Untitled

Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 15, Issue 759, 7 February 1870, Page 3

THE GOVERNOR'S SALARI.c [Evening Post.] A CIECCJLAB, in the form of a proposed g memorial to the House of Representatives . from the people of New Zealand, praying j the House to refuse any longer to vote the Governor's salary, which first appeared in the Wanganui Evening Herald, is going the rounds of the Press. Some of our eontemporaries approve of it, other say no- f tiling ; bat there is no doubt that the sub' n j ct of which it treats is gradually forcing itself upon the attention of the public, and r sooner or later the prayer of the petition will also be the wish of every unbiassed * man in the Colony. It commends itself v by its perfect firmness and justice. We ~ have had no quarrel with England : we *• ever been most loyal to her ; we have , warmly cherished the traditions of the t country from which we sprung; have g gloried in her triumphs, and sympathised t with her troubles ; and were content to j go on as we have been doing, proud of be f ing her children, notwithstanding her oc- > casional harshness. Bat, from no fault of j ours —simply in pursuance of a settled and t determined scheme of experimental poliej ) —we are suddenly cast off irom her pro- , tection, twitted with our want of manly ] spirit in hanging on to the mother country, ; and advised to do the best we can for our- ', selves, as wo must look for no more aid from her. Now, in these circumstances, j is it reasonable that she should still claim , the direction of our most important do- j inertia affairs, and compel U 3, while she re- ; fuses to lend even the guarantee of her , name to a loan, to pay a Governor of her ] appointing out of our straitened means a ; very large salary, and the cost of an expensive establishment ? or that she .should , control to a certain extent £37,500 of our revenue? Clearly we have a right to ap point our own judges, and pay them what "we please, ana the honors ot the judicial bench should be a reward of industry and talent within the reach of our colonial bar , not, as was once the case, douceurs to be given away to the friends of English states • men. Nor has the English Government . now any pretext for insisting on our spending £7OOO for native purposes. if we spend £70,0J0 or £7 it ought to be en- , urely our own affair. As for the Governor, tlie csae is very simple; we certainly ean do as well without him as with him. ', So long as he acts according to the wishes | of his responsible advisers he is simply , useless—W. JTox wo aid look just as well , at the bottom of a deed or an Order in . Council as G. F. Bowen —and should he . attempt to act in opposition to those adj visers lie would at once become intolerable. i We have no occasion for the pomp attend- , ant on the Vice-regal presence among us; I the money that it diffuses in the colony is 3 our own money, and if it is necessary to j spend it, why there are plenty of more usetul ways of doing so. If the Imperial , Government think it requisite to keep an i otiicer among us as a medium of communi- ■ cation, to keep a watch on our proceedr mys, and duly report, them, let them do B so, so long as he refrains from interferenc.-, t but by ad means let them pay him as tluy , Ltiey do the Admirals and Generals the.y e Keep on to eigu stations. Colonial Go- [ vernors are time honored institutions, no t douDt, but not more so than tlie Irish ~ Church or the British Colonial Kmpuv, a and it would be Hard if we were noc alr lowed to follow the example of reform y which England has set us.