cHAP. vi] GOVERNOR AS IMPERIAL OFFICER 291 
from Lord Carnarvon, dealing with the then usual division 
of responsibility in the exercise of the prerogative of mercy 
between the Governor and the Ministry : ‘ If it be the right 
and duty of the Governor to act in any case contrary to 
the advice of his ministers, they cannot be held responsible for 
his action, and should not feel themselves justified on account 
of it in retiring from the administration of public affairs.’ 
This position was adopted in full by the Ballance Government 
in New Zealand in 1892, when they were involved in a dis- 
pute with the Governor as to the addition of members to 
the Legislative Council, and when he refused to add the 
number asked for, being under the impression that it was 
his duty as an Imperial officer to maintain the constitutional 
balance of the Houses contrary to ministerial advice, a view 
which it is fair to say it was quite natural, if erroneous, for the 
Governor to take on the papers before him. He therefore 
declined to appoint the twelve members they asked for to 
redress the balance of debating power in the Upper House, not 
to swamp it, and offered nine, a concession which they refused 
to accept. They would not, however, resign their offices de- 
spite the refusal, as the Governor wanted them to do, so that 
the matter might have been decided by a reference to the 
constituencies, but referred home to the Secretary of State, 
who in a dispatch of September 26, 1892, the anniversary of 
which is now made the Dominion Day of the Dominion, 
practically told the Governor to accept ministerial advice 
wherever the interests of the Imperial Government were not 
concerned.! 
In the case of Natal in 1906 a serious difference of 
procedure occurred.? On March 28, 1906, the Governor 
telegraphed that a court martial had ordered the execution 
of twelve natives out of twenty-four for the murder of certain 
police officers. The proceedings of the Court had been care- 
fully reviewed by the Governor in Council, and being in 
order and no injustice committed, he had accepted the 
unanimous advice of his ministers to carry the sentence into 
effect. In a reply by telegraph on March 28, the Secretary 
! Parl. Pap., H. C. 198, 1893-4, p. 48. * Ibid., Cd. 2905. 
U2