11.—39

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13th December last, intimating that the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve of my retaining the title of "Honorable" within New Zealand. My absence from home has prevented my sooner noticing your letter. 1 have to express my thanks to His Excellency for having, unsolicited, recommended that a distinction should be conferred on my late colleagues and myself, and I am duly sensible of the appreciation of my public services expressed by Her Alajesty's Secretary of State. I beg, however, to decline the distinction offered, in consequence of the limitation assigned to it. When a distinction is conferred for public services by the Imperial Government, it w rould appear to follow as a necessary corollary that it should be recognized throughout the Empire: any limitation of an Imperial distinction, when conferred on a colonist, would consequently be capable of being construed as a slight alike to the person and the colony with which he is connected. As I cannot consent to sanction, by any act of mine, what may have the appearance of a slight to New Zealand or to myself, I am unable to accept the distinction in question. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, AVellington. E. W. Stafford.

Mr. J. C. Richmond to tho Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Sir,— Nelson, 16th April, 1870. I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of tho 26th Alarch, enclosing a copy of a despatch from the Right Hon. Earl Granville to His Excellency the Governor, informing him that Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to allow me, as one of the late Alinistry of New Zealand, to retain the title of" Honorable" within New Zealand. I have to request that His Excellency may be advised to accept on behalf of tho Imperial Government the acknowledgment duo on my part for the honor conferred. I must at the same time most respectfully decline to avail myself of the permission so graciously accorded, on the ground of its local limitation. 1 am not insensible of the value of such distinctions, but I think that honors conferred by the Imperial Government should have currency throughout the empire. I should take pride iv a local honor conferred by the local Government, however narrow the limit of its authority, if I knew it had been conferred writh the approbation of the country; but the same distinction conferred by the advice of the Colonial Office, London, implies, along with an honor to myself, a policy towards the colonies and a slight upon the people of this country from which I entirely dissent, aud to which I am not willing to be, in the remotest degree, a party. I have, &c., The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, AVellington. J. C. Richmond.

Mr. E. W. Stafford to His Excellency Sir G. F. Bowen, G.C.M.G. Sir,— Wellington, 2nd August, 1870. In consequence of several conversations with your Excellency on the subject of Earl Granville's Despatch No. 130, of 13th December, 1869, intimating that Her Majesty had been graciously pleased to approve that my late colleagues and myself should retain the title of " Honorable " for life within New Zealand, I now ask leave on behalf of Air. Richmond and myself to withdraw our letters to the Colonial Secretary of the 16th April and 17th May respectively, in which, for reasons assigned therein, we declined the honor in question. Tour Excellency has intimated to us that having, by implication, accepted your Excellency's offer to recommend us for honor, it would be looked upon as discourteous were we now to decline it in consequence of its limitation to New Zealand. This w rould place all concerned in a false position, and be a matter of great regret to us. I now r, therefore, ou the part of my late colleagues and myself, accept the honor, and request your Excellency to convey our acknowledgments to Her Afajesty and her Government. In doing so, I desire to offer tho following remarks in explanation of the view under which Mr. Richmond and myself wrote the letters we now ask leave to withdraw—a view in which we all concur. Whilst we are informed by your Excellency that the local limitation attached to the honor conferred on us is in conformity with precedents in other colonies, we adhere to the opinion that such a practice iv relation to honors awarded to colonists differs from that observed as respects [Her Majesty's subjects in other portions of the empire. To use an illustration employed by your Excellency, a Peer of the United Kingdom travelling in the colonies has possibly no precedence by right, whatever he may have by courtesy, over certain high officers of the local Government; but with respect to all other persons he can claim the precedence due to his rank iv the United Kingdom. It may also be observed that au English Privy Councillor, whose position is relatively analogous to that of a New Zealand Executive Councillor, and a Peer of Ireland (who has no official position), can claim to have their titular rank recognized in any part of the empire. We do not contend that honors attaching to local official rank should give a special precedency outside of the sphere of the office to which they attach, but it is in our judgment natural and politic that permanent honors conferred by the Sovereign on colonists in recognition of services should have currency throughout the empire. The limitation to the colony of the right to any personal title of honor held by a colonist, at the same time that distinctions held by subjects domiciled in Great Britain can claim recognition throughout the empire, appears invidious, and tends to weaken that sentiment of loyalty to the Throne and to a common nationalty which is now the principal bond of union for many colonies. It is not the local limitation which is objectionable, but the invidious distinction it implies. While we should be sorry to intrude our personal claims, or to suffer any undue sensitiveness to