The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British ColonyBuick, Thomas Lindsay
History
The Treaty of Waitangi; or, how New Zealand became a British Colony
Buick, Thomas Lindsay
New Zealand -- Politics and government; Treaty of Waitangi (1840)
Reaching Sydney late in December 1839[47] he immediately reported
himself to Sir George Gipps, who entered into the spirit of the
enterprise with his characteristic enthusiasm for the service of the
Empire. During their official negotiations the final arrangements were
completed agreeably to the intentions of the Colonial Secretary.
Captain Hobson was placed in the possession of the Proclamation under
the Great Seal, by which the Government of New South Wales was
extended to any territory which might be acquired as the result of
Hobson's mission "in those Islands commonly called New Zealand."
Simultaneously he was presented with his own Commission as
Lieutenant-Governor of any such territory, and with the proclamations
he was to issue in New Zealand, as circumstances rendered necessary or
advisable. He was also placed in possession of further instructions
from Sir George Gipps, who laid special stress upon the financial
relations existing between the two colonies. "My responsibility for
the due expenditure of the public money of this colony," he said, "is
one of which I cannot divest myself, and where responsibility is there
also must be control. The extent to which establishments are to be
erected in New Zealand, the salaries to be paid to public officers,
and the expenditure of public money on public works, must for the
present be fixed by myself on estimates and reports or proposals to be
forwarded by you." Close enquiry was also made into the legal question
which Captain Hobson had raised with Lord Normanby when seeking fuller
information regarding his powers of administration. Hobson desired the
power to appoint and suspend Magistrates; to pardon offences and remit
sentences, and to exercise original control, which the insular position
of New Zealand seemed to demand, but which was seldom conferred upon
those holding the subordinate office of Lieutenant-Governor. To this
request Lord Normanby had replied that all the powers necessary for
the proper conduct of his office would be conferred upon him by acts
of the Governor and Legislature of New South Wales. Hobson was
unconvinced, but deferentially refrained from pitting his lay opinion
against that which he naturally assumed was based upon the wider
knowledge possessed by the Department. Sir George Gipps had no such
reservations, and at once declared his inability to delegate to
another powers which had only been delegated to him.
In communicating his final instructions to the Lieutenant-Governor,
Gipps wrote: "With respect to certain powers or prerogations of the
Crown, with which Governors of colonies are usually entrusted, it is
necessary for me to point out to you that though I am myself
authorised by Her Majesty to exercise them in her name, and on her
behalf, I have no power to delegate the exercise of them to another.
From this, which is an inherent maxim in law, it will, I believe
follow:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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