ry of State's instructions. In this connection he invites
your attention to the following extract from a letter which
he received yesterday from the Chief Justice in which he a-
gain objects to serve on a Committee containing a majority
of Unofficial Members of Council.
450
7
"At the same time may I, through this letter, urged upon
Messrs. Whitehead and Chater a reconsideration of their
objections to a Committee of four viz., two unofficial
members and one official member and a Chairman. It seem
to me that a Committee so constituted would give the
unofficial members all the advantages which the origin
of the Committee could fairly be held to entitle them
to, and would be within both the letter and spirit of
the Secretary of State's instructions while at the same
time it would sufficiently meet my personal objections.
In such a Committee no recommendation could be carried
in the teeth of unofficial opposition and every recom-
mendation which a majority could agree to would be free
from the possible reproach of being a mere party conclusion. It might of course happen that on some points
there would be an equal division but the only result
would be that no recommendation could in that case be
formulated.
As Mr. Whitehead is good enough to impute to me perfect
impartiality I fail to see why he should object to a
Committee composed (excluding the Chairman) of two members on his side (for it is impossible to escape the
conclusion that there are sides) and one on the other.