New Zealand Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4255, 9 November 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 9, 1874.

As considerable public interest has naturally been awakened by the action of Sir George Guest in regard to the proposed Constitutional changes, as to the fate of his now unhappily-celebrated petition to the ■ Governor,. we have asked for and obtained a copy of the reply made, and which is as follows ; “Government House, Wellington, “New Zealand, 30th Oct., 1874. “ Sir,—l am directed by the Governor “to acknowledge his receipt through the “ Hon. the Colonial Secretary of a Petition ‘ ‘ to His Excellency, signed by you and for- “ warded by the Superintendent of the “ province of Auckland, together with a “copy of a letter addressed by you “ to His Honor. His Excellency does “ not deem it necessary to reply through “ that channel. “The prayer of your petition is that “ His Excellency will ‘ at once summon “ ‘ the General Assembly of New Zealand “ ‘ to meet with the least possible delay,’ “and ‘further . . . that a copy of “ ‘ your petition be at once trans- “ ‘ raitted to Her Majesty’s Govern- “ ‘ raent, with a respectful request “ ‘ that it bo laid before Parliament, “ ‘and that His Excellency will imrne- “ ‘ diatoly send a telegraph message to “ ‘ HorMajosty’sGovornmcntpointingout “ ‘ that at the present time there is no

“ 'person constitutionally, or in point of “ ‘law, qualified to negotiate or commu- “ ‘nicatewith Her Majesty’s Government “ ‘on the subject of the abolition of the “ 1 provincial institutions of the country.’ “It appears to His Excellency that in “praying him to summon the General “Assembly immediately, and transmit your “ petition to Her Majesty’s Government, “ you propose that he should act indepon- “ ffently of, if not in opposition to, his “responsible advisers, a course which “ would be justified only by great and ex- “ ceptional emergencies. “ The object to be gained by pursuing “ such a course is in your opinion that “ the Imperial Parliament might nor be “ led, without duo warning, to pass an Act “ which would destroy complete Ropre- “ sentative Institutions in this Colony. “As His Excellency is aware that there “ is not on the part of the Government “ of New Zealand any intention to make “ application to the Imperial Government “ to propose any such measure to Parlia- “ ment, or that there is any necessity for “ so doing to enable the General Assembly, “ in the exercise of its legitimatef unctions, “to carry out in its next session by “ specific legislation the Constitutional “ changes which, by resolution in its “ recent session, it declared ittobeadvis- “ able, His Excellency hopes that with fur- “ ther information on this point you will bo “ satisfied that the prayer of your petition “ ought not to be complied with, and “ that it is also needless to make tele- “ graphic communication to Her Majesty’s ‘ 1 Government of a fact which must be “ known to them, as it might be supposed “ to have been known to every person in “ tliis Colony, that there is no person “ ‘qualified,’ if by that expression in “ your petition is meant accredited, to “ negotiate or communicate with Her “ Majesty’s Government on the abolition “of provincial institutions. “ His Excellency is very sensible that “ your experience is far greater than his “ own in the duties of a Colonial “ Governor, but it is nevertheless incum- “ bent upon him to act according to his “ own view of his duty, and, considering “ as ho docs that to transmit your peti- “ tion in its present form to Her Majesty’s “ Government with a request that it be “ laid before Parliament, would be in * ‘ some measure to accept as matters of ‘ ‘ fact the premises upon which it is “ based, he is constrained to decline “ to accede to your prayer in this par- “ ticular. ‘ ‘ His Excellency desires to assure you “ that, regarding as he does with the “ greatest respect and consideration any “ expression of opinion on the public “ affairs of New Zealand by one so “highly qualified as yourself, ho will “ most willingly and promptly transmit “ any representation which you may “ desire to make directly through him as “ the appointed channel to Her Majesty “ or Her Majesty’s Government in regard “ to those affairs.—l have, &c., “ (Signed) Francis A. Hare, “Private Secretary.” “ Sir George Gray, K. 0.8.” It is impossible not to feel regret that a gentleman who has occupied so distinguished a position as an Imperial officer, and who in the early days of his rule in this colony was able to render to it such excellent service, should not only have laid himself open to, but have forcibly brought upon himself such a rebuff. With necessary circumlocution, and with as much consideration and delicacy as can fairly be shown in such a case, Sir George is told, and told truly, that ho does not know what he is talking about; —that he had better get further information and reconsider the question ; and that, having done so, if he still felt himself impelled to “ tell Mamma” of those naughty boys, the elected representatives of the people of New Zealand in the General Assembly, who had declared their intention to smash up his stranded Ark of Provincialism, out of which every useful form of life had long since gone, his complaint, if addressed directly to the Queen or to her Ministers, would be promptly transmitted. The excuse which Sir George Grey’s friends, (and we venture respectfully to enrol ourselves amongst the number), make for that recent exhibition of political foolishness —the publication of his petition—is that, living out of the world as he has done of late, and concerning himself no longer with colonial affairs, he has taken no note of the political changes which the last few years have effected in NewZcaland, and that excuse will bo generally accepted ; but with this political indifference there has come also apparently loss of memory, and it seems almost unkind now to remind him that amongst the last of his own official acts as Governor was the transmission to the Secretary of State of a memorandum by the Hon. Mr. Stafford, in relation to the County of Westland Act, in which the Imperial Parliament was invoked to grant to the Now Zealand Legislature that very power to make alterations of the Constitution of the Colony, against the exercise of which, being granted, he now protests with such maundering effusion of sentiment. It would bo gratifying if the shock of finding himself so much abroad on this occasion should rouse Sir George Grey to greater interest in public affairs. All would rejoice to see him continue to take an active share in the business of a colony,-' in the early affairs of which his name, and the history of his administration during the periods of its greatest trials, will occupy a large, and conspicuous, and honorable place.