The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2456, 30 December 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1870.

The reply of his Honor the Superintendent to the requisition asking him to sanction his nomination as a candidate for re-election, is suggestive. It points to the difficulties of the past, and to the evident necessity of consistency on the part of the electors in returning men to the Provincial Council who will not, through mere faction, throw every obstacle in the way of carrying out measures which a Superintendent before election points out as necessary to prosperity. The history of the past four years is full of instruction to the electors. Thcy_ chose Mr Macandwew under the conviction that ho would initiate such industrial and social plans as would extend settlement, and promote the prosperity of the people of the Province, But after the first session of the Council it became evident there was a strong party who were opposed to, and dctcimined to neutralise his efforts. The leader of that party, at that time in a small minority in the House, was the present Secretary for Land and Works, Mr Reid. The Provincial Treasurer in his financial statement, even in the session of 18G7, complained of the effect of his shortsighted obstructiveness when he said : Thanks to the honorable member for the Taieri (Mr Reid), who so strongly objected to our employing a professional auctioneer at the late sales, I think the Province lost £12,000 to £14,000, if not more, for the advantage of a few of those who wished to bid for particular portions of tho lands. (Lauds proclaimed Hundreds for more than seven years.) This opposition, so early manifested in

favor of a particular class, continued throughout every session of the Council, until, in the changes wrought by circumstance, Mr Reid himself became the head of the Executive. In his new position as adviser to his Honor, his obvious duty was either to have aided him in carrying out his views, or, if conscientiously opposed to them, to have resigned. There are people in the world who treat Colonial institutions with contempt, and fanc} r that because they arc of modern growth, and more or less imitations of those which have been evolved from the barbarism of two thousand years ago, they are only farcical governments. We do not know whether such cynics are able to comprehend the notion that the future is of more consequence to us than the past; and that upon these, which they call plaything institutions, depends more or less the progress or retardation of Provincial prosperity. In some features Superintendents and Provincial Ministries resemble the relationship between Governors and Colonial Ministries : and both are modelled, to suit circumstances, upon the constitutional form of the Monarch and Executive at Home, But in the case of a Superintendent, his responsibility differs from that of a Governor or a Monarch —for, being elected, he has to answer to the people who chose him. The strange spectacle then during the last two years has been witnessed of a Superintendent, chosen by a vast majority of the people of the Province with the idea that he will carry out certain principles and a specific policy, thwarted and hindered by a Minister chosen by a handful of the population, supported by men who in their private capacity as citizens appealed to the General Assembly against the course of action of the Provincial Council of which they were members. Not only was the Superintendent himself insulted by the manner in which his Messages were dealt with by those who ought to have been his supporters and confidential advisers—but, in his person, every man who voted for him with the idea that the measures he proposed at his election would be adopted, was included in the contempt attempted to be thrown upon him. In this Mr Reid and those who so blindly followed his lead committed a grievous mistake, which, calmly weighed, should point out to every thinking man their unfitness, not only for a share in the administration, but for seats in the Council, The position chosen by Mr Reid was undignified in the extreme, and cannot bo justified on any precedent, Colonial or Imperial. Dr. Hearn, in his most valuable work on the “ Government of England,” says : There seems to be three sets of circumstances in which the relation of the King to his Ministers has been such that their continuance in office could not he expected. These circumstances may bo deduced from the very nature of the ministerial relation. It is the duty of the Ministry to advise the King upon the exercise of his various pmrogatives, and to carry into effect the policy which, in accordance with their advice, he has determined to adopt. Ministers then ought to bo free to offer any advice that the circumstances of the time may in their judgment require. They may reasonably expect that, on all matters at least of national importance, the advice which they tender shall he followed. They arc also entitled, while they remain the recognised chief servants of the Crown, to receive in the performance of their duty the full confidence of their Royal master.

It needs but little exercise of memory to say that at any rate two of the disqualifications for continuing to bold the oJlicc of Minister subsisted in the relation between Mr It Kin and his Honor. Not only did lie systematically oppose the plans of the Superintendent, but the variance between his Honor’s Messages and the ideas enunciated by the Secretary for Land and Works shewed he had not his confidence. The course of duty was therefore clear ; he should have tendered his resignation ; and if no Government could have been formed by whose aid the Council and Superintendent could have worked together, the constituen-

cies must have been appealed to, who elected both. This was his plain, straightforward duty ; but, instead of that, Mr Reid continued to hold office for no other apparent purpose than on the most important questions of the clay to test his strength against the Superintendent. Had he had a large majority in the Council, no doubt Mr Macandkew would have either bowed to their decision—or, if conscientiously opposed to them, resigned. But the majorities were dependent upon mere accident and not a little log-rolling, and their decisions were condemned by men of the soundest judgment outside the Council, and now by Mr Reid himself in his apologetic speech trying to set himself right with the electors. Mr Macandrsw, in the first few paragraphs of his reply to the requisition, puts the matter very clearly before the Province. In very plain words it is this : He considers that he was elected to cany out a progressive policy—especially as regards railways, the goldfields, and the settlement of the country. In every effort ho made for

those purposes he was thwarted, by bis Ministry and the Council. Now, although the leader in these obstructions, Mr Reid, comes forward professedly with the same proposals ! We, in common with all true Englishmen, like men not do one thing and say another. We think there is wisdom in the proverb, “ Even a cbild is known by his “ doiii'/s ” ; and since the doings have been throughout obstructive, the sayings go for what they are worth —no one should be misled by them.