, propriety, or expediency of the service on which they are employed. Ministers entirely agree with His Excellency that the "uncontrolled power over the lives, actions, and honour" of the officers and men of Her Majesty's Imperial troops and "the welfare of their wives and children" should not be "handed over to irresponsible persons, or at least but feebly responsible to the Colonial Legislature." As Ministers have never claimed such a power, as they have frequently stated, and certainly have never attempted to exercise it, they are quite at a loss to understand against what so much declamation is directed. So far indeed from such power having ever been exercised, Ministers feel that they have been excluded by His Excellency from that which they conceive that they have a legitimate right to. For some time past His Excellency has not thought it necessary even to communicate any information relative, to military movements, and at this very time it is only through the newspapers that they have become informed that some expedition is about to be despatched to the south, either to Taranaki or Whanganui or to both; nor has His Excellency permitted his Ministers to see the despatches received from Her Majesty's Secretary of State by the last mail ten days ago. If Whanganui be the intended scene of military operations, Ministers feel especially that they should have been informed, for it appears to them of importance that timely notice of the intention should have been given, in order to place on their guard the out-settlers who will be exposed to Native outrage.
  • 12. The repetition by His Excellency in various forms of the imputation that Ministers desire or claim to exercise control over Her Majesty's Imperial troops, and divert the expenditure of the resources of the British taxpayer renders it necessary for Ministers to repeat that they never did and do not claim anything of the kind. But on the other hand they do claim, and as long, as they remain Responsible Ministers will exercise, as they feel it to be their duty, control over the resources of the taxpayer, and will not consent to surrender that control to the Imperial officers.

Ministers entirely agree with His Excellency that no doubt need be entertained of the sense and good-feeling of the inhabitants of New Zealand, and that Her Majesty's Secretary of State will be supported by a large majority in doing that which is right. The inhabitants of New Zealand have no desire unduly to interfere with the functions of Her Majesty's Imperial officers, nor to exercise any powers over Her Majesty's Imperial forces; but on the other hand they do claim and feel that they have a right to expect that in all questions affecting colonial interests their legitimate influence should not be denied them. They are above all things anxious that the present war should be speedily terminated: indeed, it is of vital importance to them that it should be. They have made great sacrifices with the hope and expectation that it will be brought to that satisfactory conclusion, a just and permanent peace; and they earnestly hope that His Excellency the Governor will not be induced to forego all that has been gained towards that end by patching up a mere truce. Ministers feel assured, to use the words of his Grace the Duke of Newcastle, that "it is better even to prolong the war, with all its evils, than to end it without producing in the Native mind such a conviction of our strength as may render peace not temporary and precarious, but well-grounded and lasting."

Ministers most respectfully request that His Excellency will be pleased to transmit a copy of this memorandum to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Colonies by the mail of the 8th of next month, as His Excellency's despatch, to which this memorandum refers, was transmitted by the last mail.

Fredk Whitaker.

30th September, 1864.

Ministers find the following passages in His Excellency's despatch:—

  • "4. With regard to the general complaint made by my Responsible Advisers of the delay in the transmission of documents to your department, I beg to state that every effort has been made by the very limited establishment allowed me to copy for transmission all documents which it appeared necessary to send Home. But the office accommodation allowed me is too limited.
  • "5. There is now an army of nearly ten thousand men here, a large squadron, and consequently a vast correspondence to conduct; besides the ordinary business of an important Government, within the limits of which a civil war prevails., I am allowed for office accommodation a small office for myself, a writing-room of 12 feet by 16, and one other room of the same size as a general office. The assistance allowed me is miserably inadequate for the work to be performed, and has not been increased at the time that all the other departments have been largely augmented; whilst at the very time my Responsible Advisers complain I was not: transmitting documents to England they were refusing, as will be seen from the enclosed statement of the Despatch Clerk in my office (Memorandum by F. G. Moore, 1st July, 1864), to furnish me with copies of documents in their office which I required for transmission to you, on the plea that any documents that they wished to have sent Home should be copied in duplicate, but that they could not order copies of any documents, to be made which the Governor desired should be sent, but which they did not care about sending."
page 96

Ministers think it necessary to place these facts on record, which will show that the excuse offered by His Excellency is absolutely without foundation:—

  • 1. They have never limited His Excellency to any amount of office room, nor interfered in any way with his arrangements at Government House. His Excellency can take as many rooms of that house for business as he thinks proper; and those, used for that purpose have been so used without any direction or interference on the part of any Ministry.
  • 2. His Excellency has never complained before, nor in any way intimated, that he had not sufficient accommodation for his official establishment.
  • 3. Ministers expressly deny having ever refused, or directed to be refused, any official assistance asked for by His Excellency in his official establishment, and have in all the instances when it has been requested immediately supplied extra clerical aid in His Excellency's official establishment. The memorandum by Mr. Moore on this point, forwarded by His Excellency to Mr. Cardwell, has not been seen by Ministers.
  • 4. In reference to the non-transmission of the particular document referred to, Ministers are quite certain that no request was ever made to them to have it copied, and that they never refused any such request; nor was it ever intimated to them that it was being kept back, least of all that it was kept back for any such reason.

In conclusion, they beg to express their most respectful opinion that it is hopeless to attempt to work Responsible Government with His Excellency, if he continues the practice he has adopted on so many occasions, and which has already formed the subject of complaint, of suppressing or withholding from Her Majesty's Government important documents of his Ministers, while he forwards by the first mail after events his own despatches and statements, without Ministers even seeing them till after the mail has left.

William Fox.

19th November, 1864.

Memorandum by Ministers on Native Government.

The two despatches of Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated the 26th of April and the 26th of May, 1864, and numbered 43 and 65, have received the careful consideration of His Excellency's Responsible Advisers.

There are several matters in these despatches which will probably hereafter require notice, but at present His Excellency's Advisers desire to confine themselves to one point of vital and paramount importance. The despatch of the 26th of May contains the following passage: "But it is my duty to say to you plainly that if, unfortunately, their [Ministers'] opinion should be different from your own as to the terms of peace, Her Majesty's Government expect you to act upon your own judgment." Ministers beg most respectfully to recall to mind briefly what has taken place during the last two years on the subject of responsible government in the administration of Native affairs. In the session of the General Assembly held in 1862, both Houses strongly represented, in an address to Her Majesty, the then state of the colony, strongly remonstrated against being compelled to accept responsibility in Native affairs, and respectfully declined to undertake the task. Responsibility from that time rested with His Excellency the Governor, who consented to act in the spirit of the resolutions of the two Houses, until further instructions from the Secretary of State should reach him.

His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, in his despatch of the 26th of February, 1863, No. 22, in communicating the decision of Her Majesty's Government on the addresses of the Houses of Assembly, states that "Her Majesty was pleased to receive them very graciously, but has not commanded me to recall the decision communicated to you in my despatch of the 26th of May [1862], with respect to the administration of Native affairs." And His Grace further states that the Home Government has resigned the management of Native affairs, that "the relinquishment does not require the assent of the colonists to make it effectual," and that "it is completed by the act of the Home Government." His Grace then goes on to define the position of the Governor in these words: "Your constitutional position with regard to your Advisers will (as desired by your late Ministry) be the same in regard to Native as to ordinary colonial affairs: that is to say, you wall be generally bound to give effect to the policy which they recommend for your adoption, and for which, therefore, they will be responsible. I say, generally, because there remain several contingencies, in which it will be your duty to act upon your own judgment in opposition to theirs. You would be bound to exercise the negative powers which you possess by preventing any step which invaded Imperial rights, or was at variance with the pledges on the faith of which Her Majesty's Government acquired the sovereignty of New Zealand, or in any other way marked by evident injustice towards Her Majesty's subjects of the Native race. In the interests of the colonists themselves, you might feel yourself bound, under conceivable circumstances, to appeal from your Government to the General Assembly, and from the General Assembly to the constituencies, in case the policy recommended for your acceptance appeared to you clearly disastrous. You would be bound to judge for yourself as to the justice and propriety of employing, and the best mode of employing, Her Majesty's forces. In this matter you might of course fortify yourself by taking the opinions of your Ministers, but the responsibility would rest with yourself and the officer in command."

In the session of the General Assembly of 1863, being the next following the receipt of the Secretary of State's despatch of the 26th February, the House of Representatives unanimously passed the following resolutions: "That this House—having had under its consideration the despatch of Her Majesty's Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated the 26th February, 1863, conveying the fixed determination of Her Majesty's Imperial. Government to revoke the arrangements of 1856, and for the future to require the colonists to undertake the responsibility of the management of Native affairs—recognizes with the deepest gratitude the great interest which Her Most Gracious Majesty has always taken in the welfare of all races of her colonial subjects, and the thoroughly efficient aid which Her Majesty's Government is now affording for the suppression of the rebellion unhappily existing, and the Imperial establishment of law and order in the colony; and, relying on the cordial co-operation of the Imperial Government for the future, cheerfully accepts the responsibility page 97thus placed upon the colonists, and at the same time records its firm determination to use its best endeavours to secure a sound and lasting peace, to do, justice impartially to both races of Her Majesty's subjects, and to promote the civilization and welfare of all classes of the inhabitants of these Islands." The Legislative Council passed a similar resolution by a majority of 15 to 1.

A clear, definitive arrangement as to the conduct of Native affairs was then come to between Her Majesty's Imperial Government and the General Assembly of New Zealand, which it is most respectfully submitted it was incumbent on both parties to adhere to.

His Excellency's Responsible Advisers cannot, however, but feel apprehensive that the passage they have quoted from Mr. Cardwell's despatch of the 26th May may be made as capable of an interpretation subversive of this arrangement, and, if fully acted on, involve the resumption of the administration of Native affairs in matters of the most vital importance to the colony. It is clear that that passage, read alone, bears such an interpretation; but it appears to His Excellency's Advisers that the sentences following that quoted qualify it, and are intended to operate as instructions as to the manner in which His Excellency is intended to act upon his own judgment should he differ from his "Responsible Advisers. This reading renders Mr. Cardwell's despatch harmonious with, arid not, as it otherwise would be, antagonistic to, that of the Duke of Newcastle. Under his Grace's arrangement with, the colony, His Excellency the Governor has recognized negative powers, and he is bound to judge for himself as to the justice and propriety, of employing Her Majesty's forces; but he is not entitled, without the advice of his Ministers, to deal with any question of Native policy; and, if the policy they recommend for his acceptance appears to him clearly disastrous, he may appeal to the General Assembly, and from the General Assembly to the constituencies. The Governor's constitutional position with regard to his Advisers is the same in regard to Native as to ordinary colonial affairs. His Excellency's Responsible Advisers are anxious not to be misunderstood. They do not claim the right to enforce their policy with Her Majesty's Imperial troops—in this respect His Excellency has a negative power, which is not disputed; but His Excellency's Advisers do insist that the Governor has not the right to carry out a policy of his own, irrespective of his Responsible Advisers. The despatch, of the Duke of Newcastle, of the 26th of February, clearly abandons any such right, and the despatches from Mr. Cardwell cannot be accepted as reviving it.

Her Majesty's Secretary of State may fully rely that His Excellency's Ministers are animated by a just sense of the exertions and sacrifices which have already been made by the Mother-country for the colony, and that, on colonial grounds, they are as anxious as the Governor can be to terminate the present hostilities. Practically, no difference of opinion as yet exists between His Excellency and his Advisers, and they trust it may not arise; but as a feeling has arisen in the colony, since the receipt of Mr. Cardwell's despatch of the 26th of April, that it is the intention of the Imperial Government to subvert the existing arrangement as to the administration of Native affairs in some matters, and these of the highest importance to the colony, His Excellency's Advisers deem it to be an imperative duty to place on record without delay their protest against the introduction of a new form of government, under which Native affairs would be administered partly by His Excellency and partly by his Advisers —in fact, two Governments for the same affairs, which not only would not always aid one another, but which would sometimes act at cross purposes with each other, rendering it quite impossible that Her Majesty's Government could be advantageously earned on under such a system: a system far worse than that which the Duke of Newcastle pronounced a failure, and which could not but operate mischievously, alike to both Imperial and Colonial interests.

Ministers request that His Excellency will be pleased to transmit a copy of this memorandum to Her Majesty's Secretary of State.

Fredk. Whitaker.

Auckland, 2nd August, 1864.