13

A..—B

injuriously narrowed. It would, in effect, be the same as if, a stamp duty being imposed on deeds in England, the House of Peers were thereby precluded from considering whether certain transactions should or should not be effected by deed. The question of taxation, as the Council insists, is, in this case, merely incidental to a general question of policy, upon which the Legislative Council is unquestionably entitled to legislate and make amendments in Bills. It cannot, it is conceived, be debarred from doing so by the mere circumstance of a question of taxation being incidentally involved. The report of the debate in the Legislative Council accompanies the case. lleney Sewell, Chairman of Committee.

Copy of Despatch from His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G., to Governor Sir Geoege Geey, K.C.B. Sib,— Downing Street, 17th April, 1863. I have to acknowledge the receipt of your Despatch, No. 134, of the 31st December, forwarding, in conformity with a request to that effect which was made to you by the Legislative Council, a case embodyingthe facts relating to a question of privilege which had arisen between the two Houses, upon which the Legislative Council were desirous that the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown should be obtained for their future guidance. The House of Eepresentatives are not parties to this application ; but, as I have no reason to suppose that they object to it, and as I infer from your despatch that the reference is in conformity with your wishes and of those of your Eesponsible Advisers, I caused the case, with the documents which accompanied it, to be forwarded to the Law Officers of the Crown; and I now enclose for your information a copy of the report which they furnished upon the subject. I have, &c, Newcastle. Governor Sir George Grey, K.C.B.

Enclosure. The Law Officees to the Duke of Newcastle. My Loed Duke,— Temple, 9th April, 1863. We are honoured with your Grace's command, signified in Sir Frederic Eogers's letter of the 28th March ultimo, stating that, in compliance with an application forwarded by the Governor of New Zealand from the Legislative Council of that colony, your Grace directed him to request that we would favour you with our opinion on a question of privilege which had recently been raised in New Zealand, and which is stated in the following terms, in the report of the Committee of the Legislative Council :— Whether, the House of Representatives having, in a Bill, imposed on a Crown grant, or an instrument in tho nature of a Crown grant, a certain tax or duty, it is competent to the Legislative Council to introduce an enactment to the effect that no transaction shall take place under another class of instruments affecting Native lands until such instruments have been practically transmuted into or changed for Crown grants, so, in effect, rendering the latter class of instruments liable to such tax or duty. Sir Frederic Eogers was also pleased to annex the case which was received from the colony, and the papers which accompanied it. The Standing Orders quoted in the ease were^ passed under authority of the 52nd clause of the New Zealand Government Act 15 and 16 Vict., cap. 72.

Sir Frederic Eogers was further pleased to state that we would not fail to observe that the case was drawn on the part of the Legislative Council, and that the House of Eepresentatives was not a party to tho reference; but we would find among the papers a Ministerial memorandum in an opposite sense, from which it might be inferred that the question was fairly stated. In obedience to your Grace's commands, we have taken this matter into consideration, and have the honour to report, — That we are of opinion that, if, in a Bill introduced in the House of Eepresentatives, and passed through that House, a certain tax or duty has been imposed upon a Crown grant, or an instrument in the nature of a Crown grant, it is competent to the Legislative Council, without any breach of the privileges of the House of Eepresentatives, to make the efficacy for any given purpose of another class of instruments intended to affect Native lands under the provisions of the same Bill dependent upon their assuming the form of Crown grants or of those instruments in the nature of Crown grants on which the tax or duty has been so imposed by the House of Eepresentatives. It is, we think, a fallacy to represent this as a case in which the Legislative Council takes upon itself to impose any tax or duty. It merely provides that a particular kind of instrument shall be necessary to produce a particular effect. It has a right to decide for itself upon the form and character of the instrument which shall be sufficient for that purpose, and it cannot be deprived of that right merely because the form of instrument which it prefers is one on which a duty may have been already imposed by law, or will be imposed if the Bill should pass—the imposition of the duty on that form of instrument being the act, not of the Legislative Council, but of the House of Eepresentatives. We do not agree with the argument that the 2s. 6d. per acre was not in its nature a tax or duty. But the other argument urged on the part of the Legislative Council, that the House of Eepresentatives cannot, by imposing a tax or duty on a particular kind of legal instrument, exclude the Legislative Council from the power of originating or amending Bills relating to such instruments, seems to us to be well founded ; and we see no answer to the suggestion that the privilege contended for by the House of Eepresentatives would, in effect, be the same as if, a stamp duty " being imposed upon deeds in England, the House of Peers were thereby precluded from considering whether certain transactions should or should not be effected by deed." It has never been supposed in England that the privilege of the House of Commons as to originating taxation is attended wdth such consequences as this. We have, &c, W. Atheeton. EOUNDELL PaLMEE. His Grace the Duke of Newcastle, K.G.

Enclosure 2. Memoeandum for His Excellency the Governor. Auckland, 29th December, 1862. In transmitting the accompanying resolutions of the Legislative Council to His Excellency the Governor, Ministers desire to append thereto the following remarks by the Colonial Secretary and Native Minister. Alfeed Domett. The difference of opinion as to the breach of privilege complained of by the House of Eepresen-