Proposed Political Constitution.
Its Terms.

Early in 1847 the Governor received from the Secretary of State a copy of the Constitution of New Zealand framed by Parliament for the government of the Colony. It had been drafted after two of the fullest inquiries ever made by a select committee of the House of Commons, and the reports of the Committee abound in matter indispensable to the historian and useful to the sociologist. An ordinary Governor, whether he liked the new Constitution or not, would have taken the necessary steps to carry it into effect; but Captain Grey was not an ordinary Governor. He closely examined the Act and found a number of provisions that appeared to him to be highly obnoxious. The Colony was to be divided into two provinces, with a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed in Downing Street. The chief officials of each province were likewise to be appointed in Downing Street. There was to be a Legislature, elected by the local bodies. There was no provision for the representation of the Maoris. The greater part of the administration and apparently the entire legislation were to be made independent of the Governor-in-Chief, who saw himself shorn of three-fourths of his power.