36 THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT [part II 
although there has been no official correspondence with 
Canada on this question, I have been informed that the 
Dominion Government are decidedly of opinion that the 
appointment of a Governor-General should be made without 
any reference to the responsible Ministers. 
Her Majesty’s Government have read with attention the 
debates in the Colonial Parliaments, and without referring 
in detail to those discussions it may suffice for me to say 
generally that the fuller reports of them have confirmed the 
opinion which Her Majesty’s Government had been led to 
form after considering the information previously received 
by telegraph, namely, that the expediency of making any 
constitutional change in the mode of appointing the Governor 
of an Australian Colony has not been established. They 
believe, in fact, that the objections stated in the letter ad- 
dressed on November 15th last to the Agent-General for 
South Australia, a copy of which is annexed for convenience 
of reference, greatly outweigh the advantage which they 
might in some cases derive from a knowledge of the opinion 
of the gentlemen at the time serving as Colonial Ministers. 
Her Majesty’s Government feel that they are justified in 
claiming, for themselves as well as for their predecessors, 
that a remarkable measure of Success, both as regards the 
capacity and character of the Governors appointed, and as 
regards the approval with which those appointments have 
been received in the Colonies, has attended the sincere 
endeavours which have at all times been made to secure the 
best possible selection in each case. They desire at the same 
time to point out the difficulties which might arise if the area 
of selection were absolutely limited, as has been suggested, 
to persons who have held high political office in England, 
or have been members of the Imperial Parliament. Such 
persons are frequently not prepared to retire from s, promising 
public career at home in order to serve out of England for 
a term of years, and it is worthy of observation that the 
suggested limitation would have excluded almost all of 
the most successful Australasian Governors. 
It appears, indeed, to be. necessary on every ground 
that Her Majesty’s Government should conduct, without 
assistance from the Colony, the confidential negotiations 
preliminary to the selection of a Governor, while they could 
not invite a person so selected by them to allow his name to 
be submitted for the approval of gentlemen at a distance, 
to whom (though well and favourably known here) he may 
be altogether unknown.