AUCKLAND.
His Excellency Colonel T. Gore Browne, the new Governor of the Colony of New Zealand, arrived in the Merchantman at Auckland on the 4th of September. We extract the following particulars from the " Southern Cross" of Sept. 7. " On Wednesday, at about half-past eleven o'clock, His Excellency Col. Gore Browne landed, at the Wynyard Pier. The Magnates were in waiting to receive him. His Excellency singled out Mr. Clifford, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, whom he appeared to know by intuition, and walked with him to the town. This, it was observed, seemed a good omen for Constitutional Government. Captain Drury of the ' Pandora' escorted Mrs. Browne. The landing vfas of a strictly private character, very few, we believe, having been aware ofthe time fixed. There was not even a guard of honour in attendance. The ceremony of administering the oaths of office to his Excellency Colonel T. Gore Browne, on the occasion of his assuming the Government of New Zealand, took place yesterday at 12 o'clock. By that houra detachment of military was drawn up, and an immense crowd had assembled outside the Council Chamber. The general anxiety to witness the inauguration was extreme, and as the accommodation for strangers in the gallery of the Legislative Council Chamber was not sufficient for one in a hundred of those who were assembled, it was resolved, in consequence, that the ceremony should take place in front of the building. In the mean time his Excellency, lady, and suite had arrived ; and, on the necessary arrangements having been made, Mrs. Browne was conducted to an adjacent chair, and his Excellency, attired in full military uniform, attended by Captain Steward, his private Secretary, the hon. the Speaker and members of the House of Representatives, and other gentlemen, advanced to the table that had been placed for the occasion. The appearance of his Excellency was welcomed by a simultaneous salute from the battery at Point Britomart, and the ship Merchantman. His Excellency's private Secretary then proceeded to read the Royal Commission appointing his Excellency Governor of the Islands of New Zealand ; on the conclusion of which the usual oaths were administered by the acting attorney-general. At this juncture a truly English" " Hip, hip, hurrah !" originated with the hon. the Speaker, which was warmly responded to, and the band struck up " God save the Queen." His Excellency then administered the oath to the Commander of the Forces, the Colonial Secretary, the Colonial Treasurer, and the acting Attor-ney-General, as his Executive Council. This portion of the ceremony concluded, another '* Hip, hip, hurra," succeeded, the Band resumed, and his Excellency and Mrs. Browne retired within the building. Shortly afterwards they returned, and on their way to his Excellency's temporary residence, were greeted with cheers from the surrounding multitude.'' On Thursday the following' message from the Governor, and enclosures, were read in the House of Representatives. "Message No. 1. The Governor takes the first opportunity, on assuming the government ofthe Islands of New Zealand, to forward to the House of Representatives the accompanying Correspondence with the Secretary of State, having reference to the subject of the despatch addressed by the Secretary of State to the Officer administering the Government, dated Bth December, 1854, published in the "New Zealand Government Gazette" of the lst June, 1855, regarding the future Executive Government of New Zealand, in which despatch the Secretary of State intimates that the views of her Majesty's Government on the points referred to therein will be communicated to the Governor. Thomas Gore Browne, Governor. Auckland, 6th September, 1855.
London, 24 th April, 1855. My Lord, — According to the legislative measures proposed by the Officer administering the Government of New Zealand, in his address to the Assembly, dated 3lst August, 1855, and Sir George Grey's despatch dated Bth December, 185---, I bave the
honor to request that I may be favoured with the ! views of her Majesty's Government previous to my departure for New Zealand. I beg, more especially, to refer to the constitution of the Legislative Council; and should her Majesty's Government approve of its being made "an elective body so constituted as to be less directly liable than the Assembly to popular impulse, and to be capable of acting as a check against hasty legislation," I should wish to know whether I may be empowered to give my provisional consent to this alteration, reserving the final consideration and approval for her Majesty's Government. The discussion relative to the immediate Responsible Government, detailed in " the further papers" recently presented to both Houses of Parliament, induce me to make this request. I also beg to be informed if the views of her Majesty's Government with regard to the measure for empowering the Superintendent to dissolve the Provincial Councils and for fixing the seat of Government, and appointing* a Lieu-tenant-Governor for A uc kland, which, though not within the power of the local Legislature, appear by Sir George Grey's despatch to have occupied the consideration of her Majesty's Government. I learn also that the debt to the New Zealand Company is a subject which occupies considerable atteution in this colony, and I should be glad to receive instructions for my guidance when this subject is again agitated. Finally, I beg to call your attention to the 18th paragraph of her Majesty's instructions to me, and to enquire whether it is intended that an Executive Council, partly nominated, should continue in existence after the establishment of Responsible Government, as sanctioned in Sir George Grey's despatch of August 3, 1854. I have the honour to be, my Lord, Your most obedient servant, T. Gore Browne.
(Copy.) Downing Street, Ist May, 1855. Sir.—-I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of the 24th ultimo requesting to receive instructions for your guidance in certain matters connected with the Government of New Zealand adverted to by the acting Governor in his address to the Assembly in August last. I now propose to answer in order the questions which you put:— 1. The New Zealand Constitution Act does not appear to give the General Assembly power to constitute an Elective Legislative Council. Any act which they might pass for this purpose would therefore remain inoperative. But if they should apply for power to make this change by address either to yourself, or to the Crown, and you shall find this change generally to be desired, Her Majesty's advisers would propose to Parliament a measure for carrying their wishes into effect either by constituting an Elective Council, or enabling the Colonial Legislature to alter the Constitution Act in this respect. 2. There is no express power given by the Act of Parliament to the General Assembly to confer the right of dissolving the Provincial Councils on the Superintendent, nor does it appear, that such a power can be implied. I see no reason for the change, and should be disposed to leave this right in the hands of the Governor. 3. There does not appear to be anything to prevent the General Assembly from passing the necessary measures to change the seat of Government if they think proper ; and Her Majesty's Government will move the Crown to appoint a Lieutenant Governor, if this should be desired, and it shall appear to you to he conducive to the welfare of the Colony. He will of course receive a salary out of Colonial funds. 4. I am unable as yet to communicate to you any resolution of Her Majesty's Government on the subject of the debt to the New Zealand Com-^ pany. The subject is one of so much danger and intricacy, that it will require the most mature deliberation. I can only say that Her Majesty's Government will be anxious to act with justice to all parties. 5.^ As soon as Her Majesty's Government receive intelligence of the establishment of Responsible Government in New Zealand, I will cause fresh instructions to be issued, omitting the Senior Military.Officer from the Executive Council. Until that time, the instructions may as well remain unaltered.
I have thus communicated to you the views which I have been led to form of the provisions ofthe Constitution act. I may hereafter think it necessary to take legal advice respecting them. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, (Signed) J. Russell." Col. T. Gore Browne, &c. &c. &c. On the motion of the hon. the Speaker, the following address was afterwards unanimously agreed to by the House of Representatives. To His Excellency the Governor of New Zealand: — We, the Commons of New Zealand, assembled in their House of Representatives, approach, your Excellency with the expression of our sincere congratulations on your arrival in this colony. Your Excellency will be gratified to learn that the general interests of the colony, taken as a whole, are in a state of high prosperity and advancement. We dare not flatter your Excellency with the assurance that the task you have undertaken will be free from difficulties. Grave and important questions, which have perplexed the Government of this colony from its earliest foundation, and others arising from the introduction of a new and hitherto untried form of Constitution, are still unsettled. The solution of these questions remains for your Excellency, acting in conjunction with the people of the colony, through their representative Legislature. In whatever measures may tend to the removal of existing or future difficulties, or to the advancement of the interests of the colony, your Excellency may rely with confidence on the hearty support and co-operation of this House."
On the loth ult. His Excellency prorogued the General Assembly with the following address :—- Honourable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, and Gentlemen of the House of Representatives, — I consider myself fortunate in having arrive d in New Zealand at a ftime when the General Assembly is in Session, as it affords me an opportunity of stating the views I entertain on certain subjects. Before entering on other matters, I desire to announce my intention to continue the policy hitherto adopted towards the Aborigines, in maintaining inviolate their right to their land, and securing to them an impartial administration of justice. The communication which I took the earliest opportunity of laying before the two Houses, will have satisfied you that it is the desire of her Majesty's Government that this Colony shall enjoy the fullest measure of self- govern ment which is consistent with allegiance to the British Crown; nor are these sentiments confined to any particular party in the Imperial Parliament, but are shared in by those who differ on most other subjects. Animated by the same feeling, I am prepared to carry out in its integrity the principle of Ministerial Responsibility, being convinced that any other arrangement would be ineffective to preserve that harmony between the Legislative and Executive branches of the Government which is so essential to the successful conduct of public affairs. Entertaining these views, it will be my object to secure, as early as possible, the introduction of this form of Government, which has been so earnestly solicited by the properly constituted Legislature of this Colony. Indeed, the public interest demands that the present state of transition should be allowed to continue no longer than circumstances require. As soon as the necessary arrangements have been made, I shall be prepared to give my confidence to those gentlemen who possess that of the Legislature ; and whenever changes may become necessary, I shall permit ueither private interests nor private friendships to influence my public conduct. Gent'emen of the Hotise of Representatives, — I have much pleasure in thanking you for the liberal provision you have made for the Public Service; and you may rest assured the supplies
voted shall be expended with the utmost economy, consistent with efficiency. Gentlemen of the Assembly. —Under the peculiar circumstances of the present Session, legislation has not beeu of an important character. Questions of great public interest have not been dealt with ; these have been rightly deferred until they can be considered by a Legislature more fully attended, and assisted in their deliberations by a Responsible Ministry. All the bills which have been passed by the Assembly, I had much pleasure in assenting to on behalf of Her Majesty, and I trust these measures will be found to effect, beneficial changes in the law. In the position in which I now am, it would be impossible to deal satisfactorily with many subjects of importance ; I shall therefore defer all such matters, not requiring immediate attention, until the contemplated change in the Government shall have taken place. In the exercise of the power conferred on me by the Constitution Act, it (is my intention to dissolve this Assembly without delay. In the absence of any measures on the part of the General Assembly determining otherwise, the next Session will be convened and held in Auckland, as soon as it may be convenient to members from the distant Provinces to leave their private affairs. It is my earnest hope and belief that the several constituencies of the colony, duly appreciating their responsibility, and guided hy an all-wise Providence, will exercise their important functions in the manner best calculated to secure the services of representatives, who will efficiently aid me in my endeavours to develope the resources of the country; to elevate the moral and social condition of its inhabitants; and to preserve that perfect civil freedom, and religious equality, which is now enjoyed by all classes of Her Majesty's subjects; and by these means to promote the happiness, and increase the prosperity of this favoured colony. I now prorogue this Assembly to the lst day of October, 1855. (Signed) Thomas Gore Browne. Auckland, New Zealand, loth September, 1855.
The Dissolution of the General Assembly was afterwards announced in the following PEOCLAMATION". By his Excellency Colonel Thomas Gore Browne, Companion of the most Honorable Order of the Bath, Governor and Comman-der-in-Chief iv and over the Colony of New Zealand, &c., &c. Whereas by an act of the Imperial Parliament passed in the fifteenth and sixteenth years of the reign of Her Majesty Queen Victoria, Cap. 72, intituled an Act to grant a Representative Constitution to the colony of New Zealand, it is enacted that there shall be within the Colony of New Zealand a General Assembly, to consist of the Governor, a Legislative Council and a House of Representatives. And whereas it is by the said in part recited act further enacted that the Governor may at his pleasure prorogue or dissolve the said General Assembly. Now therefore I, the Governor, do hy tlm Proclamation dissolve the General Assembly of New Zealand accordingly. Given under my hand and issued under the public seal of"the Colony of New Zealand, at Auckland, in the colony aforesaid, this fifteenth day of September, in the nineteenth year of Her Majesty's reign, and in the year of our Lord One "Thousand eight hundred and fifty five. (Sisrned) Thomas Gore Browne. By his Excellency's command, Andrew Sinclair, Colonial Secretary. God Save the Queen. Another Proclamation announces the Dissolution of the Provincial Council of Otago.
We extract from the Southern Cross the following summary ofthe work done during the last Session of the General Assembly .— It appears that endeavours are being made in the South, to cast blame upon those members who have attended the Assembly. So far as we can learn, the fault-finders are in the minority;
but they made up for that by assiduity and perseverance. But we fully believe that, except at Wellington, the-feeling will subside, so soon as the result of the session shall have become more generally known. With Wellington, indeed, we do not attempt to reason, for it has always been the most unreasonable province of the six. It is possessed with a fixed idea, about which its lesser ideas revolve, —namely, that it is the most important province in New Zealand, and has a right to the seat of government. As a matter of course, the Wellington settlers were unwilling that a third session of the Assembly should be held ut Auckland, and if we be rightly informed, are wroth with those who by their attendance enabled a House to be made. We admit that there was apparent reason in the exhortation that either all, or none should attend. But subsequent events have shown that the conclusion was hastily arrived at. Uninformedlv, perhaps, rather than hastily ; for who could be expected to foresee the disclosures that have taken place. Let us suppose that, through the deliberate refusal of all the members to attend, a House had not been made. Let us suppose that the Governor, disenabled from consulting the Representatives, —with a sufficient excuse for acting mero motu, upon his own authority, had expended large sums of colonial money in preparation for a Taranaki war: who would then have had a right to complain ? They would have been able to defy complaint. They would have been able to say,— '* We summoned you hut you refused to come ; the business of the country had still to be carried on ; and in the exercise of a necessary discretion, we spent the money. You alone are responsible for what we have been compelled to do by your own default." Nor would Colonel Wynyard's dissuasive circular have been a sufficient answer to this plea. Mischievous and mischievously intended by those who framed it, still it could not discharge members of the Legislature from the clear obligations of duty attached to their office. Through the happy accident, for it was little more, of a House being made, the war estimates had to be submitted for appropriation, and were negatived. The money was saved. But where would have been the remedy, had it been spent without warrant ? There maybe the mythical tradition of a remedy ; but we have learned by experience that in New _fealand, practically speaking, there is none. We might as well employ our time in cryiug over spilled milk, as iv declamation about public money spent. We believe that the meeting ofthe Assembly has been just in time to save the provinces from bankruptcy. A few months more of reckless expenditure on the part ofthe General Government, aud the embarrassment would have been complete. Even now, it is but just retrievable. The provinces, upon the faith of promises that certain sums accruing from the land fund would be paid over to them, have entered into engagements to the full amount of their estimated revenue. The General Government, with full knowledge of the facts, silently devote the promised sums to the purchase—more strictly speaking, the part-purchase of native lands, and leave the provinces without the means of meeting their engagements, unless by borrowing. Fortunately their credit is still good ; for their excess of expenditure has been, not upon establishments, but upon public works, which, de facto, may be treated as provincial assets. But the provinces ought never to have been beguiled into difficulties. So soon as the officer administering the Government resolved upon appropriating the land fund himself—upon rescinding his agreements with the provinces, he should have informed them to that effect, and have allowed them the opportunity of immediate retrenchment. We believe that the meeting of the Assembly has been but just iv time to save the General Government itself from the extremity of embarrassment. Not from insolvency, as we understand the word ; but from inability to meet its immediate liabilities. For a system of acquiring native Und by part payment had been adopted, and most extensively acted on. Calls have yet to be made, which the Government, unless by borrowing, will be unable* to meet. Fortunately the shares will not be forfeited : the land remains to represent the sums that have been already paid, and although much angry, and even dangerous feeling may arise among the native sellers, at being kept out of their money, the embarrassment of the Government
will be more strictly of a political, than of a permanently financial nature. For there are assets in abundance; the difficulty is to make them available in time. * The meeting ofthe Assembly, by imposing a timely check, will enable both the General and the Provincial Governments to retrieve their position. But another advantage has been gained, which bnust not be overlooked. The relative positions of the old Executive and of the colony, with regard to Constitutional Government, have been reversed. It is no longer the people calling in vain for Ministerial Responsibility ; but the Executive, asking them to take it. The miserable cry of greed for office—• raised by the old office holders themselves, and echoed by a few of those who are always on the watch to impute ignoble motives—the miserable cry of greed for office is silenced, never, we trust, to be raised again. The difficulty is now to find men who will accept; capable men, willing to brave the anxiety, the labour, the hostile criticism, and the responsibility, which henceforth must lie before them. And this for an uncertain tenure of place ; possibly for a few months only; perhaps for as many weeks. The experiment has been tried, but the treatment of the Fitz Gerald ministry was scarcely such as to encourage their possible successors. We believe that if by non attendance of members, a House had not been made, that the ensuing Session of the assembly would be wasted so far as positive action is concerned. The whole of it would be occupied with mere enquiry. But enquiry has now been actually made. So much of the truth, though not yet the whole truth, has been dragged forth, as suffices to place the main question fairly before the country. It has been made clear that there is a heavy burthen on the Colony ; and through the question being brought out in its present form, we are enabled to look it straight in the face during the recess, and to prepare for meeting it at once when the opportunity of legislation shall be again afforded. We believe it to be a piece of absolute good fortune to the Colony that the Legislature happened to be in Session when the new Governor arrived. Nor can we doubt its having been a satisfaction, even a relief to himself. Let us suppose his arrival here, without a pvospect of information beyond that which the old officials might think proper to impart; with the fallacious statements of the Auditor-General before him, without the means of verifying them—perhaps without a suspicion of their inaccuracy ; hushed into political slumber by the soothing, long repeated song of " all is well:" surely it is belter, both for himself and for us, that he should have been startled at once into the knowledge of things as they really are. Or, let us suppose again, that through some rare faculty of intuition, all had stood revealed to him on his arrival; would not the prospect have been tenfold more disheartening, had not the House been there to lean upon, as it were, —to shave with him in some measure the heavy responsibility. His Excellency's address, on proroguing the Assembly, with a view to, dissolution, is subjoined. It is terse and explicit; auguring well for the future. Let us hope that the expressed desire for the speedy introduction of Responsible Government may not be disappointed ; yet, it would be vain to attempt concealing the serious difficulties which at present intervene. For these are increased tenfold, by the original failure. The vessel had once been fairly launched, but she stranded almost at the outset of her first voyage. It was easy enough to get her off ihe stocks; but to drag her offshore, may need greater power than we shall be able to apply.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/LT18551003.2.4
Bibliographic details
Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 305, 3 October 1855, Page 3
Word Count
3,945AUCKLAND. Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 305, 3 October 1855, Page 3
Using This Item
No known copyright (New Zealand)
To the best of the National Library of New Zealand’s knowledge, under New Zealand law, there is no copyright in this item in New Zealand.
You can copy this item, share it, and post it on a blog or website. It can be modified, remixed and built upon. It can be used commercially. If reproducing this item, it is helpful to include the source.
For further information please refer to the Copyright guide.