*THE EARL OF ONSLOWasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether it was true that an assurance had been given to the Premier of New South Wales that his Cabinet would he consulted as to the appointment of Her Majesty's representative in that colony? He said, every person who had resided in the Australian Colonies must be aware that public opinion there was often unduly excited against the Imperial Government by cablegrams sent out without qualification, for the sake of brevity, and without investigation in the hope of obtaining priority, but a cablegram which appeared in The Times of Wednesday last appeared so precise and so specific that it apparently must have had some foundation of truth. It was that a statement had been made in the Legislative Assembly that no Governor would be appointed until his name had been submitted for the approval of the Cabinet of New South Wales. If true, that statement must have been made under a misapprehension, which in these matters would be nothing new. When the last Governor was appointed in Australasia a precisely similar misapprehension occurred, and many people were thus placed in a position of embarrassment. He hoped the noble Marquess would be able to plainly state whether the name of the intended Governor had been communicated to the Colony before or after his name had been submitted for the approval of Her Majesty. That part of the business of appointing a new Governor formed the line of demarcation between courtesy and constitutional change. Everyone would agree that the representatives of colonists should receive the earliest information on these occasions. On the other hand, it had been the practice of successive Governments nut to communicate the fact of an appointment until after it had been finally 1695 made. The principle acted upon had been laid down in a Circular sent round to the various Colonial Governments by the late Secretary of State, and he hoped it would be maintained. It was desirable that Her Majesty's representative should be received in a Colony with the respect due to his position; and he would point out that in every Colony there was in the Governor an Imperial officer supposed to possess the trust and confidence of Her Majesty's Government who was upon the spot, and would be able to give confidential information to Her Majesty's Government as to any names without infringing the principle laid down.
*THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (The Marquess of RIPON)My Lords, I feel, as the noble Earl who has just sat down feels, sure that some misapprehension must exist with regard to this matter, for the statement in the cablegram upon which this question is based is not correct. No change has been made, or is contemplated, in the practice which has hitherto been pursued, and which will be found detailed in Parliamentary Paper C 5828, containing a despatch by the noble Lord my predecessor (Lord Knutsford), to which the noble Earl has adverted, in regard to the appointment of Colonial Governors. At the same time, I shall always endeavour to secure that the Governor and the Government of the Colony should be informed, as a matter of courtesy, of the selection approved by the Queen before any announcement is made in the Press in this country.