The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 19.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume VI, Issue 523, 19 July 1881, Page 2

The Akaroa Mail. TUESDAY, JULY 19.

Tin? tone pervading the debates in the House of Representatives daring the presint session is, we venture to think, eminently unsatisfactory. In saying , this we do not mean to reflect on the good manners of honorable members, or to attribute to them any want of courtesy. On the contrary there is if possible, ;i superfluity of that virtue displayed, and a few sharp cutting remarks would almost be hailed as a relief, and would lend to show that members were at any rate in earnest in their opinions. What we have to complain of is, that members do not seem to be in earnest. They appear to forget that they are assembled for the purpose of practical legislation, and to fancy themselves members of a hugn debating society, whose discussions can have no practical effect. We are not of the number of those who would attempt t> stifle the fullest discussion Let every measure be freely debated in all its bearings bef'-re it becomes law. But our representatives appear to be quite willing to spend weeks in discussing a measure, which they irankly avow that they do not intend to pass into law at all. Take the wearisome debates on the Licensing Bill as an example. On the motion for the second reading tliei , ' l was a discussion on its general principles, and also on many points of detail. Then on the motion to go into committee the debate was renewed. In Committee the Bill has been metaphorically torn limb frsin limb. The majority of the House seems to have had no idea of what it wanted. For example, it was no uncommon thing for two ov three amendments and additions to be made in a clause, and then for the same clause, as amended, to be struck out altogether. That is to say, that having fashioned the clause to their own liking, the majority were so disgusted with their handiwork as to throw it overboard altogether. Them the bottle license ! Do honorable member:? really know in wh.it position it. stands at pro- j •sent? First to be confined to certain ! districts, then struck ~ut altogether ; ! Ilex', • ■in.ialed in t.'in special districts i again, then remsiat'.'d i-mirely. General ! result—" As you were." i

Local Government is another subject upon which members will insist upon airing their eloquence, with the probable result that things will remain exactly in statu quo, and that some very necessary alterations of the law will fail to be made while honorable gentlemen are debating from a purely theoretical point of view tho merits and demerits of centralization and provincialism. We fear that the measure introduced by Sir George Grey will simply serve as a pretext for a quantity of unpractical oratory, and that many members will feel Lhemsalves justified in according their support (in debate) to the Bill, feeling sure that it has no chance of becoming law.

As to the measure itself, it seems to us to embody a return to provincialism pure and simple, or modified only by the proclivities of the Government of the day. To the latter very great powers are entrusted. The Governor is to create and define the limits of a certain number of districts. He is to fix their number. He is to determine the number of members which the council of each such district is to contain. These councils are to have power to make bylaws upon all subjects with certain defined exceptions. They are empowerad to establish courts having civil and criminal jurisdiction, inferior to the (Supremo Court. Among their powers, however, there is a total absence of any authority to levy rates and taxes. As to their means of subsistence, the last two sections of the Bill define whence these arc to be provided, and we reprint them verbatim. They are as follows :— 2d. After all the revenue arising from taxes, duties, rate 0 , and imposts levied in virtue of any Act of the General Assembly, and from disposal of waste lands of the Crown, shall have been appropriated to specific purposes by any Act of the General Assembly, the surplus of such revenue which shall not be so appropriated shall be divided among , the several districts established by this Act in the like proportion as the population of each of the said districts bears to the population or the whole of New Zealand. 30 The Governor shall grant, to each of the said districts, waste lands of the Croivn. as endowments, with power to lease the same for any period not exceeding years, such endowments to be of such area and value as may yield sufficient funds to provide for ouch district all requisites for the trade and commerce thereof, and for securing its welfare, and the comfort, health, and advancement in knowledge of the people; such endowments to be from time to time applied as far as possible in lieu of, and to avoid, the imposition of rates and taxes.

We only hope the proposed districts will not become demoralized by becoming the possession of such literally incalculable wealth. Fancy having the surplus of the colonial revenue divided among them ! In many years this " surplus " vrould be represented in algebra as a negative quantity, or in other words is called a deficiency. How will that suit ? As to the landed endowments, a great deal could be said on that head, and no doubt it will be said more or less forcibly in the House, but we feel quite sure that there are not half-a-dozen members of the Legislature who would really desire

to see such a measure become law, or are convinced of its practicability. Wu shall, nevertheless, have endless discussion over it. The process known as " threshing straw " will be persevered in with a, determination worthy of a better cause, and the House will, more than ever, become entitled to the distinction of being the most eloquent debating society in the Colony.