Occasional Notes.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 58, 19 August 1875, Page 6

Occasional Notes.

:Tip. : AßplilTip^ OF ■Xsg^'<^ y piX£A "■ jThis wterestingn prpdqptioni „which bas beeiiftelegraphed f^^he^.consideration ol ; the,cpuntry, jafpfessea t tp ' abolisK; 'tW prpi j yifebutin^J {tapes' nb^afe/tljmg. •It m^ely-changes th^ haiiie 6f province to provincial r dMriet^ irafl declares l < that l 'In** stfiad of thp affairs of a province) being! ad* [ministeredas hitherlo by an elected Smpermjtendentstand Council, ; they shall hence- ! foj-th, ps at. least ,unti]l the, end r o£ {he next , setaipn of , the «3ienei!al ; iAssembly, be admastered by ? the. Governbr, 1 or' 'in'ofcner WOTdfil, the Qoyerndf'Js i advi&r**for General Government' Ef ecutive^or ! b^»'a 'nominee of j the-General Gbveniment. A 'Nominee ;\ that : is fToiri,' Dick,? ior Hearty, rpr? jany one? the Government chooses tp appoint tp rule over a province, , ppwers at* present .exercised,, b^ the '.SupeMhte'ndent and. Council are to. be exercised 'by the (^hejpal Government or its' nominee. The powers- at 'present exercised -by -the Superintendent arid Provincial Cbuncil:underJtho! Constitution Act, 'Publip;;l(,eypnues,'.. Act, and; Waste, Lands Act, are many, and varioiiß, and include a considerable ' amount! of legislative power. ' 'ihus/^hy ' the 'fJori- ; stitutipn Act the Su^erintphdent of ! each . prpvihcemay^ with the advice and consent make and ordain £11- su^h laws and ordinance's as'mayijbe required i for the peace, Prdei-, and good Government, of such: province. . A This iii doing , away with .. representative go verb* ,ment.!with ; a vengeance. ', 'Are fthe halfdbaeh men cptappsihg r the General Gbyern* ment ExebUtive or their'nPnuheetp be yested vrith; legislative power, and' to be 'allowed to make provincial - ordinances ? 'Are; all these powers, legislative.- and;. ad« iministrative, to , be ; exercised ' by , an in-; dividual only responsible /to \\ the- .General Government for the time being ?, Will the . people . of Otago be content fti ppurt r themselves under the S;way ofc 6ne individual nominated- by ! ' the General -'Gbvefnihent, possessed of )6ower to do all that whiefi has [ hitherto been done by an elected Superintendent and Council ? : . 3?he ' exercise of legislative power by one M indivicluai ,ia simply the autocratic, as dißtinguished from the representative form of gbyernment^ How woiild this act affect- the opening up of land' for settlement ?' -'•' Tbe Question afl to' What land or what amount of land should from time to time be'declared into hundreds' or be sold under deferred payments, oir by public auction would be ; ,decidedyby the Government nominee, instead pi : by an Elected Superintendent or ihe vote of the of the people. :If elected Superintendents ' and Provincial Councils are to be done away with, the powers exercised by tkem should' be absorbed. by the General Assembly, th« 3; Lower House of which is at least a .repreß^ntative body, and not be exercised by the Gerieral'Gpvernment Executive or its honQinee. This proposed Act seems to be bnijr a, sort of' half and half measure, neither one thing of the other. There is a want of thoroughness about it, and it seems doubtful whether the minds of those who have originated thp. measure have properly grasped the circumstances and necessities of the situation. Perhaps the proper course to adopt would have been to assimilate the political organisation of the colony to that say' of Victoria— to have done away with provinces altogether, io have parcelled out the country into counties, such counties to be endowed with certain incomes ; to have vested the administration of all the land in the colony in the General Assembly, and to have had one genera^ Land Act. Anyhow, it is preposterous to suppose that the Executive for the time being 'of the General Government or its' nominee can be : allowed to exercise, even for a, brief; period* the large amount of administrative . and legislative power the bill. appears! to. contemplate to confer upon\them.. As to the land revenue, it appears evident. tbas iif the provinces be abolished this fund' willi notwithstanding any provision in ; this bill, be shortly absorbed by the General Go*Vernment, and become a component portion of the, general revenue. As long as the land revenue went into the .Proyincjal Government coffers, and was' administered by that Government, it was'secuyedfo the province ; but it is' not so secured as Boon as it passes into the coffers Of the General Government, although it be directed that a separate account shall be kept pf such land revenue. It does notappeajrjthat .counties are constituted, by the. act Several . road boards are to, be allowed to petition 'to be constituted a county, as they are by Pur Provincial County Act; an 'act which; as far as I am aware of, has never been taken advantage Of; by any of'the road 'boards in this respect: Such jan brganic; change : in the constitution of the cplonyjas'iis involved in, the,dping away with provinces "[#s& Prpyincial Gpyernments . is Buch a serious measure, that if is Worthy of much more consideration than appears to bave'been given to it by the framera of this apparently superficial, and. ill. considered ; bill. It Beems to me most desirable thatthe country should consider. the s,ubjecV^rtbei f before it adopts this Government bill.. "It may not 1 yet . be ! ;ceirtaih Whether thb cduhtry would not' find' the old coatf With a little alteration/ fit it better- than a new! one, and that for a while ; longer^ asj icolonising agencies, for -the purppse- ot settling, people on ;tbp land, for doing loQai works,, and administrating local reyetfupj Superintendents and jpfpyincial Councils' ! ,majr yef^be touhd 'serviceable.' .' ; lf, J h^y-jever, ! . the provinces areUd : be abolished,' let us have a thbrough ahd'coaiprehenjaive' measure'? at phcp~a reconstruction :of :the ; constitution Of the colony-!— and ,npt: an .qf^ariia.ment which; professes, to,dp r wnat it does not do, , apd is , apparently, , if br'6ught' J into op,eration r ißalcuiatpd; fo','makb : ' "conftaion worse cb^puri'ded."'' { ' : rf "; '; !<: u-'^-i-y^