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chamber, and the paper in question was dealt with, and added to the minute of the day.
I submit this fact, as an indication of the spirit in which I held myself bound to perform my duties.
On the second charge, which resolves itself into an inference of concealment, I have little to say. As my reply to the request to make a change was to the effect that I was not empowered to make it, it appears to me that nothing but a very strange misunderstanding of the circumstances could lead to a charge of concealment by me, of my disregard of a request which I, at once, looking upon it as a private and unofficial, expressed my inability to regard in the manner suggested. Moreover, the minutes are accessible to every member of Council in the record book; and on confirmation of the draft minute it has been my custom to place it by the side of the member who may have sat next me at the table, and it has frequently been taken up and looked at by such member on the spot. It would have, therefore, been idle to resort to concealment, even if my previous conduct had not shown that it was not sought. But I wish to show to your Excellency that this, to me, unaccountable charge, which I trust will, on this explanation, be found to have arisen from a misunderstanding, contains in itself the proof that the inclusion of the names of absent members in the heading of the minute has been sanctioned by the members of the Government themselves, in th confirmation of the minutes of Council. Mr. Sladen was so kind as to perform my duties for theperiod of one month ending on the 17th day of June last, and during my absence the inclusion of the names of absent members in the heading of the minutes was constant. Whether he read that heading I know not; but i found, on my return, that it had been kept as usual. The statement in the letter of the Hon. the Chief Secretary, that my uniform practice, before the expression of the wishes of himself or his colleagues was known, had been to read the names of the absent members, coupled with the subsequent statement that I had taken upon myself to decide that a gentleman who had been appointed to the Council, and who had neither resigned his seat not been removed, as no longer a member, seems inevitable to show that there is some serious misunderstanding in the matter; for on examination it will appear that I could have attempted to do nothing of the kind, and that if any such decision is implied in the form of minute, it was sanctioned by your Excellency in Council in June last. At the same time, I would respectfully submit that the official record, which the heading is, never seemed to me more that a record of the persons who, being summoned to attend, did so or abstained from doing so, and that nothing further could be said to be implied in it. I am quite sure that it never occurred to me to deal with the question in any sense whatever in connection with my