The Constitutional Difficulty.

It is necessary to mention that the Constitution Actallows our Legislature to pass all Bills required for the peace, order, and good government of the Colony, provided they are not repugnant to the laws of England, and subject to the Governor giving effect to the Royal Instructions as to Bills of specified kinds. One of these instructions issued in 1879 directs the Governor not to assent in name of Her Majesty to, among others, "Any Bill affecting the currency of the Colony," unless it contains a clause suspending the operation of the same until the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure, or unless the Governor shall be satisfied of its urgency, in which case he may assent, and as promptly after as possible forward the Bill with his reasons for assenting to it. But it page 18 is plain enough that what is contemplated by these Instructions is to delay, for consideration, any legislation in the direction of disturbing the existing relations of the Colony with the United Kingdom in the matter of the currency. The scheme proposed does not contemplate doing so in the least. It is confined entirely and exclusively to providing a domestic currency for purely colonial use. Our relations with the Mother Country in the matter of currency—in other words, all our contracts and obligations with the Mother Country, or its dependencies—must be given effect to and carried out in the currency of the United Kingdom. But our local obligations and contracts every year far exceed in value our Home contracts and obligations, and it is solely to furnish us with financial facilities in connection with these that we need, and desire to obtain, a domestic currency. And if the people of the Colony are united, there can be no valid reason why it should be denied.