INTERCOLONIAL RECIPROCITY

15

A.—No, 9,

No. 8. The Hon. J. Eobeetson to the Hon. W. Gisboene. Sic,— Sydney, 25th April, 1872. Eeferring to my letter of the 23rd January, and to yours of the 20th December last, in which you asked for a statement of any opinion that might have been formed by this Government on the subject of Intercolonial Reciprocity, as discussed in the Circular Despatch from the Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, dated 13th July 1871, I have now the honor to refer you, for the desired information, to the printed proceedings of the Intercolonial Conference held at Melbourne in September, 1871, a copy of which is forwarded herewith, and on page 6 of which will be found the Memorandum on the above subject agreed to at the Conference by the Delegates from New South Wales, Tasmania, and South Australia. I have, &c, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, John Eobeetson. New Zealand, Wellington.

Enclosure in No. 8. The Jifemorandum on the subject of Lord Kimberley's Despatch, as agreed to by the Delegates from New South Wales, Tasmania, and South Australia. We, the undersigned Delegates from the Governments of New South Wales, Tasmania, and South Australia, now assembled in Melbourne, having had under our consideration the Despatch of Lord Kimberley, dated the 13th July, 1871, have agreed to a joint Memorandum in reference to that Despatch. We are of opinion that the right of the Legislatures of these Colonies to direct and control their fiscal policy, as amongst themselves, without interference on the part of Her Majesty's Ministers in England, is a right which it is our duty to assert and maintain. We desire that the connection between the Mother Country and her offspring in this part of the world should long continue; and we emphatically repudiate all sympathy with the views of those who, in the Imperial Parliament and elsewhere, have expressed a wish that the bonds which unite us should be severed. As members of the British Empire, the relations of which with other countries are conducted by the Imperial Government, we deny that any treaty can be properly or constitutionally made which directly or indirectly treats these Colonies as foreign communities. With the internal arrangements of the Empire, whether in its central or more remote localities, foreign countries can have no pretence to interfere ; and stipulations respecting the trade of one part of the Empire with another, whether by land or sea, are not stipulations which Foreign Governments ought to be allowed to become parties to in any way. The article in the Treaty with the Zolverein, to which Lord Kimberley refers, is, therefore, one from the obligations of which we should claim to be considered free, if it were interpreted so as to prevent these Colonies from imposing differential duties as between themselves and foreign countries. By the agreement made betwren Victoria and New South Wales in 1867, free trade across or by way of the Eiver Murray was established ; and free trade between these Colonies by sea, as well as by land, might at that time with equal propriety have been established had it been thought expedient. Nothing that we are aware of has since occurred to call for or justify any interference with a similar arrangement between the same or other Colonies. It is of great importance that a cordial understanding should at all times prevail amongst these Colonies, and to that end nothing can be more conducive than a free interchange of their products and manufactures as amongst themselves. We all agree that efforts should be made in our respective Legislatures to provide, at as early a period as practicable, for this mutual freedom of trade ; but we at the same time assert the right of the Colonies we respectively represent to impose such duties on imports from other places, not being differential, as each Colony may think fit. In conclusion, we agree that copies of this Memorandum shall be transmitted through the Governors of our respective Colonies to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. Signed at Melbourne, this 27th day of September, a.d. 1871. James Martin, ~1 Attorney-General and Premier, j Geo. W. Loeb, I ~ „ ~ TTr , Colonial Treasurer, \ New South WalesJoseph Dockee, j Postmaster-General, J J. M. Wilson, Colonial Secretary and Premier, j» Tasmania. James Dunn, M.E.C., J John Haet, "^ Treasurer and Premier, j William Milne, y South Australia. Chief Secretary, | W. Moegan, M.L.C., J