The Globe. THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1874.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 22, 25 June 1874, Page 2

The Globe. THURSDAY, JUNE 25, 1874.

The Hon Mr Buckley has done good aorvice in eliciting from the Government that, it is their intention to place upon the supplementary estimates, a sum of money sufficient to defray the expense of free passes on the Canterbury Railways to be given to members of the Provincial Council during the recess. We say “good service,” because the Council will now have au opportunity of asserting ils_ own dignity, and hon members of rectifying an error into which many of them have no doubt unwittingly fallen. The House was in a merry mood when it affirmed the desirability of these free passes being granted to members. The earnestness of the hon mover when he gravely enunciated as the reason for his startling proposal, that “ hon members ought to be en- “ couraged to visit and inspect the “ various public works,” caused a smile to appear on the countenances of even the gravest of the collective wisdom of the Province j a smile which

became intensified when the seconder with similar ludicrous gravity affirmed “ that the expense would be no “ more, for the trains would run “ whether hon members went or not.” But the mirth waxed fast and furious, when towards the close of the brief debate an hon member rose, and with features beaming with good nature, related how he and others had greatly enjoyed a trip that day to inspect a great public work, and darkly hinted of libations of champagne that had been poured out in honor of —well, no matter what. And so in this jocose and merry mood, the Provincial Council by a large majority gravely affirmed that it was desirable that free passes on all the Canterbury Eailwaya should be given to hon members during the recess, or, in other words, that they, themselves, should have the right to travel at all times on the railways at the public cost. A more absurd resolution never disgraced the records of a deliberative assembly; and we trust for the honor of Canterbury that ere the session closes, before his Honor the Superintendent thanks the members for the self-sacrificing, self-denying zeal they have shown for the public weal, and dismisses them to their homes, that the obnoxious resolution, if not rescinded, will be rendered inoperative, by the sum which is placed upon the supplementary estimates for defraying the expense of free passes to members being struck out by the unanimous vote of the Council.

But the matter is deserving of being viewed in a more serious aspect. The post of a representative of the people is one of honor aud dignity. It is no light thing for a man to be chosen by his fellow men as their representative, and entrusted with the power —almost unfettered, of voting the expenditure, it may bo of thousands, of the public money. A man of refined feeling and a nice sense of honor, would pause, aud weigh well every proposition that came before him, which might be construed as containing an element of personal advantage under the guise of public welfare. Such a man would unhesitatingly negative anything which would involve even the shadow of a suspicion of purity of intention, and he would resent as an insult to his constituents any such proposal. We believe that similar sentiments have been entertained by members of the Provincial Council, when they came calmly to reflect upon what might be said of the vote of the other night; and this has induced them to determine that when they travelled on the railways they would dc so at their own, and not at thc public expense. It is a knowledge of tins, as well as of the jocose temper of the House, when the “ free “ passes” resolution was agreed to, that encourages us to hope, that the item of expenditure in the supplementary estimates, for providing free passes for members during the recess, will bo struck out.