The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 153, 10 December 1853, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times.

December 10, 1853. The first Session of the Provincial Council has come to a close, and has it done ? What has it done ? —that is the question : let us try to view the result with a calm unprejudiced eye. This is not so easy as we may ourselves fancy. The very struggle in which this Settlement has, as well as others, been engaged, the largeness of our hopes, the intensity of our disgust at the old system, the greatness of our expectation of improvement, all these render us disposed, some to under-rate and others to over-rate what has been done by Responsible Government now that we have got it We propose then to take a brief view of the labours of the first Session. The Council met on the 27th September. The first matter was the Standing Orders. They have not been published ; they do not very greatly concern the public in general, but we understand that they^ were compiled without any precedent, no Standing Orders of any legislative body whatever being in the Settlement ; the more awkward, as the Council had an Election Petition to try within a short time. The Council next proceeded to pass a Money Bill, granting a small sum to the Superintendent for carrying on the uovernment until the estimates for the year should be voted. The Ordinance was a mistake ; a simple resolution of the Counci would have supplied all that was necessary. Then came the Address to the Superintendent in reply to His Honor's openm D speech ; of this we regret that a copy was not furnished to us at the time. It ™ however, simple and clear, pledging "' Council to nothing except to give t»" best attention to the measures proposed j the Provincial Government. , Preliminary business being cleared aside,

the Council went steadily to -work. We shall consider what they have done under two heads —' Ordinances,' and ' Resolutions.' Ordinances on matters on which they have'the po\ver to legislate : and Resolutions on matters on which they could only express an opinion, legislation beingreserved to the General Assembly. Let us first look at the Ordinances. With but one exception these may be said to be purely initiative : Ordinances for fixing the form and providing for the working of the Government. As to the necessity of the things thus created by law, opinions cannot differ. The only doubt expressed was, whether they ought not to have been called into existence without the aid of the legislature. An Executive Council, a Public Seal, a Government Gazette : these are institutions which have been always esteemed to be essentials: they form a part of every Government known to the British race. In most cases, when a new colony is formed, they pass by the prei'Ogative of the Crown as necessary parts of Government. But in our case, where, for the first time, we have an elected head oi the Executive, it was certainly more prudent to establish all the parts of the Government by special enactment. The Secretary of the Provincial Government at Wellington is reported to have said that" they did not understand Responsible Government at Canterbury." The remark is that of a man who knew more of the forms than of the realities of Responsible Government. Mr. Fitzherbert could hardly repeat the observation with the Limitation of Patronage Ordinance lying before him. By that law the principle of Responsible Government, as it is understood in England, appears to us to be fully recognized. Any Representative of the people must resign his seat before accepting office. Mr. Fitzherbert was no doubt puzzled by the fact that the Heads of Departments are not for the present in this Province to resign office if they cannot command majorities of the Provincial Council. The same thing has puzzled some persons here. But as we understand the plan adopted, it is this. The Heads of Departments are not considered as occupying the same position as the " Ministers," bi.t rather as what are called the " Standing under-Secretaries." Every Department of State in England has its " Secretary," and " under-Secretary," who have seats in one of the Houses (not by any law, but simply by the necessity of carrying Gn the business of Government in the Houses), and a "Standing under Secretary," who has no seat in the House, and does not represent the policy of his Depai-tment, but is responsible for the conduct of its ordinary details. According to the plan set forth in the Superintendent's opening speech, the members of the Executive Council will represent \X\q policy of the Government, and will be dependent for their places as such, upon the will of the Provincial Council. Their position will be identical with that of " Members of the Cabinet " without office, and without salary. We shall forbear to criticise this plan at present. Having become law, it will now be tried. Our present object is rather to record than to criticise. But it does not at all events appear to us to violate the essential conditions of Responsible Government. It i.s not improbable indeed, that it may have the effect of producing a purer and healthier tone of Opposition than has sometimes been seen in the political arena at home: the idea of '"Opposition" will be disconnected from the desire for "place," with which it has so often been charged. The Empowering Ordinance is another law which seems to have been enacted rather from prudence than necessity. It is I!°t at all clear to us whether the Interpre-

tation Ordinance, Sess. 12, No. 3, does not place in the Superintendent's hands, as being " the officer administering the Government of the Province for the time being," all the powers given to him by the Empowering Ordinance just passed. In fact, we have heard that it was presumed by the General Governmenttodoso. The most, then, that this Ordinance does, is to clear up a doubt. But one part of it deserves further notice. The President of the Executive Council is declared to be "the officer administering the Government for the time being." It is obvious that there must, for certain purposes, be such a person. So it has always been in all Governments. The office never dies although the individual may, and the conduct of the routine of every Government ought to be beyond the control of accident. We cannot suppose, however, that it is intended that the President of the Executive Council should have power to perform those acts which are, by the Constitution Act, conferred on the Superintendent. Powers conferred by Parliament on an officer elected by the people could not lawfully be delegated by him to another; such, for examjile, as the assenting to Bills, the summoning or prorogueing the Provincial Council. Such exercise of power would be an infringement of the Constitution Act, and could not therefore be bestowed by the Provincial Legislature. We conclude then that the President of the Executive Council, in the event of the sudden death or mental incapacity of the Superintendent, could merely conduct the ordinary operations of the Executive Government, which must, for obvious reasons, be condncted by some competent authority until the election of a new Superintendent. The Scab and Catarrh Ordinance appears not to have been a Government measure, although supported by the Government in all its stages Unlike the other laws we have described, this one is the first passed by the local legislature for dealing with an immediate and pressing necessity. It mr.y be characterised as a terrible experiment, violating the distinctly recognized principle of modern economy, that in mercantile matters men are the best judges of their own interests. It can only be justified by the recollection that, in sheep-farming the imprudence or slothfulness of one individual injures not only himself but all his neighbours, and ultimately the country at large. It is an endeavour to keep a country entirely free from disease which is alreadj- comparatively so, but surrounded by other countries in which disease is prevalent. It is a defensible experiment on the same grounds that Quarantine is defensible in countries surrounded by plague or cholera. It is an experiment, moreover, which, as it has the merit of great determination, we earnestly hope will succeed. This is what the Provincial Council has done in the way of law making. But their consideration of matters upon which they have not yet legislated, or are unable to legislate, has taken a wider range under the head of Resolutions passed. We will next week examine their further works.