§ SIR JOHN TRELAWNYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary for the Colonies, whether he has received any information 1355 contradicting the statement made to the late New Zealand Loan Guarantee Committee, that the idea of accepting £200,000 instead of £500,000 was distinctly negatived by the House of Representatives; and whether it is not, in fact, true, that the case of only obtaining £200,000 was carefully provided for in a formal Resolution?
LORD STANLEYsaid, he would, for the sake of convenience, take the second part of the hon. Member's question first. He had to state that he had examined the Minutes of the House of Representatives, and he found that a Resolution was passed, as the hon. Member had stated, providing for the contingency of a loan of only £200,000 being granted. That Resolution bore date the 2nd of July, 1856. In answer to the first part of the question, he begged to observe, that the hon. Gentleman had not quoted with perfect accuracy the witness to whose evidence he referred. The witness said, the question of a loan limited to £200,000 was raised in the Legislature, and was distinctly negatived. The hon. Member, in his question, merely said that the idea had been raised in the House of Representatives, and had there been distinctly negatived. He need not, he apprehended, remind the hon. Gentleman, that under the New Zealand Constitution there were two Houses of Legislature, and it was possible that although Resolutions were carried in the House of Representatives, they might have been negatived in the other House; but at the same time he was bound to say, that he could not find in the records of the Colonial Office any trace of such a proceeding. He found that the Resolution did pass the House of Representatives, but he could not trace what became of it afterwards.