A.—lB

1876. NEW ZEALAND.

SIR G. GREY'S LETTER TO THE SECRETARY OF STATE. (COPY OF DESPATCHES RELATIVE TO.)

Presented to hotli Souses of the General Assembly by Command of Sis Excellency. No. 1. Copy of a DESPATCH from Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby to the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon. [No. 27.] Government House, Wellington, My Lord, 21st June, 1876. I have the honor to enclose a letter which has heen addressed to your Lordship hy Sir George Grey. 2. This letter was received hy me ahout an hour before the sailing of the last mail, and after my despatch-bag had been closed and sent to the Post Office, and as it was one which could not be forwarded by me without comment, I was, of course, obliged to hold it over till this mail. 3. Sir George Grey is pleased to state to your Lordship that " No such opportunity, as in a free country is allowed to its inhabitants of expressing their opinion upon the destruction of their Constitution, and the substitution of another for it, has yet, in this case, been afforded to the inhabitants of New Zealand." I am perfectly aware that it is hard to convince Sir George Grey that any decision can be right which does not coincide with his own pre-conceived opinion, but undoubtedly, the question of Abolition, or non-Abolition, was the distinct issue raised at the last election, and there was no one who pressed the matter more strongly, or used his influence more strenuously, than Sir George Grey; he having consented to be put in nomination for the Thames District after he had been returned for Auckland City West, with the view, by his own personal influence, of preventing the return of a second Abolition candidate by that constituency. 4. Sir George Grey then goes on to compare the subordination of the Provincial Councils to the Colonial Legislatures to that which exists between the latter and the Imperial Parliament, and claims, therefore, that the Provincial Councils should be consulted before their privileges can be taken away by an Act of the General Assembly. 5. It appears to me, however, that he entirely omits a circumstance which utterly destroys the parallel which he attempts to draw. The Parliament of England, although undoubtedly supreme, very wisely, while legislating on Colonial matters, refrains from enforcing the regulations which it has passed until confirmed by the Legislature of the Colony affected; but what Sir George Grey entirely overlooks is the fact, that the Imperial Parliament is elected by constituencies who are unconnected with the Colony, and, probably to a great extent, are ignorant of its feelings and requirements; whereas the General Assembly and the Provincial Councils are elected on exactly the same franchise, the former representing the general interest of the whole Colony, while the latter are elected