CO129-259 - Governor Sir Robinson - 1893 [5-8] — Page 472

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When it was suggested to alter the Committee by appointing three unofficial members with one official member and myself as Chairman, my objection to act was that if it should happen that in a division of opinion between the unofficial and official members I should be unable to agree with the unofficial majority, I should be practically forced to give expression to my views and thus be dragged into a discussion which I think I ought to avoid. As Mr. Whitehead states, I should have as Chairman to give effect to the wishes of the majority and record my own views if I thought it necessary.

My objection would not arise if the matter for discussion by the proposed Committee had not been the subject of previous political disputes. As it is, there has been previous concerted action on the part of the unofficial members on the question of expenditure, and the appointment of the Committee is the result of their united and continued opposition to the Government.

I fully appreciate the public spirit which will induce gentlemen in the position of unofficial members living to give time and trouble to what must necessarily be a long and difficult enquiry, and I hope I shall not be supposed to suggest that they would not enter upon the enquiry in an impartial spirit. But I cannot conceal from myself that they are already to a certain extent in the position of litigants, and I submit that a Committee in which, including the Chairman, they have a clear majority would not be constituted so as to give the best guarantee for free and unprejudiced discussion.