The Lyttelton Times. Saturday, August 12, 1854.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 188, 12 August 1854, Page 7

The Lyttelton Times. Saturday, August 12, 1854.

•We have scarcely had time as yet to notice the proceedings of the Legislative Council. The great interest of the session is naturally centered in the House of Representatives. All the business is done there by the men chosen by the electors of New Zealand. The people have no sympathy with.-'<&he-'Other House. They care little what its members think or do; and they will not care unless those members thwart their Representatives; in which case very little allowance will be made for any opposition however, constitutional or conscientious it may be. We are far from wishing to detract from the merit of those who constitute the Upper House. There are many men in it who are likely to do good service to the country^ when it shall be in their power to do so. The fault now lies in the ambiguous position in which they are placed. We have no guarantee whatever for their enjoying the confidence of the country: -we only know that they enjoyed the confidence of Sir G. Grey. The debate of most importance and interest which has taken place in the Legislative Council is one which arose upon a motion of Mr. St. Hill's, for altering its Constitution and placing it upon an Electoral basis. Mr. Dillon Bell seconded the motion. Major Lloyd and Mr. Whitaker spoke against it; and upon a division it was found that the mover and seconder stood. alone. It is much to be regretted that the general feeling of the House should be so hostile to a measure which must sooner or later be forced upon it. At the same time the greatest credit is due to those gentlemen who took the earliest opportunity to agitate the question, although they stood alone and unsupported. It is significant of the feeling of the present Government upon the subject that Mr. Dillon Bell was the member for the Upper House added to the Responsible Executive. Mr. St. Hill moved— "That an address be presented to the OfficeT Administering the Government, embodying the opinion of this Council that it is expedient that that part of clause 33 of the Constitution Act which affects the existing Constitution of the Legislative Council should be amended, so as to accord and harmonize with the spirit and intention of those provisions of that Act as respects the election of Members of the House

of Representatives, and praying that his Excellency may be pleased Jo adopt such measures as may, with as little delay as is practicable, remedy the defect referred to. 1' It will be observed£that"the motion is couched in very vague and [general terms ; so that its supporters should riot be bound down to any definite scheme for constituting an Upper house. Indeed we find that the mover and seconder do not hold the same views on the system of Representation to be adopted. But on the one essential point they do agree—that a representative system is necessary ; and that—at any rate under presem circumstances—a nominee Council is little better than a farce. And they both seem willing to accede to any reasonable plan which may be proposed by Government for attaining the desired [end. f Mr. St. Hill suggests a constituency for the election of members of the Legislative Council conmposed of members Jof the universities of Great Britain and Ireland,, and of colleges in connexion with any of those universities ; members, if naturalized, of foreign universities; members of the House of Representatives and of the Provincial Councils ; members of professions ; ministers of religion; heads of departments under the Local Government; Justices of the Peace; landed proprietors and merchants—each, under certain qualifications, to be hereafter defined. The Justices of the Peace to be limited to those only whose commissions bear date antecedent to the appointment of the officer under whose government any vacancy or vacancies may take place. Mr. Bell thinks that the permanence of the chamber would be [sufficiently ensured by determining that members should hold their seats for the same term of years, dating from their election; thus, if the proposed duration of office were ten years, and as vacancies occurred members were each chosen for ten years forward, the existence of the house would be perpetuated, and it would be free from, those influences which a general election would be sure to have upon its deliberations, as t the time for that election*drew near. The latter of these schemes appears to us preferable to the former, although there are grave objection* to both. In the first, the formation of a constituency seems altogether too elaborate and complicated to be easily put in practice ; in the latter no provision is made for establishing a different constituency to that which elects the members of the House of Representatives. A great many theories on this subject have been broached, and there is no doubt but that all of them are open to objection. We are confident, however, that the colony would give a fair trial to any system founded on the basis of Representation. It is strange that on bo interesting a

question so little discussion should have arisen, except on the part of the mover and seconder of the motion. Major Lloyd briefly declared his faith in the principle of Nomineeism. He stated that he looked upon the members of that chamber as life trustees for the public good; and immediately afterwards declared his intention of soon returning to England. A curious illustration, of his belief. Mr. Whitaker, while he allowed that the confidence of the people of New Zealand in such a principle was utterly shaken by the manner in which it had been made use of in this colony by the Governor, argued that it worked well in other colonies, and that therefore he could not support such a motion as the one before, the house. The rest of the members were contented to vote silently against it. They will find out ere long that Mr. St. Hill and Mr. Bell were the only two among them who represented in that debate the opinions Jbf the colonists of New Zealand.

The usual fortnightly meeting of the Christchurch Colonists' Society took place at the White Hart on Monday Evening,— presided over by J. Brittan, Esq. The subject under consideration was the recent Ministerial movements at Auckland. The meeting was numerously attended. The discussion was opened by Mr. Ollivier, who briefly noticed the topics contained in His Honor the Superintendent's speech, which he eulogised in deservedly complimentary language. He concluded by moving, in the form of a resolution, the following address to the Superintendent of this Province :- - " The members of the Christchurch Colonists' Society desire to convey to your Honor their grateful thanks for your able vindication of the cause of Constitutional Self Government. While they can with pride and pleasure congratulate your Honoi upon being called to-the chief office in the Government, to them it is a cause of still greater satis/action that they can heartily concur in your talented and efficient enunciation of the intended policy of the Government in reference to many questions of public importance. It is their sincere belief that upon a full recognition of the great principle of Responsible Government, the prosperity and happiness of this colony mainly depends ; they earnestly pray therefore that you may be supported by the hear ty co-operation of the house of Representatives generally, and that your health and strength may be preserved to enable you to carry your enlarged and comprehensive schemes to a successful issue." Mr. Hichens had great pleasure in seconding the resolution. Mr. Packer, Mr. Hall, Mr. Inwood, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. J. Brittan took part in an exceedingly animated discussion, which we regret our space does not allow us to do more than allude to. The resolution was unanimously adopted, and a copy ordered to be sent to His Honor in the usual course.