A.-2'

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have to thank you for the full explanation with which you have accompanied these papers. I have, &c, CARNARVON. Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby, G.C.M.G., &c, &c.

No. 8. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby. (No. 7.) My Lord,— Downing Street, 15th January, 1878. In my Despatch No. 4, of the 3rd instant, I acknowledged the receipt of your Despatch No. 53, of the 14th November, and I acquainted you that, while I found it necessary to postpone my examination of the question which you had submitted to me, I would not delay to inform you that I approved your referring to me, as Her Majesty's Minister, any question affecting your conduct as the Queen's representative in New Zealand. 2. The further consideration which I have been able to give to your despatch, and its enclosure, leaves no doubt in my mind that, as on the first perusal I was inclined to think, it is my duty, as the Minister responsible for advising the Queen on any matter connected with your conduct as Governor, to support the views which you have clearly and accurately expressed. These are briefly : Eirst, that under the Constitution of New Zealand the Governor is bound to communicate to the Secretary of State any difference of opinion which may arise with respect to his resj>onsibility in relation to the responsibility of his Ministers in any particular case; and, secondly, that, so long as the Ministers retain office, they, and. not the Governor, are solely responsible to the local Parliament for the Governor's acts. " ' 3. I do not understand how there can be any question as to the correctness of this statement of the position and duty of the Queen's representative! and the relations between the different branches of the Colonial Legislature; nor have I found in the papers before me any grounds for disputing the propriety of your application of these well-known principles of parliamentary government to the particular circumstances of the case which had occurred. 4. I am glad, indeed, to observe that the Ministers admit that they advised, and therefore are responsible for, your action in laying before Parliament the papers which included your memorandum of the 27th October; and, this being the case, the question whether the privileges of the House of Representatives had been infringed became really one as to whether the Ministers, in having tendered the advice which they gave to the Governor on the subject, bad infringed them. Their continuance in office is to be taken as showing that the House did not feel that there was any serious cause of complaint. I have, &c, Governor the Most Hon. the Marquis of Normanby, CARNARVON. G.C.M.G, &c.

No. 9. Copy of a DESPATCH from the Right Hon. the Earl of Carnarvon to the Officer Administering the Government of New Zealand. (Circular.) Sir, — Downing Street, 16th January, 1878. With reference to my circular despatch of the 3rd March, 1875, enclosing a copy of a treaty between Her Majesty and the Swiss Confederation for the mutual surrender of fugitive criminals, I have the honor to transmit to you, for publication in the colony under your Government, a copy of a letter from the Eoreign Office, forwarding a copy of a despatch from Her Majesty's Minister