Message, No. 26.

Votes and Proceedings of the House of Representatives, 1854 Session I-II

Message, No. 26.

The Officer administering the Government has received from the House of Representatives an Address dated the 4 h instant, enclosing the copy of a Resolution passed by them on that day, embodying a Resolution passed by them on the 3rd, which last Resolution re-asserts their Resolution of the 6th of June on the subject of Responsible Government, and calls for its full and immediate recognition in practice. In reply the Officer administering the Government assures the House of his sympathy with their wishes for the complete establishment of Ministerial Responsibility, as part of the Constitution of New Zealand ; and to the furtherance of this end by uieatis of alterin the Constitution in a constitutional manner, he tenders to the • ouse his unqualified assistance by assenting to any Bill which they may pass for that purpose, ai d most earnestly requesting that the Imperial Government will give effect to its provisions In the meanwhile he refers the House to his Message No. 25, and once more assures them, not only of h;s readiness, but of his most anxious wish to concur ■with them in immediately giving to the principle of Responsible Government the utmost practical effect, not exceeding his powers under the ConstitutionShort ot any violation or evasion of the Constitution Act, he is ready to comply ■with any proposal that the House may see fit to make to him. Vtith this view he is now only waiting for an answer from the House to his Message No. 25, in order to devote himself to the business of forming an Administration as responsible to the two Houses of the Legislature as it can be made without infringing the Constitutional Law by which the House and himself are equally bound. R. H. Wynyard, Officer Administering the Government, Government House, Auckland;, Sth August, 1854.