JHAP. 1V] THE GOVERNOR AS HEAD 189 
which was given to the Governor, for he could thus exercise 
a moderating influence over the strong spirit of partyism 
which might exist at any particular moment. But, on the 
other hand, the Government of New Zealand of the day 
were of opinion that whatever advantages that position of 
moderating influence and power conferred were more than 
counterbalanced by the effect that was produced in creating 
a political position on the part of the Governor which tended 
to the suspicion or rather the imputation of partisan feeling 
against him. It was not the fact that much want of con- 
fidence had been felt with regard to the personal qualifications 
or impartiality of the Governor himself, but the party, which 
was disappointed by his refusal, had launched imputations 
of partiality and partisanship against the Governor, and 
the Government of New Zealand thought that the Prime 
Ministers in the Colonies should be given the same position 
as the Prime Minister in England, that is to say, that the 
Governor should, unless there was some very extraordinary 
cause for interference, as a matter of course take the advice 
of his ministers for the time being as to the question of 
the dissolution of Parliament. Sir Graham Berry, who was 
a representative of Victoria, thought that the principle con- 
tended for by Sir F. Dillon Bell was right ; that is to say, 
that a dissolution should be granted as a matter of course and 
not as a matter of favour, and that it should not be a personal 
matter on the part of the Governor, but a constitutional 
function, which he would exercise under advice exactly in the 
same way as he exercised all other functions. Mr. Service, 
also a representative of Victoria, dissented entirely from 
Sir Graham Berry’s view, and expressed doubt as to whether 
the Queen granted a dissolution whenever asked for. Sir 
John Downer, on behalf of South Australia, thought that 
it was most undesirable to alter the existing custom, and he 
suggested that the practice in England was still the same 
as in the Colonies. .Sir Samuel Griffith, representing Queens- 
land, concurred in thinking that the change would be most 
undesirable. He had known cases in the Australian Colonies 
where the Governors were advised by ministers to dissolve