Introduction
On June 18th, 1852, the Duke of Argyll informed the House of Lords of a petition from the Council of New South Wales, prompted by unrest in the goldfields over taxes and regulations. The petition demanded self-government for the Colony, accepting all the responsibilities which that implied.
THESE grievances having formed the subject of repeated representations and complaints from the former Legislative Council,* all of which have met with neglect or disregard from Her Majesty's Colonial Minister,* we owe it to ourselves and our constituents to denounce to your hon. House, as the chief grievance to which the people of this colony are subjected, the systematic and mischievous interference which is exercised by that Minister, even in matters of purely local concernment.
While we are most anxious to strengthen and perpetuate the connexion which still happily subsists with our fatherland, we feel it a solemn duty to our Sovereign and our fellow-countrymen in the United Kingdom to warn them that it will be impossible much longer to maintain the authority of a local Executive which is obliged by its instructions to refer all measures of importance, no matter how great the urgency for their immediate adoption, for the decision of an inexperienced, remote, and irresponsible* department.
In 1851, the New South Wales Legislative Council was enlarged to 54 members, 36 elected and 18 appointed.
Henry Grey, 3rd Earl Grey, son of former Prime Minister Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, was Secretary of State for War and the Colonies from 1846 to 1852, succeeding William Ewart Gladstone in the role. Grey was in fact an outspoken supporter of self-rule for Australia’s colonies. He had sponsored the historic Australian Colonies Government Act of 1850 that gave considerable powers to the colonial governments, and carved the newly-created Colony of Victoria out from NSW in response to complaints from the city of Melbourne. Nevertheless, the Act omitted to grant NSW the same powers of reform given to other colonies, and London continued to exercise close control though colonial appointments over which the locals had no say.
In the sense of ‘not answerable to higher authority’ (Merriam-Webster), in this case, the people of New South Wales.
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