cHAP. tI] THE GOVERNOR AND MINISTERS 175 
and had the satisfaction of receiving a full approval of his 
conduct from the Secretary of State for the Colonies! In 
1877 the Lower House of the Parliament of Tasmania passed 
a vote of censure upon the Governor, Mr. Weld, for his 
conduct in granting his ministers a dissolution, but here 
again the Governor’s conduct was upheld by the Secretary 
of State? In the long controversy in South Africa which 
led to Sir Bartle Frere’s dismissal of the Molteno Ministry, 
it was moved in the Assembly by Mr. Merriman, that the 
Governor had exceeded his constitutional functions in 
insisting on the control of the Colonial forces being placed 
under the Imperial authorities, and that the action taken 
by the Governor had been prejudicial to the Colony and 
had delayed the termination of the rebellion. It was then 
ruled by the Speaker that it was ‘ contrary to constitutional 
principle and parliamentary practice to move any direct 
censure on His Excellency the Governor as the representative 
of the Sovereign, and it being held by the authorities on 
parliamentary government that the ministers in office are 
responsible for the actions of His Excellency the Governor’, 
The motion was therefore amended to avoid any direct 
censure, but it was not carried even in that form.* In 
1875 Sir H. Robinson was the object of a vote of censure in 
Victoria because of the case of the liberation of a convict 
without advice, and was criticized for his action regarding 
the dismissal of a volunteer officer.’ 
In a very recent case in Queensland the speech from the 
Throne was replied to by an address in which regret was 
! New Zealand Parl. Pap., 1878, A. 1, p. 1; 2, p. 7; Gazette, June 21. 
1878; Rusden, New Zealand, iii. 206-209. 
* Tasmania Legislative Council Journals, 1877, Sess. 2, No, 45; Sess. 4, 
No. 19. 3 Cf. Molteno, Sir John Molieno, ii. 383. 
* Cape House of Assembly Votes, May 29, 1878; Parl. Pap., C. 2144. 
pp. 196, 197, Cf. below, pp. 219, note 1, 234, 235. 
* Cf. Parl, Pap., C. 1202 and 1248. It was proposed in April 1866 to 
ensure the Lieutenant-Governor of New Brunswick for his action in dis- 
agreeing with ministers (Pope, Sir John Macdonald, i. 297), and a vote 
of censure was passed on Lieutenant-Governor Doyle of Nova Scotia in 
1868, which he insisted on the House expunging (ibid., i. 299).