188 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [PART II 
required was given, and Parliament when it met turned out 
the Government by two votes, and Mr. Hall! formed a Govern- 
ment. The Governor was not yet rid of his troubles, for the 
ex-Premier, who was in good and bad alike strenuous, revealed 
to the House that he had been compelled by the Governor, 
with the alternative of resignation, to take the step necessary 
to allow Mr. Hall to resign his place on the Legislative 
Council, of which he was a member, in order to become a 
candidate at the election for the Lower House. Fortunately 
the episode did the Governor no harm, for his action had 
been clearly in the right.? 
There is also an interesting case that is worth men- 
tioning as a sequel to the case of Mr. Letellier, which will be 
adduced below. Mr. Joly, who was called by Mr. Letellier 
bo office, had never a strong hold of the Government. He 
was ab last defeated by six votes in the Lower House, and 
the Upper House had already stopped the supplies, and so 
he asked in 1879 for a dissolution on the ground that he 
anticipated a majority from the country. The request was 
refused, on the ground that he had already had one dissolu- 
tion, that he had never had a substantial majority, that there 
was no likelihood of the grant being effectual in returning 
his party in strength, and because the Legislature only lasted 
four years, and should not be frequently dissolved. The 
Lieutenant-Governor’s action was upheld by the fact that 
Mr. Chapleau formed with ease a new Government. 
The question of the power of the Governor to dissolve 
Parliament was raised by Sir F. Dillon Bell at the Colonial 
Conference of 1887 on behalf of New Zealand? He admitted 
that there had been cases in the past where there had been 
undeniable advantages in the position of personal influence 
! This was reconstructed under Mr. Whitaker in 1882, then reconstructed 
in 1883 under Major Atkinson, who was defeated in 1884, and after a dis- 
solution resigned on defeat at the polls. 
* New Zealand Parliamentary Debates, xxxii, 283-9, 387, 397, 579. 
? Bee Parl. Pap., C. 5091, pp. 555 seq. On the other hand, in favour of 
discretion as to dissolution, see Baker, Constitution of South Australia, 
p. Xxv ; Goldwin Smith, Canada, pp. 194, 195; and of. Dilke, Problems of 
Greater Britain, i. 294, 295.