Public Opinion.

Hawke's Bay Times, Issue 1572, 1 May 1874, Page 204

Public Opinion.

NEW ZEALAND LAW. ■> Otago Guardian. The Southern Cross says that there has been a serious miscarriage of justice in the Auazi case, and holds the Government responsible for what has taken place. The proceedings have been a bungle from beginning to end, it remarks; —a conclusion with which we entirely agree. Indeed, wo have already expressed a similar opinion; and we may add, it is one pretty generally shared in by the majority of our fellow citizens. The question hence arises: Why were the proceedings in the Anazi caso a bungle from beginning to end ? Who was responsible ? The Southern Cross holds the Government responsible. We are not disposed to do so. On the contrary, we are inclined to the opinion that no one has blundered.'lt is all along of <>ur precious system of administration, which, by dividing and subdividing responsibility, manages to leave ultimate responsibility nowhere. We suspect, however, that local prejudices had something to do with the tenor of the remarks in our Auckland contemponvy, the Crown Prosecutor (Mr Brookiield,) bsing somewhat obnoxious to one' or two local magnates, if public rumor is to be credited ; but, be that as it may, we do not think Mr Brookfield is to blame for this miscarriage if justice. As we have said, it all arises from our diffusive method of administra tion, by which it is next to impossible to sheet home blame to any official, however culpable an intelligent on-looker may suppose him to be. But the moral effect of this affair will be very great. In Dunedin, owing to the loss of the Surat and danger to life through the drunkenness and incapacity of those in charge of that ship, the law reached the guilty parties. In Wellington, were two vessels where lost, and seven lives sacrificed, through what appears to have been " the act of God" and the carelessness of the New Zealand Marine Department combined—in other words, thiough ress of weather, an unusually strong set of tide, and mistakes caused by non-distinguishing marks in the Straits lights —the surviving masters of the ill-fated vessels had their certificates suspended, in deference to public feeling excited by the Otago and Auckland casualties. But in Aucklaud, in what was perhaps a worse case than the Surat, if that were possible, master and mate escape because the whole proceedings were a bungle from beginning to end, according to the Southern Cross, but we say, because our legislation on this, as on other matters, is a bungle from beginniug to end, and because, also, our system of delegation has so subdivided authority as to render a successful prosecution, under the Enquiry into Wrecks Act, or under the Marine Board Act, altogether in the nature of a fluke. If serious damage had not been done to the Surat, and the captain had not timidly abandoned her, justice would have miscarried here also. In Auckland it has miscarried altogether, and the moral effect of the judgment in the Surat case will be more than counterbalanced by the influence on nautical men of the Auazi fiasco. The practical lesson to be learned from all this appears to us to be, that our laws require to be codified, and that the mis clnevous absurd system of delegating the Governor's powers to un indefinite number of persons should be abolished. The first would involve the appointment of a commission oi ixpens, for say two or three \fi\n. The work such a commission would have to do in reducing to something like order an incongruous body of laws, involving, as it necessarily would, the redrafting of nearly every statute, or parts of statutes, which it was essential to embody in the code, would be very laborious; but, were it well done.it would not be possible to express its value in money. It would be of more ultimate value to the country than the Public Works Policy, about which so many volumes have been already written, and which will require very many more volumes to be written before full justice is done to it. We regard the codification of the New Zealand Statutes as of primary importance, and we trust the Government will face this difficulty at once, and ask Parliament to make provision for having the work well done. The New York Code is a model. The General Assembly of California appointed a commission of eminent lawyers, a few years ago, to codify the laws of that State, which, like our own, had become utterly unintelligible, and the finished work reflects credit upon the Commission itself, and the Legislature which created it. One can now know what the law of California on any point is, a thing which it is absolutely impossible to determine in New Zealand, where the public have practically to put up with Judge-made law—by no means a satisfactory state of things. The second point arising out of the miscarriage of justice in the Anazi case is, as we have said, the necessity for the abolition of the power of delegation by the Governor. Unless that be done, Parliament cannot fairly hold Ministers responsible for their administration. The extent to which this mischievous system has been pushed would surprise any one who has not paid close attention to it. There is hardly a public statute passed in which a clause is not inserted empowering the Governor to delegate certain or all of his powers under it to some else, who is irresponsible to Parliament' and in every case this provision is acted upon. If the delegated powers are exercised wisely, it is well; if they are mis. used, Parliament has no redress, for did it not carefully enact that it should not hold the Government responsible, by authorising the delegation of the Governor's powers to some official who is not directly amenable to it ? Indeed, so far as this system has been pursued, that the responsibility of the constitutional advisers of the Governor to the General Assembly is. except on a direct vote of want of confidence, of the most limited •character. They are not responsible for the administration of the gold-fields or of the public lands. Neither can responsibility fairly reach them under any of the

departments, except, perhaps, the Native, Telegraph, Customs, Treasury, and Post Office, ami these; witl) the exception of the Native Office, are self-acting pieces of machinery. The Public Works and Immigration is a department of the Government in which direct responsibility may technically be said to rest with the Executive, but a consideration of the various laws under which this department, has sprung up will convince any one that Ministerial responsibility is not so complete as it should be. What we want, therefore, is a short code of intelligible laws, with more power, and direct responsibility to Par lia'ment, by the Colonial Government. Were these reform* effected, there would be fewer miscarries of justice, *' higher tone of public morality, and a much more efficient and economical administration of public affairs. The country is over-governed, and under governed, to an extent amounting to absolute misgovernment. There is nothi ig but government. Everywhere one goes one is certain to encounter a " public servant" of some kind. Now this is not as it should he. There are too many drones in ihe hive. Lut us not keep more cats than there are mice to catch. If the reforms we have suggested, however, were carried out, it would be possible to simplify the whole machinery of Government, and to release from unprofitable servitude to an ungrateful country, many scores of intelligent men to swell the ranks of.producers.