A.—No.

PEOVINCE OF AUCKLAND. No. 1. His HONOR F. WHITAKEK to the HON. E. W. STAFFORD" Sin, — Superintendent's Office, Auckland, 25th October, 1865. T1 .. .. ">ii 1 have the honor to transmit herewith authentic copies of the Acts noted in the margin, which Acts have been passed by the Auckland Provincial Council, and to which His Honor the late Superintendent has assented on behalf of His Excellency the Governor. - I have, &c, The Honorable the Colonial Secretary, F. Whitaker, Wellington. Superintendent. No. 2. The HON. E. W. STAFFORD to HIS HONOR F. WHITAKER. Sir, — Colonial Secretary's Office, Wellington, 29th November, 1865. ] have to acknowledge the receipt of your Honor's letter, No. 443, of the 25th ult., enclosing copies of two Acts, entitled respectively the " City Board Loan Act, No. 2, 1865," and " Wairoa Rom Act, 1865," passed by the Auckland Provincial Council, and assented to by the late Superintendent of that Province on behalf of the Governor. 1 am constrained for the following reasons to advise the Governor to disallow these Acts. The City Board Loan Act passed the Provincial Council on the 2?th April, 1865, and was assented to by the Superintendent on the 12th May following, the day after the prorogation of the Council, and was only received by the Government on the 3rd inst. The Wairoa Road Act passed the Council on the 20th April, 1865, was presented to the Superintendent for assent on the 31st May, and was assented to on the 24th uit., five months after the prorogation of the I Jouncil, six weeks after the dissolution, and on the day on which a new Superintendent was elected. The Constitution Act, in the 28th section, provides that copies of Provincial Bills assented to shall be sen* '■Jort/twith "to the Governor. In the case of the City Loan Act this proviso has been utterly disregarded, as more than five months were allowed to elapse before the Act was transmitted. Although this circumstance might not of itself invalidate the Act, it manifestly requires notice. Moreover, the Act in question was assented to after the prorogation of the Council. It is the practice (apparently founded on legal obligation) for the Crown to assent to Bills during the sitting of Parliament — a practice also adopted in the General Assembly—and, looking at the provisions contained in the Constitution Act, I am advised that the Superintendents ought to declare their assent or otherwise before the prorogation of the Provincial Council. This latter observation applies, of course, with much greater force to the Wairoa Road Act. The Attorney-General is of opinion that the instructions of the Governor (issued to Superintendents of Provinces in 1857, and published in the New Zealand Gazette, No. 12, of 2nd May, 1857) requiring Provincial Loans Acts to be reserved, apply to Acts empowering Municipal and other bodies to raise loans on a mortgage of rates, &c, as well as to Acts empowering- Superintendents to raise loans on mortgage of Provincial revenue. The City Board Loan Act does not provide that the loan is to be raised under the City Board Act, 1863. lam aware that Bills of this kind have not, in the case of former City Board Acts passed by the Auckland Provincial Legislature, been reserved, and, if the objection stood alone, I should have been disposed to overlook it. The Wairoa Road Act is net, I am advised, framed with a due regard to the provisions of the Highways and Watercourses Act, 1858. There should be no such provision as that contained in the second section of the Provincial Act. The Highways and Watercourses Act providing that the Governor may make Crown Grants in the usual form, the provision in the local Act is unnecessary, and moreover, very objectionable, as it purports to empower the Governor to make a Grant to certain persons, " their heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns/ and upon certain trusts. Setting aside this somewhat extraordinary provision as regards the persons to whom the Grant is to be made, it would be highly inexpedient that the Governor should be bound to make grants to private individuals upon trusts, more particularly upon trusts not specified. It is true that the objectionable provision in the Wairoa Road Act appears to be in conformity with the provisions of the Diversion of Roads Act, but in former Auckland Provincial Acts a grant in fee simple has been provided for. This would not be objectionable, though unnecessary. I will also draw your Honor's attention to the fact that by the Act in question the Crown would

Wairoa K»>;<il Ad, 1868. (lity Board Loan ilt> -s"- -> IK

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FURTHER PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE DISALLOWANCE OF PROVINCIAL BILLS.