New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1874.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 4298, 30 December 1874, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1874.

A pew days ago we republished some letters addressed by Mr. Travers to the Colonial Secretary, on the subject of his acceptance of the office of AttorneyGeneral, which first appeared in the columns of our evening contemporaries. We have "been obligingly furnished by the Colonial Secretary with a copy of his reply to Mr. Travers, which we now print in order to complete the series, and for the information of our readers, some of whom have shown themselves to be curious as to the result:— Colonial Secretary's Office, : Wellington, 21st December, 1874.; Sir,—l have tho honor to acknowledge receipt of your letters of the dates respectively quoted in the margin hereof. (November 19, November 28, December 17). Permit me to express my great regret that my unavoidable absenco from Wellington should have caused delay in replying to your first letters, and that the interval of time between the interview with which you favored me at my request on the 16th instant, and the receipt of your letter of the 17th, withdrawing your acceptance of tho office of Attorney-General, was not sufficiently long to have permitted the reply, which thd'Government then desired to make, to haye reached you. ', It appears now unnecessary to discuss with you the points you have raised, as to the official status of the Attorney-General. I am of opinion that your views on these points are demonstrably wrong. Mr. Prendorgast, who is about to bo raised to the highest judicial dignity in this colony, has discharged the duties of Attorney-General during nearly twelve years, with advantage to the public and with tke grateful acknowledgements of successive Governments, without feql-. ing or fearing any of the inconveniences the occurrence of which you anticipate, and also without desiring an exemption from Ministerial direction, which is not accorded even to the Attorney-General in England. ' I have, &c, (Sd.) Daniel Pollen. W. T. L. Travers, Esq , Wellington. It was very generally known that Mr. Travers had, some months since, accepted the offer made to him by the Premier of the Attorney - Generalship, which will be vacated by the elevation of Mr. Prendergast to the office of Chief Justice, and it was equally well known that Mr. Travers was the " barrister of colonial reputation" who had undertaken to collect the necessary information, and to prepare the Bills by which the great constitutional changes are to be effected in the next session cif the Assembly. Under these circumstances, it was hardly to bo expected that before he had put his shoulder to the collar he should have kicked over thp traces thus suddenly, or that the reasons assigned for his action should have been sufficient to move him to that course. Mr. Trovers ignorantly, as it now appears, believed that the office of At-torney-General was independent as well as irresponsible; that that officer "ranked " next to, if not actually with Ministers,, "and was, (subject to the provisions of " the Attorney-General's Act, 1866, and " the due performance of his duties,) as "much the head of his department -as " any Minister appointed to or holding " any particular portfolio." It was late in November last when Mr. Travers discovered that the Attorney-General was by law a civil servant of the Crown of the first class, and as such subject to Ministerial direction ; and that beicause of this position, he would not be entitled to precedence at the bar, in case of tho appointment, at any future time, of a political SolicitorGeneral. Because of this discovery, Mr, Travers declines to make " the consider!- " able sacrifice of income" which his acf ceptance of office would entail upon him, "unless Ministers take a different view of his position." We do not propose to question Mr. Travers' right to decline to make a considerable sacrifice of income for the service of the public, if the conditions of that service were not to his liking; but it seems to us that the conditions which he expected tho Government to accept had not the sanction either of custom or of law, but were directly opposed to both. In England, tho Attorney-General, although a political officer, is not a Minister. He is an officer of the Crown, subject to the commands of the Ministora of the Crown, except in matters for which he himself is responsible, such as the granting his fiat in certain cases ; and whenever his opinion is required by the Government, he takes tho matter into consideration and reports, " in obedience " to the command" of the Minister by whom he has been addressed. In New Zealand, the Attorney-General is necessarily brought into much closer relations with the various departments of Government than the Attorney-General in England is, and if there that officer is not exempt from Ministerial control, it is difficult to understand upon what ground of custom Mr. Travers required that his own sweet will should bo his only guide in the discharge of the duties of an office so important as that which ho had frankly accepted. As by the Civil Service Act of 18GG tho Attorney-General as "Perma- '' nent Law Officer" is included amongst the Civil Servants of the first class, it was impossible for the Government to admit tho. position that he was not amenable to regulations mado by the Governor-in-Council under tho authority of that Act. Of course, - no regulation so mado, if repugnant to the provisions of the Attornoy-General's Act, 1866, would be oporativo. Mr. Travers is an able lawyer, and an acute man of business ; we aro bound to believe, as ho says it, that he was not aware until recently that the Civil Service Acts arid Regulations applied to the office of Attorney-General, but wo venture to think it probable that during the "day " or two's consideration" which he allowed himself, before accepting tho offer made to him by Mr. Vogel, ho had looked carefully into the Attorney-General's Act of 1806, and as ha certainly could find nothing there defining tho functions and duties of tho office, ho must innocently have supposed that the rules which were to guide him woro to bo evolved from his inner consciousness, without reference to any of those persons who aro chargod with, and responsible for, tho transaction of the public business. This boing tho state of Mr. Travers' mind, it is, wo think, fortunate for him that ho did not incur " tho considerable

" sacrifice of income " which his acceptance of office would have entailed npon him ; and as we gather from the tone of the Colonial Secretary's letter that the Government also take that view, we niay assume that both parties are satisfied.