The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY. JUNE 12, 1883. The New Legislative Councillor.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume IV, Issue 967, 12 June 1883, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prevalebit. TUESDAY. JUNE 12, 1883. The New Legislative Councillor.

When Major Atkinson addressed his constituents at Hawera we are told that he justified the course followed by the Government in calling Messrs Richmond and Barnicoat to the Upper House. Neither the telegraphic report nor the local paper, however, has given us any further information on the matter, so that our darkness has been in no way lightened, and all we know is that the Ministry considered that the men most deserving of the honor were those who have been accorded it, although we are doomed to be left in ignorance of the grounds upon which such an opinion was formed. At any rate the appointment of these two Nelson gentlemen was condemned throughout the colony, both by the Ministerial and Opposition Press, and one would have thought that this would have been a warning to the Government not to repeat such a mistake. And yet we find that only a few days elapse before it is announced that Mr A. de B. Brandon, whose claims to a seat in the Legislative Council are certainly not higher than those of Messrs Richmond and Barnicoat, has been made one of the “ Lords.” Mr Brandon is a very respectable member of society, but during his Parliamentary career he failed to show that he possessed any strikingly brilliant talents, and as he has passed the psalmist’s limit of three score years and ten, it is not to be expected that he will greatly benefit the colony in his new sphere. The Colon- . ial Treasurer has been so wont to adopt the Fadministrations?est-moi tone in his political speeches that to most people he represents not so much a member of the Ministry as the Ministry itself. He is avowedly a strong believer in party politics, but surely it is carrying partisanship too far when we find him justifying an appointment that must be opposed to his convictions. Major Atkinson during his Southern tour said a good deal about the necessity for a reform in the constitution of the Legislative Council, and furthermore showed a strong predilection in favor of the Hare system being tried. This may have been only a personal opinion, and was probably not N shared by the other members of the Government, but when it is recognised that had the system he advocates been in force the three recent additions to the Legislative Council could not have been made, we fail to see how the Treasurer can conscientiously approve of them. We believe in the existence of an Upper House as a salutary check upon hasty legislation, but if its ranks are to be recruited from those who have no sort of claim to the honor, it will soon cease to have a raison d’etre, and the abolition of the present mode of electing members will not be long in coming. It is strange that a Government which is undoubtedly popular should commit two such decided blunders jdst on the eve of the opening of Parliament, and it is certain •that their action in this instance has estranged a large number of wellwishers, and has strengthened the hands of their enemies.