excepted from the operations of these regulations, It should be explained that Government Scrip had been issued to those holders of the New Zealand Company’s land orders who (like the brothers Deans) had been unable to obtain possession of their allotments. This had not been an uncommon occurrence, owing to difficulties of access or the hostility of the natives, and at the time of these regulations, Government Scrip was being sold at a substantial discount. The Governor’s authority for making the regulations was derived from a proviso in Clause 72 of the Constitution Act, which authorised Her Majesty until the General Assembly should enact otherwise, to regulate the sale, letting and disposal of waste lands, by instructions issued under the signet and Royal sign manual. It is obvious that by the Constitution Act the British Parliament intended to hand over the control of the waste lands to a representative government in New Zealand, and that this proviso was inserted only to carry over the interregnum pending the establishment of self-government. It is even doubtful whether, in the absence of the Royal Instructions, Sir George Grey possessed the authority he sought to exercise.
Mr. Henry Sewell, who happened to hear of the proposed regulations before they were gazetted, respectfully protested against them as being illegal, and received a reply that his letter would be submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown. It appeared from subsequent correspondence that the Attorney-General, Mr. D. Wakefield, at any rate, was not consulted, He, in fact, resigned his position on April 9, following, on account of his disagreement with His Excellency’s land regulations. Some of the correspondence that ensued is most illuminative, such for instance, as the following passage from Mr. Wakefield’s letter of May 14, 1853 (after his resignation had been accepted):—
“I declare that I did not ‘advise the issue of the
