The Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2606, 24 June 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, JUNE 24, 1871.

Mr Haughton last night brought into notice, in a pleasant way, some of the blessings and many of the drawbacks connected with our present form of government in New Zealand. It was more suggestive than argumentative—more descriptive than political. Three points were, however, brought under notice, which in one form or other have already been more or less publicly discussed : the mode of acquiring the office of Superintendent, the utility of Provincial Councils, and rendering the Legislative Council an elective instead of an appointed Chamber. The first of these—the Super intendency—has been the subject of meditation by Mr; Bastings, whose notions have appa-, rently been formed from contemplation ■ of the cabals of some Civic Council,' and who proposes to transfer the choice from the people themselves to the Provincial Council. We cannot see anything to be gained, but much to be lost, by snch a move. Of course, as a theoretical plaything, it affords quite as much scope as any other theme to wile away the time of the Council, in the absence of more practical employment. But it is not in the Council that such a change can be effected ; and the events of the last three years have not tended to increase public confidence in its deliberations, or to induce the General Assembly to accept its dicta as grounds for constitutional changes. What confidence, for instance, can bo placed in a Legislature that so inefficiently represented public opinion as factiously to reject measures that an appeal to the constituencies pronounced in the highest degree advantageous 1 What confidence can be placed in men who, without the slightest opportunity of judging of the proposals of a Ministry, unceremoniously, by their votes, say no matter what good thing you propose we will not receive it at your hands 1 Such proceedings prove that the personal element has too much influence on the minds of the Council ; ■ and nothing could be so dangerous as to place the power of choosing a Superintendent with those who see more in men than measures. Besides, what the country requires in a Superintendent, is not only an efficient administrator but a check upon the wild theories of the Council. Under present arrangements he is crippled, because he has not the power to appeal to the constituencies without undergoing the ordeal himself. Mr Haughton was perfectly correct in saying such a position led “ to great “ practical inconvenience—to the sacri- “ fico of the public good by mischievu ous compromises, and to depriving “ electors of their right to direct influ- “ enoe in public affairs.” It is the last remark only that requires elucidation—the first are clear enough. Wc do not wish to refer to the past with any other intention than to illustrate this point, and thus render it subservient to sound judgment for the future. It is in all our memories that the last Council was brought to an end before the expiry of its natural terra because of a difference between the Superintendent and the majority of his Council. The majority was not largo—it was only one; hut that one placed an Executive in office, who were opposed to the Superintendent, and who. took every opportunity to thwart him in his views. It does not matter to the argument whether they were right or wrong, Looking at the reversal of their decisions by the present Council on one of the most

important of the subjects discussed, the constituencies have decided that they were wrong : but this decision might have been arrived at much earlier, and with greater advantage to the Province, with less expence, less excitement, less personal feeling had the Superintendent had power to dissolve the Council. The question remitted to the constituencies would have been equally correctly answered; and the Superintendent would have been equally bound to accept that answer. But had the Superintendent been elected by the Council, he would not have been in the slightest degree a controlling power. Unstable as the Council itself, there would be no continuity of action in administration ; but each successive Superintendent, instead of representing the minds of the best class of electors throughout the Province, would be a puppet in the hands of faction. Experience points in quite another direction. In fact it would seem as if a great blunder had been committed in departing from the original draft of the Constitution. Swainson says:—“(As originally formed “ and laid before Parliament, the Con “ stitution provided that the head of “ the Executive of each of the Pro- “ vinces should be appointed by the “ Governor of the Colony, subject to “ the confirmation of the Crown, and “ that he should hold office during her “ Majesty’s pleasure : but yielding to “ representations made to him during “ the progress of the measure through “ the House of Commons, and regard- “ ing the office of Superintendent in “ the light of that of the Chief Magis- “ trate of an English municipality, Sir “ John Pakington adopted an amendu ment for rendering the office elective.” In an illustrative note, Swainson adds an extract from an impartial writer, of the effect of such faulty arrangement :—“ The want of the elements “ of permanency in the Government “ keeps many persons from entering “ into public life ; and it would appear “ that merit and distinguished talent, “ when accompanied by such a com- “ petence as renders a man independent “ of the emoluments of office, are by “ no means a passport to success.” This, though written of America, Swainson applies to New Zealand as showing the the consequences of haying elected Superintendents. Speaking directly of the effect, he says : “ What might “ easily have been foreseen was imme- “ diately verified the Superintendent, “ being compelled to become, and to “ enter office, the man of a party, “ bound hand and foot by personal and “ party obligations, his election divides “ the whole community into parties, “ keeps alive personal animosities and “ party strife, and is attended with no “ small amount of drunkenness and “ fraudulent personation. It has the “ effect, too, of turning the Provincial “ Council into an arena of party strife ; “ for the members are commonly re- “ turned as supporters or opponents of “ the party of the Superintendent: “ their proceedings are frequently cha- “ racteriscd by party feeling; and in “ their eagerness to obtain a party “ triumph, the proper business and the “ real interests of the Province are “ neglected.” Perhaps the greatest sin in the oyes of his opponents has been that our Superintendent resisted and broke through the trammels.