AN OUTSPOKEN COUNCILLOR.

Evening Star, Issue 3285, 30 August 1873, Page 3

AN OUTSPOKEN COUNCILLOR.

Speaking on the necessity for a change in the constitution of the Legislative Council, tho Hon, Mr Scotland is reported in Hansard to have said “ I apprehend the Government wished hon. members to understand that it was papular opinion which demanded a change in the constitution of the Council. For my own part I must say that I do not think the population of the Colony regard the Legislative Council in so favorable a light as many linn, members suppose. I do not believe tho people entertain any spirit of veneration for the Council j Oil the contrary," 1 am rather inclined to think there is soma foundation for the belief that the Council is very unpopular, for I cannot close my ears to what I hear around me every day. I am very often told that tho members of the Council represent nobody hut thqrasplveg j that they haye no sympathy whatever with the people ; and that quadrupeds—cattle and sheep—are better represented in the Council than human beings. I must say that einoe I have held a seat in the Council there has occasionally been manifested a great want of sympathy with the people of the Colony. ( Che bon. gentleman was here interrupted by loud cries of “No, no.”) Hon. members may say “No, no,” but I hold my own opinion upon the matter. During the first session in which I had the honor to hold a scat in this chamber, a Bill was brought in for limiting the number of members in the Council, a project which, if it bad been carried out, would. have made the Council a most dangerous power in the country, ... I have also seen many injudicious attempts on tho part of the Council to deal with money Bills in a way in which th’ey should never be interfered with by a nominated body. I am sorry to say that I have also seen A very unkind spirit displayed by some

members of this Council towards their poorer brethren in the Colony. I have seen members possessed »f tens of thousands of cattle, and tens of thousands of acres of land, begrudge the poorer settler a few acres of land on which to keep a few cows. Hon. members of that disposition only desire to see two classes of people in the Colony—the runholders on one baud, and the shepherds and hewers of wood and drawers of water on the other. It is the existence of that spirit which makes the Council unpopular, not so much the question whether the members of the Council shall be elected or nominated ; but I must say that I myself am not in love with the nominated principle, because in considering the appointment made under that system, the question generally is not who is the most fitted or who is the best acquainted with the feelings and wants of the people, hut who can best afford the time to attend the sittings of the Council ; in ether words, what gentlemen are in the most affluent circumstances. . . If the adoption of any other system were to bring another set of members into the Council, 1 should not stand in the way, but at once tender my resignation.”