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attend. Last session two members were absent in Europe, and from this cause there are membera who will not be present during the coming session. As will be seen from the reports of the division-lists in the proceedings of the Council, the average number voting on divisions is only 28, the highest that voted on any one occasion being 35. Out of 101 divisions, on twenty-eight occasions, never did the number of those voting exceed 30, that number being 7 less than one-half the number of members in the Lower House. His Excellency's Advisers claim that they have the confidence of the colony, and that there is a necessity for making the Counsil efficient, and, further, that the present Administration has not up to the present made any recommendation for appointments to the Council. Under these circumstances, Ministers have therefore advised the appointment to the Council of the four additional members. E. J. Skddon.

Memoeandum for the Peemieb. Government House, Wellington, Bth June, 1895. The Governor begs to acknowledge the Premier's memorandum of the 28th ultimo, accompanying the Ministerial advice to make four additional appointments to the Legislative Council, the reason for making this recommendation being, he perceives, based on the assumption that it is necessary to reinforce the Council in order to enable it to properly perform its functions. As any question of additions to the Council has always been considered a matter of the greatest importance, the Governor has given his best attention to the memorandum, and he now makes known to the Premier the conclusion at which he has arrived. Out of the forty-four Councillors at present on the roll of the Legislative Council there are thirty-seven who may be said to regularly attend its deliberations, except when prevented by illness, while of the remaining seven there are some who attend occasionally. It appears to the Governor, therefore, that an habitual attendance of five-sixths of the Council, as at present constituted, is as large as can be reasonably expected. The question which remains to be considered is as to the roll of Councillors. Is it reduced by vacancies and resignations, or otherwise, to such an extent that the Council is unable to properly perform its duties, and therefore requires to be increased ? Since the present Eepresentation Act of 1887 came into force the roll of the Legislative Council has numbered annually as follows: In 1888, 45 Councillors; in 1889, 43; in 1890, 39; in 1891, 46; in 1892, 35 ; in 1893, 46; and in 1894, 44. The average number since 1887 has thus been 42; therefore, as there are now 44 on the roll, the Council is at present two above the average. The Premier refers to the small voting-power of the Council, as exemplified by the division-lista for last year, 1894. These lists, however, the Governor considers, can hardly be called tests of voting-power —they are only a list of those who vote under the circumstances of each case; neither are they any test of the Councillors who attend during the session. In 1894 all, or nearly all, the Government or policy measures were passed by the Council without opposition; and the divisions which took place were to a large extent on local or nonpolicy measures, which were not of general interest. The rest were, for the most part, on measures in which the Councillors for some reason or other did not feel themselves called upon, as the Governor presumes, to give an opinion. These are adduced as reasons against laying any stress on voting-power as a proof of the strength of the Council. The Governor, having given his best consideration to the Premier's memorandum, is obliged to state that, in his opinion, no reasons have been advanced to show that the Council requires strengthening; on the contrary, his inquiries have convinced him that the Council is of adequate strength, and well able to perform its duties without reinforcement. He is sure that it is unnecessary for him to assure the Premier of his desire at all times to accord his support to his Ministers whenever he can do so; and if he could conscientiously have complied with the advice he has been considering, he would have gladly given effect to it. He therefore much regrets that, under the circumstances, he is not able to give his consideration to the names recommended by the Premier in his memorandum of the 25th May. Glasgow.

(No. 25.) Memoeandum for His Excellency the Goveenoe. The Premier presents his compliments, and begs to acknowledge the receipt of His Excellency's memorandum of the Bth instant in reply to the Premier's of the 28th ultimo, in which the Premier recommended four additional appointments to the Legislative Council. The Premier very respectfully desires, inasmuch as Ministers had exercised due moderation, and that the appointments were only for seven years, to express his surprise and concern at the unexpected decision arrived at in His Excellency's refusal to accept the advice of Ministers to fill the vacancies in the Legislative Council caused by death and resignation, and to place the Council in a position to x properly perform its functions. More especially is the refusal surprising when compared with the expressed views of His Excellency in the concluding remarks in Despatch No. 14, dated the Bth August, 1892, to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, which were as follows: "Before closing this despatch, I would beg to remark that this unfortunate difference between myself and the Ministers could not have occurred were the appointments to the Legislative Council made on a fixed principle. If the Act for amending the mode of appointing Legislative Councillors were further amended in the following direction, the system would, except in an emergency, be selfadjusting. I would enact that the strength of the Council should bear a fixed proportion to that of the House of Eepresentatives; that it should be increased or decreased pari passu with the other