sioned off and
shelved. At one stage in this singular session, the Governor sent a
message to the House written on sheets of paper, one of the leaves of
which the clerk found to be missing. Gibbon Wakefield thereupon coolly
pulled the missing portion out of his pocket and proposed to hand
it in--a piece of effrontery which the House could not stomach. On
another occasion the door of the House had to be locked to prevent
the minority running away to force on a count-out, and one honourable
member assaulted another with his fists. Australia laughed at the
scene, which, it may here be said, has never been repeated in the
New Zealand Legislature. The greatest man in the Parliament was the
greatest failure of the session. Gibbon Wakefield left Auckland
unpopular and distrusted. Soon afterwards his health broke down, and
the rest of his life was passed in strict retirement in the Colony
which he had founded and in which he died.

The Colonial Office snubbed Colonel Wynyard and Mr. Swainson, and
informed them that responsible government could be initiated without
an Act of Parliament. A year, however, passed before the General
Assembly was summoned together, and then it merely did formal work, as
the Acting-Governor had taken upon himself to ordain that there
should be a dissolution previous to the establishment of responsible
Ministers. This put everything off till the middle of 1856, by which
time Colonel Wynyard had left the Colony. To his credit be it noted
that he had kept out of native wars. Moreover, in his time, thanks to
the brisk trade caused by the gold discoveries in Australia and the
progress of sheep-farming in the South Island, the Colony was waxing
prosperous.

The second Parliament met in 1856, and still for a time there was
confusion. First, Mr. Sewell formed a ministry which lived for
thirteen days; then Sir William Fox another which existed for thirteen
days more. After that, Sir Edward Stafford took the helm and made
headway. A loan of L600,000 was the fair wind which filled his
sails. Judgment in choosing colleagues and officials, very fair
administrative abilities, attention to business, and an indisposition
to push things to extremes in the House were some of the qualities
which enabled him to retain office for four years, and to regain it
more than once afterwards. Until 1873 he and his rival, Mr. Fox,
were considered inevitable members of almost any combination. Native
affairs were in the forefront