gross's TEIULTMEKT 1W8 fkuthority'of the Govemor-in-Oliief, was the only part of King's condnot wiiich the Home Department considered open to qnestion.'^ So £ar aa can be gathered from the Records, King had no idea that his condnot, either in this or in other matters, would have excited the displeaBnie of Grose ; the avalanche of censure which he brought down on his head astonished as well as grieyed him. As regards King's absence from the colony withont having first obtained permission, Grose's displeasure^ as already suggested, was caused not so much by the act itself as by the choice of a substitute. Grose's view was that the 5?*uSto officer in charge of the detachment of the New South Wales Corps, Lieutenant Abbott, should have been selected; and no doubt that was th^ appointment which in ordinary circum- stances would have been made. Lieutenant Abbott, of the garrison in Norfolk Island, was next in authority to King, and the control of affairs in case of the death of the Lieu- tenant-Governor would have devolved upon him. But King had reasons for not giving the command to Abbott. In the first place, as he explained in his letter to Dundas, the only offloerB of officers of the corps stationed on the island were subalterns, marines at . *^ ^ ' Nojjoik three in number, and if Abbott had been appointed acting Lieutenant-Governor, no Court-martial could have been held. This can hardly be regarded as a very serious obstacle, inasmuch as King did not propose to be absent more than a few days. But for an accident, however, he would have been obliged to appoint Abbott, or abandon his New Zealand trip. The Britannia, which was employed to convey the New §^^ Zealanders to their homes, brought from Sydney Captain Nepean, the senior captain of the Corps,t who was on his way to England, having obtained leave of absence on the ground of ill-health. Being on leave. Captain Nepean was not liable, under ordinary circumstances, to be called upon for duty of any sort, but King regarded the case as one of • Pott, p. 816. t Ante, p. 96. . .
