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office, and I appeal to the honorable the Treasurer to confirm what I state when I say that, on my being asked about the matter after confirmation of the minute of the 4th instant, I spoke to him in exactly similar terms to those I have now used; our conversation being held without any knowledge on my part that your Excellency would be moved to take any steps in the matter. It is only within the last two or three weeks that I have heard of the desire of any member of the Council that no absent members should be enumerated. Yet, during May and June, when Mr. Sladen kept the records, they wer enumerated, and on my return the practice was continued. I did not include Mr. Justice Molesworth's name simply because he was not a person summoned for despatch of business; and the minutes [headed as usual as to absent members who were summoned] were regularly confirmed. Now, although I might accidentally err in framing the headings of the minutes, still as in the opinion of the honorable the Chief Secretary they were uniformly read, it is clear that the point, if decided at all, was decided by the Council in not adding to the minutes Mr Justice Molesworth's name, or in not striking out all names of absent persons at a time when the names are stated to have been uniformly read.
The charge that when I was called upon for explanation that which I gave was evasive and most unsatisfactory, is one which a narration of the facts will best meet, inasmuch as I cannot presume to judge as to what would be satisfactory, although I disclaim any intent to be evasive. On Tuesday, 4th November, 1856, after a meeting of Council, the Chief Secretary asked me to show him the minutes just confirmed. On my giving it to him, he asked me why I did not read the whole of the minute. I replied that I had done so; and in reply to other questions put quickly an apparently on the spur of the moment, I stated that the formal heading was not, as it appeared to me, a portion of the proceedings of the Council, although, of course, it ought to be correct as to dates and the presence of members, and I reminded the honorable the Attorney-General that as far as I recollected it was in consequence of a suggestion from himself that the practice of reading the formal heading had been long ago abbreviated. I had the idea that even then more was intended than an extra-official mention of the subject; but as it was mentioned so immediately on the close of the Council, and several members seemed collectively to agree, I determined that it was not right as matter of fact, nor fair to myself, that there should be any doubt as to what the course should be in future; whether, in fact, the regular course should be adhered to or not. On the day, therefore, in consequence of the wishes expressed, I drew the minute in an incomplete shape, enumerating the members present and leaving a blank space in which, according to your Excellency' ruling, the names of the absent members could be inserted, or from which they might be left out on