13

A.—3a,

approval or disallowance; that is, I would recommend that they should be allowed to make and ordain all such laws as they might judge expedient for the promotion of the peace, order, and good government of the province, with the following exceptions: That it should not be competent for the Provincial Legislative Councils to make anv laws repugnant to the laws of England, or to any Ordinance made and enacted by the Governor-in-Chief and General Assembly of New Zealand ; and that any law of a Provincial Legislative Council which might be repugnant to any law subsequently made by the General Assembly should cease to have any force or effect after the passing of the latter law. And that it should not be competent for the Provincial Legislative Councils to make or enact any law or Ordinance for any of the following purposes : (Ist) Eor the regulation of duties of Customs to be imposed on the importation or exportation of any goods at any port or place in the said New Zealand Islands ; (2nd) Eor the establishment of a general Supreme Court, to be a Court of jurisdiction or appeal from any of the superior Courts of any separate province; (3rd) For determining the extent of the jurisdiction, or of the course or manner of proceeding of such general Supreme Court, or of the said superior Courts ; (4th) Eor regulating the current coin of the said Islands, or any part thereof, or the issue therein of any bills, notes, or other paper currency; (sth) For determining the weight Vand measures to be used in the said Islands, or in any part thereof ; (Oth) For regulating post offices, and the carriage of letters between different parts of the said Islands ; (7th) For establishing laws relating to bankruptcy and insolvency ; (Bth) For the erection and maintenance of beacons and lighthouses on the coast of the said Islands ; (9th) For the imposition of any dues or other charges on shipping at any port or harbour within the same; (10th) For regulating marriages within the same, or any part thereof; (11th) For affecting Crown lands, or lands belonging to the aboriginal native owners, or for imposing any disabilities or restrictions on persons of the Native race, to which persons of European birth or descent would not also be subjected. And I would further recommend that the Provincial Legislative Councils in making laws or Ordinances should conform to and observe all such instructions as Her Majesty should issue for their guidance thereon ; and that such laws or Ordinances should be made subject to Her Majesty's confirmation or disallowance ; and that no Ordinance of any Provincial Legislative Council should be assented to by the Governor or Lieutenant-Governor without the previous sanction of the Governor-in-Chief. (6.) I would recommend that all the provisions respecting the appropriation and distribution of the revenue, and the reservation of the civil list in each province, which are contained in the New Zealand Charter, and are set forth in the Ordinance herein enclosed, should be retained in force, with the exceptions hereinafter stated, if they should meet with your Lordship's approval. (7.) I would recommend that the members of the House of Eepresentatives of the General Assembly should be returned by direct election by the voters of each province. (8.) I would recommend that the representatives for each Provincial Legislative Council should in the same manner be returned for such Council by direct election of the voters of each province. (9.) I would recommend that the right of voting at elections should be exercised by such European subjects of Her Majesty as can read and write, and who have either an estate of freehold in possession, in lands or tenements situated within the district for which such vote is to be given, of the value of £30, or who are householders within such district, occupying a dwelling within the limits of a town of the annual value of £10 ; or in the country, of the annual value of £5. And I would recommend that such right of voting should be exercised by such Native subjects of Her Majesty as are possessed of property in Government securities, in vessels, or in tenements, within the district for which their vote is to be given, of the clear value of £200, or who may be authorised to exercise such vote by a certificate granted to them for that purpose by the Governor-in-Chief. And I should also wish to see, if practicable, a power given to the Governor-in-Chief to change this Native franchise from time to time by Proclamation, such Proclamation being subject to be disallowed by Her Majesty. The main features of the form of Government thus proposed to be introduced into these Islands are adopted from the Constitution your Lordship intended to have been given to New Zealand; and its intention may in general terms be said to be, to bestow on each province into which the Islands now are or may hereafter be divided, those large powers of self-government which their distance from the chief seat of Government, and the great difficulties at present experienced in communicating with the different portions of such extensive Islands, appear to render necessary, whilst at the same time an immediate means is provided of legislating, by means of a general Legislature, on all those subjects of general interest upon which it is most important that uniform laws should prevail throughout the whole territory. And as it might, ultimately, be a great misfortune to the whole country to bo split up into so many independent sovereign States, it is proposed to provide in the General Assembly a bodv which may hereafter absorb into itself many of those powers which are in the first instance given to the Provincial Legislative Councils, by constantly increasing the number of subjects on which general laws for the whole of New Zealand are made, so that ultimately, as the means of communication become more perfect and the spread of population unites the now scattered settlements into one community, the Provincial Legislative Councils may gradually more and more merge into the form of District Councils with extended powers of legislation. The reasons which have induced me to recommend that the general Legislature of New Zealand should consist of two Chambers, a Legislative Council and a House of Eepresentatives, are so obvious that I need not trouble your Lordship by stating them here. I have been induced to recommend that the Provincial Legislative Councils should consist of only one Chamber, because I doubt if in a young country it would be easy to procure a sufficient number of qualified persons to constitute two distinct Chambers, and because, ultimately, probably a single Chamber is that form of body which is best adapted for a District Council possessing extensive powers. It also appeared probable to me that the founders of the new settlements which are likely soon to leave England for New Zealand, such as the Free Church of Scotland Settlement and the Canterbury Settlement, might perhaps wish to avail themselves of the provisions of the Ordinance enclosed in this despatch, by having the members of their single Chamber (the Legislative Council) nominated by Her Majesty previously to their leaving the Mother-country, in which case they might agree on a con-