ABSTRACT
The enactment of a Provincial Councils Ordinance had been clearly envisaged by Lord Grey, and he also agreed in general with the modifications proposed in the constitution of 1846.1 The colonists, however, were more interested in representative government than in the provincial system, and the Ordinance of 1848 by no means consoled them for the passage of the Suspension Act. They considered nominee councils peculiarly objectionable, as Sir George Grey himself admitted; and they were not satisfied with the reasons he gave for delaying representative institutions. The Settlers' Constitutional Association at Wellington pointed out that the Parliamentary grant had been made in 1846 when the free constitution was conceded, and did not see why it should come· to an end. The Governor had misrepresented their attitude towards the Maoris, and they denied that the situation in the southern province justified delay: besides, his veto was a sufficient safeguard against measures prejudicial to the natives.2 His real object, they
. insinuated, was to postpone the introduction of a representative constitution until he left the colony and yet to obtain the credit of having framed it.3 The settlers at Nelson expressed a willingness to forgo the Parliamentary grant if necessary.4 These complaints had the strong sympathy of the Colonial Reformers in England. They believed the success of Sir George Grey in conciliating the natives to be delusive -dependent upon the presence of troops and the 'lavish' payments he was making for native lands-and were still in favour ofleaving the natives as far as possible alone, granting, however, free institutions to the colonists in the south.s The agitation had even some effect upon Sir George Grey. In November 1849 he rather suddenly discovered that
matters had so much improved that he was ready to introduce the constitution at the beginning of 1851, should it be thought desirable to settle concurrently the future form of government of New Zealand and the Australian Colonies. I
No notice, however, was taken of this proposition at home, and in the colony there was an ever-increasing volume of criticism of the Governor. In September 1850 the members of the New Munster Provincial Council, the only one yet called, resigned, and it was found impossible to fill their places. The Ordinance of 1848 had become in fact a dead letter, and the Governor, still intent upon making the transition gradual, proposed to make the provincial councils two-thirds elective. The franchise should be the same for both races, but electoral districts should be constituted only in the regions densely inhabited by Europeans.2 This dispatch crossed one from Lord Grey, announcing that more pressing business forbade the hope that a New Zealand Constitution Bill could be passed into law at the session of 1851, and suggesting the enactment of a Provincial Councils Ordinance very similar to that now proposed.3 In the colony, however, the reception of the new Bill was far from favourable. A public meeting at Wellington pledged itself 'to resist its introduction by every constitutional means'; took a hint from the Cape and suggested the drafting of a constitution by a Council in which the officials were joined by individuals chosen by public meetings in each settlement; and demanded responsible government and the control of all 'local matters', including lands, according to the plan now advocated by Sir William Molesworth.'" Nelson wanted universal suffrage, vote by ballot, and municipalities with large powers rather than a pretentious and costly provincial machinery.s It was indeed clear that in this last respect it
was now time to remodel the existing scheme, for both the Otago and the Canterbury settlements. were intensely conscious of their own individuality and must needs be given a provincial organization of their own. Though Sir George Grey actually passed his Bill into law in July 1851, a new situation had already arisen, and with the Ordinance he also sent home new proposals, obviously designed in this case to be final, for meeting it.
