surrender to the Colonial Legislature of the entire management of all our Revenues, Territorial as well as General, in which we include Mines of every description, and upon the establishment of a Constitution among us similar in its outlines to that of Canada, to assume and provide for the whole cost of our Internal Government, whether civil or military, the salary of the Governor-General only excepted, and to grant to Your Majesty an adequate Civil List on the same terms as in Canada instead of the sums appropriated in the Schedule and the Imperial Act 13 and 14 Victoria, cap. 59;" and in conclusion humbly prays that Her Majesty will be graciously pleased to cause such measures to be adopted as may be necessary to give early effect to this proposal. 3. I have already, in my Despatch, No. 69, of the 12th April, 1850, expressed my opinion on the principal points now submitted for Her Majesty's consideration; but I deem it right to add, that when the motion upon which the petition was adopted was brought before the Council it was carried (after a division which was called for by the Colonial Secretary, on the part of the Government), by a majority of 21 to 8, the minority consisting entirely of the Official Nominee Members, with the exception of one Non-official Nominee Member, Mr. Parker. 4. It is also proper that I should state my conviction that the desire to have a Constitution conferred upon the colony, agreeing in its principles with that applied for in the Petition, is not confined to the Legislative Council alone, or to a party in the colony, but that it is supported by the general opinion of the most loyal, respectable, and influential members of the community. I have reason to believe, however, that neither the Council nor the public are anxious for Responsible Government to the extent that now exists in Canada, as it must be evident to every unbiassed person conversant with the subject, that although there are probably in this Colony more talented and educated gentlemen than are to be found in any one other British Colony, there are not, as yet, a sufficient number in it so independent in their fortunes as to be prepared to hold office under an administration depending upon the precarious tenure of being able to command a majority of the popular branch of the Legislature. In the Session of 1852, a Select Committee was appointed (16th June, 1852) to prepare a Constitution for the Colony, pursuant to the powers conferred on this House by the 13th and 14th Victoria, cap. 9; and the draft Bills for this purpose were brought up, and laid on the table of the House. The following is an abstract of their provisions :— The Colonial Legislature to consist of a Legislative Council and Assembly, to be styled, collectively, "The Parliament of New South Wales." The Legislative Council to consist of not less than twenty-one persons, appointed by letters patent under the Great Seal of the Colony. Two-thirds of these appointees shall consist of persons who shall have served in one of the Legislative Councils (as at present constituted) or in the Assembly. Appointments not to be made until after the return of the first writs for members of the Legislative Assembly. If a sufficient number of persons who have served in the Legislative Council or Assembly cannot be found willing to fill these appointments, any others may be appointed. Members of the Legislative Council who have served in the Legislature in its present form, or in the Assembly, to hold office for life. Other members to hold office during Her Majesty's pleasure. President of the Legislative Council to be appointed by the Governor, and to have the right of taking part in the debates. Legislative Assembly to consist of seventy-two members, chosen by the following classes of electors :-every natural born or naturalized subject of Her Majesty having a freehold of £100, or a household of £10 per annum, within the district for which he votes, and held for six months before registration; and every person holding within such district a depasture license, or having a leasehold of £10 per annum with not less than three years to run at the time of registration. Provisoes that no man shall vote who shall have been attainted, &c., or unless he shall have served his prescribed term of punishment, or have been pardoned, nor any person who shall have omitted to pay all taxes, &c., chargeable upon him in respect of his freehold or leasehold, &c. Any person qualified to vote may become a member of Assembly, unless specially disqualified. The disqualified persons are ministers of religion, and those holding offices of profit, &c., under the Crown; an exception, however, being made in favour of naval and military officers, and of those holding the following appointments for the time being:-The Colonial Secretary, Colonial Treasurer, Collector of Customs, AuditorGeneral, Postmaster-General, Attorney-General, Solicitor-General, Inspector-General of Police, Surveyor-General, and Chief Commissioner of Crown Lands. Assembly to endure for five years, unless sooner dissolved by the Governor. vii In a despatch, dated 15th October, 1852, in answer to that of His Excellency the Governor-General, Sir John Pakington, then Secretary of State for the Colonies, in a general way concedes the whole of the demands made in the petition and remonstrance; and in a despatch from his successor in office (the Duke of Newcastle), dated January 18th, 1853, is the following passage: One of the first subjects which engaged my attention on being entrusted with the Seals of this Department, was that Petition, and my Predecessor's Despatch of the 15th of last month relative to its contents. Recent, therefore, as has been my accession to office, I am thus in a condition to accompany the acknowledgment of the Despatch now before me with a communication of the deliberate views entertained by Her Majesty's Government on that question which commands so wide a concurrence of opinion throughout the community of New South Wales. I have to state, then, that my colleagues and myself cordially adopt the conclusions of Her Majesty's late Government respecting the future administration of the Waste Lands of the Crown. You inform me that a Committee of the Council is engaged in the preparation of a scheme for the amendment of its constitution. As such a measure is impending, it is only necessary for me now to inform you, that as soon as it has passed the Legislature of the Province, and received the approval of Her Majesty, the disposition of the Waste Lands, and the appropriation of the fund arising out of their sale and management, will be placed without reserve under the supervision and control of the Legislative authority in the Colony. This policy would, of course, be inoperative, without legislation in this country; and it will be necessary to invite Parliament to empower Her Majesty to make the proposed transfer of the functions at present vested in the Crown. I am ignorant of the shape which the project under the consideration of the Committee of the Council may eventually assume. The Legislative Council, indeed, in the Petition before adverted to, favoured a Constitution similar in its outline to that of Canada. It would be premature for me, without materials for forming a judgment, to pass an opinion upon the policy of totally reconstructing the frame of Government recently established; but I may state that I have always thought it probable that the experience and wisdom of the Council would dictate better provisions than Parliament for securing good Government in New South Wales, and promoting harmony in the connexion subsisting between Great Britain and this important Province of the Empire. In the early part of the Session of 1853, on the motion of Mr. Wentworth, a second Select Committee was appointed to prepare a Constitution, and the report, and draft Bills brought up by that Committee are subjoined. [Select Committee appointed by ballot, May 20th, 1853 :-The Colonial Secretary (Hon. Edward Deas-Thomson), Mr. James Macarthur, The Attorney-General (Hon. John Hubert Plunkett), Mr. Charles Cowper, Mr. James Martin, Mr. George Macleay, Mr. William Thurlow, Mr. Terence Aubrey Murray, Dr. H. G. Douglass, Mr. W. C. Wentworth (Chairman).] REPORT FROM THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON THE NEW CONSTITUTION. The Select Committee of the Legislative Council, appointed on the 20th of May, 1853, to prepare a constitution for this colony, and having had the despatches from Sir John Pakington and the Duke of Newcastle, relative to such constitution, referred to them, bring up a Bill and the draft of a proposed Act of the Imperial Parliament which will be necessary to give it legal validity, with the following report : In submitting the Bill "to confer a Constitution on this colony, and to grant a Civil List to her Majesty," for the adoption of the House the committee appointed this session have found it necessary to suggest some alterations in the measure brought up by the committee of last session, though they fully concur not only in the scheme of legislation recommended by that committee, but also for the most part in the provisions of the proposed Act of Parliament, and the Bill to be appended to as a schedule, by which unitedly this new constitution is to be legalised and established. The most important alterations that have been made in the measure recommended by the committee of last session, relate to the constitution of the Legislative Council, and the Civil List to be granted to her Majesty upon the surrender to the colony of the waste lands and royalties which are at present vested in the Crown. A As regards the constitution of the Legislative Council, your committee consider that—not only by the terms of their declaration and remonstrance of the 5th December, 1851, but by the letter of agreement to those terms of Sir John Pakington, of the 15th December, 1852, the House is pledged to a constitution "similar in its outline to that of Canada." The subsequent despatch of his successor, the Duke of Newcastle, appears indeed to admit of some latitude of discretion on this most important subject. But your committee are of opinion, that the offer contained in their declaration and remonstrance necessarily included a nominated Legislative Council in the first instance, and from this offer, independently of the question whether they are strictly bound by it or not, they see no reason to depart. They desire to have a form of government based on the analogies of the British Constitution. They have no wish to sow the seeds of a future democracy; and until they are satisfied that the nominated, or the future elective Council, which they recommend, will not effect the object they have in view, of placing a safe, revising, deliberative, and conservative element between the Lower House and her Majesty's Representative in this colony, they do not feel inclined to hazard the experiment of an Upper House, based on a general elective franchise. They are the less disposed to make the experiment as such a franchise, if once created, will be difficult to be recalled. Actuated by these views your committee have introduced into the Bill "to confer a Constitution on the colony, and to grant a Civil List to her Majesty," two clauses, which, to a certain extent, are framed in accordance with analogous clauses to be found in the Imperial Act, 31 Geo. III, c. 31, "for making more effectual provision for the government of the province of Quebec." That Act authorises the Crown, wheneverit thinks proper, to confer hereditary titles of honor, rank, or dignity, to annex thereto an hereditary right of being summoned to the Legislative Council. Your committee are not prepared to recommend the introduction into this colony of a right by descent to a seat in the Upper House; but are of opinion that the creation of hereditary titles, leaving it to the option of the Crown to annex to the title of the first Patentee a seat for life in such house, and conferring on the original Patentees and their descendants inheritors of their titles a power to elect a certain number of their order to form, in conjunction with the original Patentees then living, the Upper House of Parliament, would be a great improvement upon any form of Legislative Council hitherto tried or recommended in any British colony. They conceive that an Upper House framed on this principle, whilst it would be free from the objections which have been urged against the House of Lords, on the ground of the hereditary right of legis lation which they exercise, would lay the foundation of an aristocracy, which, from their fortune, birth, leisure, and the superior education these advantages would superinduce, would soon supply elements for the formation of an Upper House, modelled, as far as circumstances will admit, upon the analogies of the British Constitution. Such a house will be a close imitation of the elective portion of the House of Lords, which is supplied from the Irish and Scotch peerage; nor is it the least of the advantages which would arise from the creation of a titled order, that it would necessarily form one of the strongest inducements not only to respectable families to remain in this colony, but to the upper classes of the United Kingdom and other countries who are desirous to emigrate, to choose it for their future abode. In the Bill proposed for adoption, your committee, it will be seen, have recommended a very large extension of the elective franchise. They are of opinion that, in addition to the franchise established by the 13 & 14 Vict., c. 59, the right of voting for the election of members of the Assembly should be given to all persons having a salary of £100 a year, and to all occupants of any room or lodging paying £40 a year for their board and lodging, or £10 a year for their lodging only. It is conceived that this enlargment of the franchise in combination with the franchise now existing, will be a very close approximation to universal suffrage. Your committee have also recommended that the number of members forming the Assembly should not exceed the number of the present Legislative Council; and that the eighteen additional elective members, who will be substituted for the nominees, should be distributed among the electoral districts constituted by the Electoral Act of 1851, in strict accordance with the principle of distribution established by that Act; which it will be recollected, was settled after the most careful consideration, and with a view to a fair and just representation of all colonial interests then subsisting. Your committee are of opinion that the working of this Act, and the result of the divisions on all the leading constitutional questions which have since arisen, have justified the most sanguine anticipations of its supporters. Your committee, while on this subject, beg also to call the attention of your Honorable House to the 17th clause of the Bill, which contains a power to alter the present electoral divisions, as well as the apportionment of representatives to be chosen by each, whenever there shall |