The second parliament constitutes an important landmark in the political development of New Zealand, for with it cabinet government, that heritage of the English parliamentary system came into being; as in England, not by legislative enactment, but as a convention of the constitution. The fact that the inauguration of responsible government marked the vindication of the principles for which the first parliament had struggled, must serve as a justification for the space occupied in this history by the story of those struggles. The establishment of responsible government must necessarily occupy an important place in any history of the second parliament, and in order to understand the importance of this development, some account of the events which had preceded it is necessary. The main original sources from which the material for this account has been gathered are the “Parliamentary Debates” of 1856-58 and 1858-60, compiled at a later date from speeches of members and other available material; and the unpublished Journal of Henry Sewell. Sewell was, as a member of the partially responsible ministry of the first parliament, leader of the first short-lived responsible ministry of the second parliament and a member of the Stafford ministry, and was thus in a position to give an account of all the more important parliamentary happenings from inside. His journal is particularly valuable for the light which it throws upon the events of the time and the interesting character sketches which it gives us of the more important men in the parliamentary sphere. Another work which has furnished important information is Saunder’s “History of New Zealand”. Saunders also was a member of New Zealand parliaments almost continuously from 1861-96. Much space has been devoted to the subject of native affairs, but that may be justified by the fact that, in view of the seriousness of the native situation, a great deal of the time of the parliament was actually spend in the discussion in the native war, which occupied the time of the parliament during practically the whole of the last session, it is necessary to know something of the situation among the natives, which had led to the establishment of the “Maori King” movement and the land league, and of the native feud in Taranaki which was closely connected with the question of land sales. The treatment of the subject throughout has been topical rather than chronological, and although it has been impossible to deal with all the subjects which were discussed by the parliament or all the measures which were placed upon the statue books, an attempt has been made to follow the course of the more important movements and those most likely to affect the subsequent development of the colony