THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1872.

Grey River Argus, Volume XII, Issue 1249, 31 July 1872, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY. WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1872.

The struggle which has for several sessions been Been to be inevitable— a struggle for power between the General Government and Provincial officialdom —is at length taking shape — let ns hope towards its end, rough-hew it how they may. When 'tis done, 'twere well 'twere done quickly. Should it even lead to the defeat of the Ministry and the very excusable request on their part for a dissolution, good will come of the double event by the people defining for themselves to what extent they desire to give power to Provincial Governments in connection with the execution of colonial public works. The question is not so much a question between the General Government and Provincial institutions, as between the Government and the phalanx of Provincial officials who hold places in the Assembly, and who are determined at all hazards to hold to that political power which, by the fact of their prosence there, and the fact of their being at the same time officials of the inferior bodies, they have fortuitously acquired. The strength and numbers of this phalanx were somewhat plainly shown last session when, after all the outcry that had, session after session, been made against Provincial institutions, many of the members who had, with perfect safety to themselves, joined in this outcry from the hustings, stood up as one man to protest against any interference with the vast vested interest which they represent. While those who hud done most to make Provincial Government a success ware, in deference to their desire to see a colonial policy completely carried out, ready to waive the reputation which they had gained for themselves and the institutions, there were others who had done little or nothing as colonisers in the capacity of Superintendent or members of an Executive, yet who were roused into activity and opposition the moment that the powers which they had never used were likely to bo taken from their ineffective feeble grasp. During the recess the latter party have been stealthily but diligently sounded as to their sympathy with" a newly organised Opposition, or have been steadily coalescing with the view of recovering the powera winch they had feebly exercised, and which, in the hands of the

General Government, have been used as effectively as the time and events had enabled them to do. This coalition, as we learnt by out telegrams yesterday, culminated in a caucus at which the Superintendents and Provincial officers holding seats in the Assembly were extensively represented, and at which it was resolved to recommend the abolition of the office of Resident Minister for the Middle Island, and the investment of each particular Superintendent with the powers provided for under the Public Works Act. The intimation of such a meeting being held, and of such a demand being made, cannot be said to have come upon us unexpectedly, for it was sufficiently well known that in the programme of the so-called, and we may advisedly say, miscalled Provincial party, some Biich demand was to bo made a primary feature. By the country generally, however, the demand, whether expected pr unexpected, will at least be deemed a demand which emanates not from the people, but from the persons immediately concerned. There has not, so far as we are aware, been a single expression of the popular feeling in the direction of securing to Superintendents the initiation and supervision of those works which are recognised as of a colonial character. On the contrary, there has, at least in one instance — in the Province of Nelsonbeen a frequently expressed fear that the 1 execution of works which deserved and required to be considered from a colonial point of view would be delegated to a Superintendent who , did his utmost to deal with them in a local and petty spirit, to the manifest disadvantage of the great bulk of the population and estate with whose government he is entrusted. Even as it is, there are at the present moment considerable open complaint and much more insinuation as to the manner in which particular works are being carried out by those who are temporarily in the service of the General Government, but permanently Provincial officers. In the absence of any such popular wish as that which these Superintendents, we presume, pretend to represent — in the presence, rather, of a popular feeling in many parts precisely in an opposite direction — the Government may well hesitate before retiring from their position, and conceding the demands of any caucus or coalition of Provincial officers who may, for their own party or personal purposes, unite with their ancient and avowed enemies, the members of the existing Opposition. They may well contemplate, in the event of a defeat, an appeal to the country upon a question as to which the sense of the people has neither been asked for nor obtained, and if at the same time they place before the country a practical scheme for the reformation of Provincial institutions — a scheme going oven as far as the Treasurer's idea of constituting each island a Province — the Superintendents may find on the polling-day that they had better have borne those ills they had than fly to others they knew not of. Instead of discovering in the Resident Minister an image of Aaron's rod, they might find it typified by a Resident Ministry or six Superintendents rolled into one. In any case it cannot be good policy on the part of the Government to concede the demand of these Provincial Government officers so long as Provincial Governments are so variously constituted as they are at present ; nor could the country safely concede it. The change would inevitably be much for the worse, and nothing for the better. At present the public workß are under the direction -to— ar~ responsible Ministry, but, pray, where does the responsibility of Superinintendenta, but especially of Provincial Executives, begin'and end ? Superintendents, it is true, are, in the majority of instances popularly chosen, and the term during which they are in office, for, good or evil, is defined ; but even this degree of direct responsibility does not extend, in all cases, to their Executives. Notably in one instance they are mere clerical officers of the Superintendent's, yet' holding seats in a Council whose resolutionsjhey may' either ignore, because they are irresponsible, or may negative by the weight of their votes— their presence, in fact, being equivalent to the presence of the Superintendent possessing three distinct votes. There are plainly, therefore, two alternatives before the Government in considering the question which has now been raised — they must either retain to themselves the powers given under the Public Works Act, or ao reform the relations of Superintendents and Executives both towards the governing and the governed that something like reasonable and responsible administration will be secured.