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1058 ADMINISTRATION AND LEGISLATION [pArT V
On the grant of responsible government the Governor claimed
to reserve the native question for Imperial control, and it
was not until 1861 that Sir G. Grey abandoned this policy.
The attempt to control native policy was due to the presence
of Imperial troops, and the quarrels of the period from 1862
to 1869 must be elsewhere alluded to. Suffice it to say
that the policy of Imperial interference was a complete
mistake, and the Imperial Government recognized it at
a very early date, but the settlers were deficient in self-
reliance, and Sir G. Grey was a difficult man to deal with.
The Constitution Act of 1852 expressly provided, and the
section has never yet been repealed, that Her Majesty, by
letters patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom,
might make provision from time to time to maintain the
laws, customs, and usages of the aboriginal and native in-
habitants of New Zealand so far as they were not repugnant
to the general principles of humanity, for the government
of those natives in their relation to and dealing with each
other, and to set apart particular districts within which such
laws and customs should be observed. The Crown has still
power to take this step, whether the native laws, customs, or
usages are or are not repugnant to the law of England or to
any law or statute in force in New Zealand ; but of course
the power is never exercised, and the government of the
Maoris has been entrusted wholly to the discretion of the
Government of New Zealand; that discretion has been
wisely exercised. The decline of the native population has
ceased. There are signs that it is steadily rising. It can
hardly be denied that their ultimate destiny is through inter-
marriage union with the rest of the people of New Zealand,
though the process may be a slow one. It is not probable that
they will remain a purely native population, and there is
no reason to desire such a result. Since 1872 there have
been two chiefs on the Legislative Council. There are four
Maori members of the House of Representatives, the number
having been fixed since 1881, in which year there were 91
Europeans and 4 Maoris; in 1890 the Europeans were
reduced to 70, and in 1900 raised to 76, but no change in the
