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It has ever been the aim and object of His Excellency's Advisers to strengthen the bond of union between the people of New Zealand and the Mother-country, and for the representative of Her Most Gracious Majesty in this colony to decline to permit the people just opportunity to carry out their wishes would not be conducive to that. The Premier deeply regrets that His Excellency is unable to agree with the views of his Advisers. Ministers have not previously recommended any calls to the Council, and claim that they are entitled to His Excellency's full confidence. They represent the will of the people, and they have the confidence of a large majority of the men and women of New Zealand. Possessing that confidence, and with a sense of their responsibility, they find it all the more inexplicable that their advice should be disregarded. Under these circumstances, His Excellency's Advisers respectfully desire that the same course may be followed as was taken in respect to the last appointments to the Legislative Council, and that the matter in dispute, together with all the correspondence which has taken place thereon, may be referred to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. E. J. Sbddon.

(Enclosure to No. 28.) Memoeandum for His Excellency. Ministers present their respectful compliments to His Excellency. 2. A considerable number of gentlemen have of late years ceased to be members of the Legislative Council, amongst them being Mr. James Paterson, Major Bichmond, Mr. Henry Bussell, and Mr. J. C. Pharazyn, and three more members are now on leave of absence. 3. Ministers deem it necessary therefore that some more members should be appointed, and, in recommending His Excellency to signify his consent to call to the Council the gentlemen named below, Ministers desire to say that, in making the recommendation, they have considered the public services rendered by those gentlemen. 4. Ministers advise His Excellency to signify his consent to call to the Council Mr. John Bathgate, of Dunedin ; Captain C. W. A. T. Kenny, of Picton ; Captain Morris, of Tauranga; Mr. Robert Pharazyn, of Eangitikei; Mr. Joseph Shephard, of Nelson; Mr. S. E. Shrimski, of Oamaru; Mr. William Swanson, of Auckland; Mr. Hori Kerei Taiaroa, of Otago; and Mr. Lancelot Walker, of Canterbury. 5. Mr. Bathgate sat as one of the members for Dunedin in the session of 1871. In October, 1872, he was appointed Commissioner of Customs, Minister of Justice, and Commissioner of Stamps. He held the two latter offices until April, 1873, when he resigned them and his seat in the House. For several years he acted as Eesident Magistrate and District Judge in Dunedin, and in 1883 he again entered the House as member for Eoslyn, for which place he sat until the end of that Parliament. Captain Kenny was elected for Picton in 1880, and he represented that town until 1881. Captain Morris was elected in 1875, and has sat in the House since that year. He was also Commissioner of Customs for a short period during 1884. Mr. Pharazyn was returned for the Eangitikei District in July, 1865; but, the. House having been dissolved in 1886, he did not seek re-election. He took an active part in provincial politics, and has always shown great interest in public matters relating to the Wanganui District. Mr. Shephard entered Parliament as member for the Waimea District in 1871, and sat until the end of the fifth Parliament, in 1875. In 1879 he again took his seat for the same district, and he still represents it. Mr. Shrimski first took his seat in the House at the beginning of the sixth Parliament, 1876, as member for the Waitaki District. He represented that district until the end of the seventh Parliament, 1881, and since the opening of the session of 1882 he has sat for Oamaru, the chief town of the district. Mr. Swanson was elected for Newton in 1871, and represented that constituency until the dissolution which took place last year. Mr. Taiaroa represented the Southern Maori District during the sessions 1871-78 inclusive. In 1879 he was called to the Legislative Council, but was declared disqualified—on the ground of his being a paid Native Assessor —during the session of 1880. He was re-elected by his old constituency in 1881, and he still sits for it. Mr. Walker was elected for the Ashley District in 1866, but he found it necessary to resign after that session, and did not again enter Parliament. He has long occupied an influential position in Canterbury. Wellington, 27th March, 1885. Eobeet Stout.

Memorandum for the Premier. The Governor begs to acknowledge the Premier's memorandum of the 29th June. When he was informed of the intention to advise the increase of the Upper Chamber, he awaited the reasons for the proposal with an unbiassed mind, prepared to acquiesce should they approve themselves to him. They were in effect that the Council was inefficient, and therefore required to be increased in order to be able properly to discharge its functions. With these reasons the Governor was unable to concur. In a former memorandum he had expressed the contrary opinion. Since then, during the whole of the last session, he carefully watched the proceedings of the Legislative Council, and was confirmed in the conclusion that not only was it fully capable of performing its functions, but that it possessed in a very high degree that indispensable attribute of an efficient Upper Chamber—the public spirit and sense of duty which prompted it, while retaining its own opinions, not to oppose any measures on which the colony had unmistakably expressed its wishes.