The Constitutional Question in New Zealand, 1892, in its Background of Responsible Government

Abstract

This thesis purposes to outline briefly the relations of the Governor with his ministers in colonies of settlement, particularly his obligation to accept their advice An analysis of these relations practically constitutes an analysis of the development of responsible government. Such an outline of this development is essential before the constitutional question in New Zealand in 1892 can be understood in its true light and allocated to its correct position in the evolution of responsible government. This dispute between the Earl of Glasgow, the Governor, and Mr. Ballance, the Premier of his Executive Council, was the occasion of a definite change in British Colonial policy, which from that time adopted a course of advising the Governor to accept the advice of his ministers in all matters concerning purely local affairs.