Page image
Page image

AGAINST THE COLONY.

5

B.fc-No. sa,

advances and supplies may have been made ;" but I cannot bring myself to believe that these instructions were intended to embrace any but cash advances and ration supplies, unusual even as such a practice would be between the Mother country and a Dependency, or to go back to 1848, and to embrace disputed Jelaims; and still less can I entertain the idea that Her Majesty's Treasury contemplated exacting compound interest capitalized annually. 25. It is, I believe, an accepted rule that interest is not allowed upon an open and running account • but that, so soon as the account is stated and rendered to the debtor, and no objection is made thereto by him, interest begins to run. The application of this rule to the present case is obvious, as the account was only rendered in a due and complete form on the sth of April, 1867, and objections have been mado to it. 26. So, with respect to compound interest, it is never allowed except in special cases in which theparties by their conduct or agreement give a certain portion of the interest, already due, the character of principal, and make it an original debt; but it cannot be affirmed that any such agreement, eitherspecified or implied, is existing between the two Governments. 27. I have, therefore, every confidence that Her Majesty's Treasury, on taking all these points into consideration, will at once acknowledge that the claim is one which it would not be desirable to press; the more especially when I inform your Excellency that I have learned from the Colonial Government that it is not their intention to charge any interest for the expenditure made by the Colony, on Imperial account, even though the amount paid was often raised at heavy interest, and accompanied, at times, with heavy losses in the sale and negoeiation of debentures. 28. The liability of the Colony for the exijenditure incurred on account of the Militia and Volunteers called out in aid of the Imperial troops by the Governor, in the exercise of the powers vested in him by the Crown, was accepted in 1860 by the Colonial Government, under protest. On the 2nd of March, 1860, Governor Gore Browne intimated to the Colonial Treasurer that the military occupation of the ground at the Waitara would be necessarj7, owing to the unsatisfactory reply of William King to the message sent to him on the Ist of March; and he proposed that a portion of the Militia and Volunteers should be armed, and should receive pay, allowances, and rations at the same rate as the corresponding ranks in Her Majesty's service, and that the necessary disbursements should be made from the Imperial Treasure Chest, to be recovered from the Colonial Treasury. To this proposal of reimbursement, the Colonial Treasurer observed that "at the present juncture he had no alternative but to acquiesce in His Excellency's giving, on behalf of the Colony, the proposed undertaking to reimburse the Imperial Government;" but he justly observes— (1). "That the Militia and Volunteers were to^be called upon to take the field in obedience to His Excellency's summons for the suppression of rebellion on the part of aboriginal Natives." (2). " That the sole direction of the policy of the Colonial Government in its relations to the Natives, and the consequent responsibility for the issue of that policy in warlike operations, confessedly rests with His Excellency, acting under the instructions of Her Majesty's Secretary of State; the Colony of New Zealand being a Crown Colony as completely as before the establishment of Ministerial Government." 29. He further expressed the entire concurrence of the Government with respect to the policy pursued by His Excellency on the occasion ; but respectfully submitted that the Colony was entitled " to the ultimate refund of its advances by the Imperial Government, and advised that His Excellency should, on behalf of the Colony, claim such advance." A similar engagement was made on account of the Wellington Militia by the Colonial Secretary, in his letter to Assistant Commissary-General Adams, on the 28th of April, 1860, with this difference, that the rates of pay for Officers were to be the same asthose to Officers of the line "serving in England," and that weekly abstracts of payments, with copies of the pay lists, were to be forwarded to his office. On the 20th of June, 1860, Governor Browne, in his letter to the officer commanding Her Majesty's troops, informs him " that the question of repayment of war expenses incurred for the defence of the Colony against aggression, or for the preservation of the public tranquillity, is left for futuro adjustment between the Mother country and the Colony,, according to the circumstances of the particular ease which may have arisen." 20. Imperative instructions were, however, immediately given to His Excellency, by the Duke of Newcastle, to the effect that he was "not to make any further advances to the Colonial Government from the Commissariat chest in respect to the expenses of secret service money, or for the maintenance of any local force, except on a distinct pledge, given by the Government of the Colony, that all such advances should be repaid from the Colonial funds, so far as the Imperial Government should require re-payment." In consequence of this demand, the Colonial Government was called upon to givo the required pledge, and the Colonial Secretary, in giving it until such time as the Legislature should express its views on the question of the maintenance of the Colonial forces for the future, declares that he accedes solely on account of "the present critical circumstances of the Colony," which make it "absolutely necessary that the Taranaki Militia should not be dismissed;" and he urges that the Secretary of State should be informed that the militia were called out to assist Her Majesty's forces in maintaining her authority; have been entirely at the disposal of the Officer Commanding Her Majesty's forces; have taken part in all military operations, and have performed duties which would have been undertaken by troops maintained from Imperial funds. The address to His Excellency the Governor, adopted by the House of Representatives, on the 3rd of July, 1861, " declares the assent of the House to the organization and maintenance, under the present Militia Acts, of such parts of the Colonial Forces as may be necessary for the defence of the several settlements, and that it will approvo of the acceptance by the Colonial Government of advances from the Commissariat chest for defraying the requisite expenditure, upon the conditions prescribed by the Secretary of State in his Despatch, No. 13, of the 26th of January, 1861." 31. Shortly after this it became evident to the Governor, and to the Officer'Commanding: Her Majesty's troops, that it would be impossible to.settle the Taranaki difficulties while the AVaikatos interfered, and that, therefore, it was desirable, in the first instance, to bring the Waikatos to terms, and then to resume operations against tlio Taranaki tribes. To accomplish this purpose, large operations, involving confiscation and military settlement, became expedient, and, as circumstances made it imadvisable to call the Assembly together, the Colonial Secretary promised, on behalf of the Govern-

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert