The Globe. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 625, 20 June 1876, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, JUNE 20, 1876.

An interesting correspondence between his Honor the Superintendent and the President of the Executive has been published in the l?rcss, from which we learn that a Eoyal Commission is to be appointed to inquire into the administration of the "Waste Lands Department. We cannot nnd space in our columns to publish tho documents at length, but a brief summary of the main points may not be uninteresting to our readers. The correspondence begins with a memorandum from the Executive, recommending bis Honor to apply for the appointment of a E.oval Commission, in terms of the resolution of the Provinciat Council, which carried a motion that steps should be taken to inquire into the administration of the Survey Department ami the Waste Lands Board. Tu i ply fc i an impair* from his Honor as to the ponds which require elucidation, the Executive state bhat they are as

follows :—I. The bud state and condition of the maps and surveys, 2. Incorrectness of the maps. 3. Persistence by the Survey Department in known errors. 4. LJmlue exercise of patronage by the Chief Surveyor. Hero then, in all conscience, were charges of a sweeping character enough. It was only natural, therefore, that his Honor, as a distinct branch of the (Government of the province, should press for the fullest information as to the grounds of those charges before asking for a Commission, the mere, appointment of which would convoy a serious imputation against the character of the Chief Surveyor and the members of the Waste Lands Board. His Honor therefore asks the Executive, as representing the Provincial Council, to state some specific instances of “ persistence in known “ errors” and “undue exercise of “ patronage,” and very truly points out that the whole, spirit of the civil service regulations requires that the accused should be supplied wi!h a slntemeut of the accusations brought against him. The Executive reply, in auh- ■ ’•»• ’ ' Pis : m, "G IL'S.. A... .■'• i. < t.'.O fjwJf EG” '! , .?i:rT.c ZLctrocOu :;c|:r ’hr xct two years ; jhr/j thouj iicemberr: of Lao Provincial ; Ocnncii who had made the charges jj otal-ed th.efc they were prepared to au.N \ otrr.tkte their statemontri before a Toy oh C'cmmiasion,« and that the Executive had solemnly pro mined the Provincial Council that a Eoyal Commission would be appointed. On bea T of the Executive, Sir Cracroft W Json further urged that his Honor iking for information which the}' die 1 -;t possess, aml which they ought no r> he expected to possess or to be eaibjd on to produce. Had the Executive been in possession of the informa- | tion, there would have been no need to ask for an inquiry, as the Provincial G-overnraent would then have been able to deal with the matter, at any rate as far ns the Survey Department was concerned. Here, for a time, the correspondence seems to ceased, till it was again revived in connection with the Sealy case. We need net repeat the circumstances connected with it, as the greater part of the correspondence has already, been pubi lisiied by ua. We need only add that the Executive, after making one more effort to learn his Honor’s determiua- ! tion as to applying fur a Eoyal Com- | mission, determined to appeal to tho | Colonial Ho vein inert. A statement r of the Sealy case was made to the Colofnial Secretary, aud,in compliance with I the request of tho Executive, hisExcel- | lency the Governor will be advised to appoint a Eoyal Commission to report upon the administration of the. Waste Lands Board. Nothing, however, is said about the Survey Department, and, as no facts upon which to base an inquiry regarding it were submitted to the Colonial Government, the inference is that the duties of the Commission will be confined to an examination into the administration of the Waste Lands Board aloue. With the whole of the facts before us, it is plain that the Executive have endeavoured loyally to carry out the wishes of the Council. That they have only partly succeeded is no fault of theirs. Whether in undertaking the appointment of a Eoyal Commission without first insisting upon a specific statement of the charges made, they acted fairly, is quite a different question. It is easy easy enough, under the shelter of the Provincial Council Chamber, to make general charges of mismanagement and favouritism, but quite a different thing to substantiate them with individual instances. It appears to us that in passing the resolution, in the form in which it was carried, tho Provincial Council displayed a want of that spirit of fair play which usually characterises a body of English gentlemen. The stand which bis Honor has taken up, on the other hand, is a perfectly just one, and he would have been neglecting h.is duty had he allowed the officers of any public department to bo dragged before such a tribunal without firso being informed of the specific charges alleged against them.