E—No. 2

There was a strong disinclination among many members of the House of Representatives to Concur in the retention by the Governor of the administration of Native affairs: but the desire for Responsible Government in other matters induced them to forgo their objections, and the terms proposed by the Governor were finally accepted by the majority, and have been acted upon ever since. The result is, that while on all other subjects the Responsible Ministers are the sole advisers of the Governor, aud exercise the eutire executive functions of the Government, on Native affairs the Governor has, in addition to his Ministers, another adviser, his Native Secretary, who is not a Responsible Minister, nor under the control of Responsible Ministers, but who exercises absolutely (subject only to instructions from the Governor himself) all the executive functions of Government in relation to Native affairs. The Laud Purchase Department, which exists under the reservations in the Constitution. Act, is also in the same position. The Governor consults his Responsible Ministers to the limited extent specified in the Memorandum of 1856, but also consults without limitation the Land Purchase Commissioner, who is not a Responsible Minister, but to whom is further intrusted the practical function of negociating for and effecting the purchase of waste lands. Sir George Grey will recollect, that during his previous administration the two departments of Native Secretary and Laud Purchase Commissioner were kept separate; the former having been filled successively by Mr. Dillon, Captain Symonds, and Major Nugent; the latter only by Mr. McLean, Mr. Mantell, and others. In 1856 the two departments were amalgamated by the union of the two offices of Native Secretary and Chief Land Purchase Commissioner, in the person of Mr. McLean. A prominent result of this union, of the political function of the Government with its commercial function as land purchaser, has been the creation in the Native mind of a suspicion that all the acts of the Government originate in a desire to get possession of their land. They have learned to look upon the Government as a gigantic land broker, and every attempt made by it either to improve their social condition Or to control them by the necessary restriction of law, is supposed to have for its ultimate object the acquisition of territory. This feeling to a great extent lies at the foundation Of the unsatisfactory relations at present existing between the Natives and the Government. The House of Representatives, on two separate occasions in the last two Sessions, unanimously condemned the fusion of the two departments. See Resolutions Sess. Pap. 1860, 1861. Mr. Mc Lean in May last was called upon by the Governor to resign the Native Secretaryship, and from that date the two offices may be considered disconnected. It will be some time, however, before the effects of their combination will be effaced from the minds of the -Natives. In the session of the Imperial Parliament of 1860, an attempt was made, without any previous communication with the General Assembly of the Colony, to take from the Responsible Ministers the little power which remained to them in Native affairs under the Memoranda of 1856. This it was proposed to effect by establishing a Native Council of advice, and partly of administration, to act altogether independently of the Responsible Government. The Act, after passing the House of Lords, was however withdrawn by Her Majesty's Government. But when the Assembly received an intimation of its being before Parliament, an attempt was made by them to meet the views of the Home Government to a certain extent, by the creation of a Native Council of advice, but at the same time subordinating all the executive functions of the Government to the Responsible Ministers. The Bill was not very popular either iu the House of Representatives or out of doors : but what reconciled many of its somewhat unwilling supporters, was the prospect it held out of getting rid of the independent and irresponsible action of the Native Secretary's Department; which, if it continued to exist at all, would do so in subordination to the Responsible Ministry, aud would in fact be converted into that of an Assistant Secretary aud clerks of the Native Minister. The Act passed the Assembly, and was reserved for Her Majesty's assent. A despatch received by the last mail states that Her Majesty's assent is withheld till Sir George Grey shall report. Ministers are bound to state that they regard the existence of the Native Secretary's Department, free as it is from all control on the part of the Responsible Ministry, as a very serious evil. While its existence paralyses all independent and vigorous action ou the part of the Ministry, it is itself inefficient and powerless. Receiving no sympathy and little support at the hands of the Assembly or the Responsible Ministry, it neither originates nor can it carry out any persistent or large policy, and it is only capable of obstructing, by mere inertice, the attempt of the Colonial Government to bring its energies to bear on Native interests. Thus, while it is the cause of much evil, it is of no use except as a machinery for recordiug and interpreting Native letters, and administering the petty details which originate in the casual visits of Natives to the City of Auckland, arranging for their personal interviews with the Governor, providing them with lodgings, or giving them orders for food. The appropriations from the Revenue for Native purposes during the year ending 30th June, 1862, are as follows :— On the Civil List— £ s. d» Native Minister 800 0 0 Native Secretary 400 0 0 Native purposes, Governmental 7,000 0 0 By Act in 1858, to continue for 7 years —For Schools 7,000 0 0 Carried forward., £15,200 0 0 \

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GOVERNOR AND MINISTERS.