CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4487, 31 March 1876, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE SUPERINTENDENT AND THE GENERAL GOVERNMENT.

SUPEP.KTEXDESI'S Office, Auckland, 30fch March, 1876.—The following correspondence is published, by direction of his Honor the Superintendent. —Eeadep. "YVoob, Provincial Secretary. Auckland, 20th March, 1876.—Sir,—In reference to the application made through me, > for a diversion of the balance of the loan'to the Pumping Association, I have the honor to inform yon that the General Government, through the Colonial Secretary,' told me this morning that, if your Honor approved of the measure, the General GoTernment, if referred to, would offer no objection, the Colonial Secretary expressing an opinion in favour of tho utility of the diversion. —I have, &c., J. E. Macdonald. —To His Honor tho Superintendent, Auckland.

. Superintendent's Office, Auckland, 29fch March, 1876.—Sir, —I have the honor to enclose the copy of a letter I have just received from Mr. Macdonald. I should be much obliged by your informing me whether 1 may act upon the supposition that his letter represents fairly the view of the Genei-sV Government upon the subject.—l have*.) etc., G. Grey.—The Honorable Dr. Pollen, Colonial Secretary. General Government Offices, Auckland, 29th March, 1876.—Sir, —I have received your letter of this date, covering copy of a letter from Mr. Macdonald on the subject of a proposed " diversion of the balance of the loan to tho Pumping Association." Your Honor requests me to inform you whether you ma 3' act upon the supposition that Mr. Macdonald's letter represents fairly the view of the General Government upon this subject. Your Honor appears to throw doubt upon the 'statement made to you by Mr. Macdonald, and it would be an impertinence on my part to assure your Honor that that gentlemau has not deliberately made a false statement to you, or to advise you as to your action in regard to it. If your Honor have any proposal to make upon the subject of the application of the balance of the fifty thousand pounds authorised to be advanced •to the province of Auckland for works on the Thames goldfield, that proposal will be considered with a desire to meet your Honor's views, and to promote the interests of that goldfield.—l have, &c., Daniel Pollen.—His Honor the Suprintendent, Auck- ' land.

Superintendent's Office, Auckland, 30th March, 1876.—Sir, —Tn reply to your letter of the 29th instant, I have the honour to state that I assume from it you have informed Mr. Macdonald, that you, as Colonial Secretary, have expressed your opinion that it would be a useful thing to divert the balance of the loan to the Pumping Association from sinking to driving and draining purposes, and that, if I give my approval to such diversion, • the Genoral Government would offer no objection to it. I conceive that I ought not to interfere with the views of the General Government being carried out, and, therefore, give the approval which you require.—l have, &c., G. Gkey.—The Honourable Dr. Pollen, Colonial Secretary, Auckland.

General Government Offices, Auckland, 30th March, IS7G. —Sir, —l have received your letter of tliis date on the subject of the proposed diversion of the balance of the loan to the Pumping Association, in "which your Honor is pleased to couvey to me the approval of that proposal which, you say, I required. In my letter of yesterday's date I said, 11 If your Honor have any proposal to make upon the subject of the application of the balance of the fifty thousand pounds authorised to be advanced to the province of Auckland for works on the Thames Goldfield, that proposal wiJl be considered, with a, desire to meet your Honor's views, and to promote the interests of that goldfield." I have not received any proposal from your Honor, nor have I made any to you which required your approval.—l have, &c., Daniel Pollen.—His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland.

Superintendent'n Office, Auckland, 2Sth March, 1876. Sir, —I have the honour to solicit your attention to the 27th section of ft An Act to provide for the Abolition of the Provinces," JS T o. 21, 39 Victorias. Under this section the Governor in Council is required, upon certain expenditure from the revenue of a province being recommended by the Superintendent of a province, to consent to, or decline to consent to, such expenditure for any public service, so that the Superintendent can, in fact, only undertake such expenditure "on the recommendation or resolution of the Governor in Council. At present some recommendations I have made for expenditure from provincial funds on necessary public works remain unnoticed or mi replied to. The invariable rule throughout the Empire is, that whenever a Governor in Council sit, with the powers of a legislative body, for the purpose of consenting to, or refusing to consent to, the expenditure of public funds, their deliberations are open to the public, who have thus an opportunity of knowing the grounds on which the expenditure 'of funds raised by taxation are authorised, or the contrary, and have also an opportunity of oatisfying themselves of the assiduity and fairness with which the public business, wauts, and expenditure are attended to or sanctioned. I therefore earnestly request that you will be so good as to advise His Exccllency the Governor to have all such meetings of the Council as i have alluded to open to the public, and to direct that due public notice should be of the time and placc of such meetings.—l have, &c., G. Grey. The Hon. Dr. Pollen, Colonial Secretary, Auckland.

General Government Offices, Auckland, 29th March, IS7C. Sir, —I have received your Honor's letter of date March 2Sth inst., in -which you solicit my attention to the 27th section of "An Act to provide for the Abolition of tho Provinces/' No. 21, 39 Victoria. It is unnecessary to discuss with your Honor the question whether or not it is the invariable practice of the Empire for the .Executive Council of a colony, tinder any circumstances, to have its meetings open to the public. It will he sufficient to say that your Honor has curiously misapprehended the purport and meaning of the section in question. If your Honor will he good enough to refer to the Provincial Appropriation Extension Act, 1575, you will there find that the power of sanctioning expenditure by Provincial Governments in certain upon the recommendation of a Superintendent, is coufidcd to the Governor, not to tlie Governor in Council.—l have, &c., Daniel Polx.uk. His Honor the Superintendent, Auckland. Superintendent's Office, Auckland, 30th March, 1576. Sir.—l have the honor to thank you for having so speedily replied to my letter of the 2Sth instaut. You have omitted, however, to notice an important point, which is the fact that recommendations for necessary public expenditure made to you in my letters of 7th February, 20th February, and 22nd March, still remain unnoticed, or unreplied to. I trust you will pardon me for saying that I think the Act to provide for the abolition of the provinces, which purports to prevent me from convening the Provincial Council, indicates or provides the means by which those bodies are to be temporarily replaced, and that the term Governor in the Provincial Appropriations Extension Ace should, constitutionally, be interpreted Governor-in-Council. The Governor, I hold to be bound by his duty to the Crown aud to the Royal Instructions, to understaud the word Governor in the sense which I state. The question is one which concerns tl;e disposal of the revenues of upwards of 73,000 people, raised from them by taxation, and such a matter cannot be considered as being too unimportant to require the advice of the Executive Council, whilst, in the case of even so urgent a matter, if time does not admit of ;the Governor consulting his Executive Council, it would still be his duty, with the least practicable delay, to acquaint his Council with the nature of the measures he had adopted, and his reasons for adopting them. If, however, you are determined to understand the Provincial Appropriation Ex- I tension Act} of last session in the ' sense that tho Governor and Snper- I mteodent alone •: are to agree upon

the expenditure of the Provincial revenue, and that the money so expended "deenied~to "hav€" been ther •Legislature of the province, .whilst the Executive Council will not aid in the matter, I beg to be permitted to offer the following remarks for your "consideration : —The Province of Auckland possesses a Provincial Council elected by the people. That Council ought by law, in my belief, to continue to appropriate the revenues of _ Auckland. The - proceedings of that Council are open! to the public, who would thus know the reasons which led to the expenditure of each j item of their revenue, or why any , expenditure recommended was refused, j Your Government have professed to prevent me from convening the Provincial Council for the purpose of constitutionally providing for the expenditure of their revenues, and I have been advised that I may be personally liable to pains and penalties if I do so, although I think that this is doubtful. You now tell me that these revenues, contributed by the taxation of upwards of 73,000 people, are to be expended at the discretion of two persons—the Governor and myself,—and by our mutual agreement, secretly, in breach (I may say) of every law and traditional custom of the Empire, and of rights which ought to be most dearly cherished by the people of this Province. I have never consented to undertake such duties, nor can any law compel me to perform them against my will. The Governor may, by assenting to the Act you have named, be said by you to have by implication accepted these duties, but I unhesitatingly state my conviction that His Excellency never would have so assented had he not believed that he would have had the advice and assistance of his Executive Council in performing those duties ; and I regard the attempt now made to throw the whole responsibility of them npen the Governor and myself as an unconstitutional and improper proceeding. If, however, you are determined to persevere in this course, I then request that you will be so good as to advise the Governor to arrange meetings with me for the purpose of agreeing on the necessary expenditure, to which meetings the public and the -representatives of the Pres3 may be admitted, under such restrictions as His Excellency may think necessary. —I have, &c., G. Grey. The Hon. Dr. Pollen, Colonial Secretary, Auckland.