A.—7.

10

The Governor believes that it is universally admitted by Constitutional authorities that frequent Dissolutions are to be avoided if possible, as they tend, as observed by Sir Eobert Peel, "to blunt the edge of a great instrument given to the Crown for its protection :" and he does not believe that it is a legitimate exercise of the prerogative to resort to it when there is no great political question directly at issue between the two contending Parties, and simply in order to maintain in power the particular Ministers who happen to be in office. These views have been expressed in Parliament in England by many of the leading statesmen of the times, and the Governor believes they are the principles which should guide his conduct in the present instance. The Governor in no way wishes to deny that Ministers in New Zealand have, in matters which do not affect Imperial interests, the same rights that Ministers possess in England; but the Governor does not believe that, under similar circumstances, a Minister in England would ask for a Dissolution. Government House, Wellington, 6th December, 1877. Nobmanby.

By Authority : George Didsbiibt, Government Printer, Wellington. —1877. Price 9d.]