The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 278, 30 June 1855, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, June 30. The outstanding accounts between the Province and the Canterbury Association were settled on Wednesday last. The Provincial Council have taken up the whole of the Association's liabilities, without any exception, the Association's assets being handed over to the Province. No vote of the Council has yet given such universal satisfaction. It was generally felt that this was the right way to deal with a question so much out of the routine of ordinary business, a question of how those men were to be re-' paid who advanced means to this struggling settlement in its adverse days, in full reliance upon our exertions and our good faith. We were sure—notwithstanding the cavils and complaints which were often heard from the discontented,—that we have only expressed the opinion of the settlement at lave when we have treated>e debt due "by the Province to the Association as a debt of honour. As such the Council looked upon it and refusing to enquire into the details of the amounts objected to by the Select Committee, they voted the sums which they knew had been paid on account of the settlement, together with interest on the advances made by private individuals at the

rate of 5 per cent, from the date of advance. The manner in which the final settlement of affairs took place,—the grateful and friendly expression of feeling by which it was markedj will be far more gratifying to the Association than the repayment of the money they advanced, and the relief from a i-esponsibility. which weighed most heavily upon some of their number. Seldom has any body of men undertaken an enterprise with cobler or more generous aspirations than the founders of the Canterbury Settlement. Few ever persevered with such determination and self-sacrifice in the midst of so much obloqiiy. Few have come out: of the struggle with so much honor to'themselves, and usefulness to their generation. Many faspersions have .been- thrown upon the character of the "Association through sheer ignorance of their position and proceedings ; — many by means of malevolent contortions of such mistakes and errors of judgment, as all men, and all bodies of men,' are liable to. But this is all over now. To any future attack or-calumny it will be sufficient to point to the vote of the Provincial Council on Wednesday last. The representatives of the much injured Province of Canterbury, representatives in an enlarged Council .elected for the great part with a view to the settlement of the Association's affairs, deliberately gave it as their opinion, after a careful investigation of the Association's accounts, that there were no objectionable items in them - which Avere of sufficient importance to challenge a detailed enquiry. They were so fully satisfied of the zeal, and integrity, and generosity of the Association, that they rightly thought it inconsistent with their honor to make the payment of the debt a matter of bargain and sale. With all their shortcomings the Provincial Council took this question into consideration in the spirit of straightforward EngUsh gentlemen, anxious to find out the true state of the case, and to act upon that knowledge without hesitation. One of the features of the whole business, which will be perhaps the most pleasing to the Association, is the testimony which it" bears to the success of their scheme, and the prosperous condition of the settlement which they have founded.- That so young a settlement should be.able to undertake liabilities comparatively heavy—at a moment when it has been defrauded of its land revenue by the General Government, and when it is spending so much on Immigration and public works, may be a matter for congratulation to those who have been taunted with the failure of their enterprise. We must say, at the same time, that whatever immediate pressure, may result from present expenses, the settlement of accounts will leave us eventually gainers. The Association have been tip bad stewards of the public property. They hand over now on the assumption of liabilities to the ' amount of £29,000, property of much greater value. (We speak in round numbers, as we do not wish at this moment to .go into details, but we can refer our readers°to our reports of the debates in .Council.) A large portion of this property may be realised within a few years, in order to redeem our debentures which are to be accepted in payment by the agent of the Canterbury Association.

Nor is this the only property which is left to this Province by the Canterbury Association. One of the most frequent and fruitful sources of attack has been the alleged failure of the Association in their attempt to found an endowment for churches and schools under the direction of the Church of England. We have carefully gone over the list of the Church and Educational property now in the hands of the Church Trustees, which has been collected one way or anptherby the instrumentality of the Association, and we have no hesitation in saying

that it is worth upwards of £40000~\Vh~* we consider the a-e and the'size off w settlement, and the rapidJy progressive vZ of the landed property of the Church we cannot, we think, maintain that she ' scantily or meanly endowed. When w compare this Province to those around 1^ we have no reason for looking on that nor tionofthe Association's scheme whichire" lated to the Church as by any1 means a failure.

And now with unfeigned {hanks for past services, and in all kindliness of feeling the Province of Canterbury bids farewell to the Canterbury Association. From this time as a corporate body! it exists no more. Bui the ties which bind the individual member)? of the Association to this Province can never be dissevered. Their names are already in. separably connected with the history of Canterbury, and we trust that the future may draw the bond of that connection closer year by year. For the last five years we have been in the habit of looking upon them as friends at home ; to whom we may appeal to fight our battles, and to defend our rio-hts. That this'relation may continue as one of the many links which binds this Province to our Fatherland, is the heartfelt wish of the colonists of Canterbury.

We-give below the result .of the examinations of the Lyttelton Scluols :— Grammak School.—lst Class. First prize, and free scholarship—Fred. C. Shriinpt< n. 2nd Class. Prizes were gireu to C. E. Dudley and A. J. Cotterill, who were equal in the examination. Boys' District School.—lst. Class. First prize and free scholarship—H. Mason, 2nd Class. Prize—W: Oldfield. 3rd Class. Prize—J. Taylor. Girls' Distkicx School.—lst Cluss. First prize and free scholarship-—EL Baker. 2nd Class. Prize—M. Clarkson. 3rd Class. Prize—A. Anderson.

To the Editor of .the Lyttelton Times. Sir, —Based upon the constitutional priiicipleI have adverted to informer letters, Eesponsis ble Government, as it is worked in England, if one of the happiest expedients which,.the history of Government records. It may be described as the habitual exercise on the part of the Constitution of .a prudent foresight of evil, in the place of a constant separation 6f wrong or disaster. It is the substitution of prevention for punishment. Let us turn now to the possible working of this system in the Government of this colony. And first, as regaids the General Government. The Governor stands in the place of the Crown. He is absolutely irresponsible to the colony. He can do no wrong, so far as the colony is concerned. He is not subject to its courts of law. He is not removeable. He never dies. So far the analogy is complete. But the irresponsibility of the Governor arises, not, as in England, from ancient constitutional tradition, maintained and sanctioned by the tacit assent of the other estates, and of the nation generally, but from the fact, that the position and prerogatives of the Governor are protected and enforced by a power wholly extraneous to the colony, that is, by the mother country; and are preserved whether the colony assent thereW or not. -The Governor, therefore, has two dv.jtinct duties to perform ; one to the colony which he is appointed to govern ; the other to the mother country, whose interests he is bound to preserve. In maintaining the prerogative"! tlie Crown in the colony, the Governor tails buck, not upon the national reverence f"r constitutional tradition, but simply on the will ot the Home Government conveyed to him m ms "Instructions." For their interpretation^! tiie royal prerogative, as for every other act, the ministers in England are responsible to the representatives of the people. For their interpretation of the royal instructions to the Governs, the ministers in the colony cannot be responsible to the-people'-uf the colony, because the governor is personally responsible to the t' l".° w in England. Here then is one class ot sulijecis which is removed from the>fluence of tne^iootvineof Ministerial Responsibility in « coiov; Excepting these, the analogy between tje Crown in England and the Governor *n a coio

Ny is, for the purposes of the argument, comBut the experiment seems to me hopeless unless the responsibility of the ministers be proclaimed bylaw. There is, so far as I know, no process in v colony, similar to trial on an impeachment by the Commons in England. It is licit, so far as I know, a criminal act under the law's of the colony, for an executive councillor to advise the Governor to perform an illegal act; be it spending1 public money, or making free giants of public land. I apprehend the only remedy could be found in the trial of the Governor himself in the courts in England ; a remedy as effective as a prayer to Hercules. The first step is to estsblish the trial of the executive councillors by impeachment. Not inoLkl in the Supreme Court,*so long as those two shanieful blots remain. Ist, that the Governor can suspend the Judges at will: 2nd, that a trial in the Supreme .Court can be carried by appeal to the Governor in council himself. I would urge on the colony never to be content with any bill settling the Constitution of the Executive Government which is not accompanied by the construction of some high court of Justice, in which a responsible ministry may be brought to justice. That f;\vill be the only real safeguard against the finances of the colony bting plunged into the disgraceful confusion in which they are.at this moment. With the exceptions to s which I have adverted, and with the guarantee in reality provided by pains -and penalties in the background, no one can doubt that Responsible Government is essential to the General Government of New Zealand. '

But what is the condition of the Provincial Government in relation to this question.of Responsible Government ? The prominent difference between these and all other British Governments consists in the position of the Superintendent. (I.) He is elected. He derives his authority from the same source as the Provincial Council ; not, as in the case of the Crown, and of a Governor, from a different source. (2.) He is remove.able: first, by disallowance of his election within three months; secondly, on a vote of two thirds of the Provincial Council ; thirdly, Y>y a dissolution ; fourthly, by the conclusion of bis term of office in four years. (3.) He is directly responsible in the courts of law in the Colony ; he does not enjoy the prerogative of immunity from trial, which attaches in this respect to a Governor or. Lieutenant-Governor holding* the Queen's commission.

I have endeavoured to show that the main object of Responsible Government is to maintain the control of the people over a chief executive officer, who derives his authority from an independent source, is irresponsible, ivremoveable, and beyond the reach of the courts of law. So far as this is the object in view, Responsible Government is'clearly unnecessary in. a constitution, where the chief executive officer'derives his authority from the people directly,—is responsible, removeable, and amenable to the law. The end to be gained by the invention of " ministers" in England is actually gained in another way in the Provincial .Government-of New ■Zealand. I state the case practically. If the Governor transgresses the law he cannot be reached in the Colony. 'Whereas, if the Superintendent transgresses the law, he is as liable to an action in the ordinary courts of law as any other individual. Supposing, for example, that there were a process by which the -expenditure of public monies without the votes of the representatives of the people could be permitted ; in the one ?a c, the Governor would escape, and the treayyirev alone could be made liable ; in the other case, the Superintendent could be personally attached for having issued the illegal warrant. If then '.Responsible 'Government is to huve the same object and operation in the.Provincial Governments as elsewhere, the first step must be to declare by law tlie irresponsibility of the Superintendent. > . ,

lou cannot have a divided responsibility. 1 here cannot be two working heads to the, Executive Government. The result of that state of tilings would be conflict between the Superintendent and his adviseis. If the ministers-are to be really responsible for the acts of Government, the Superintendent must stand by, and act only through them, as the Crown in England. And if so, then he must be held entirely iree from the consequences of his ministers' halts or follies. Such a position is obviously inconsistent with !»e idea of an elective officer having a D"ci tenure of office. An election can-

not be disconnected from a policy. The man who asks the votes of his fellow citizens tells them at the same time what he proposes to do : what are his principles ; what are to-be' the results of placing him in power. This is inseparable from an election. The staunehest friends of Responsible government in the colony, the superintendents of Wellington, Nelson, and ' Canterbury, and I might add of Otago, enunciated their respective policies on the hustings and in opening their Councils. It is obvious that the people will always expect a candidate for their suffrages to state his opinions and principles ; and that the Superintendent will in most cases b'-s elected on a policy. His duty then will; be to form a government agreeing with" his own views, to carry that policy 'into effect. But, if we are to have Responsible Government, the Superintendent is not to select his ministers because their views coincide with his own, but because they coincide with the opinions of the majority of the Provincial Council. Are not the two ideas repugnant to one another ? Is it not probable, that the Superintendent may be elected for the very purpose of carrying out one policy, and that a few weeks afterwards he may be compelled to select ministers having an entirely opposite policy in view? I conclude, then, that the conditions for the successful working of Responsible Government are, —First; That the ministers shall be sworn to advise the chief Executive Officer to administer the Government according to law;: and ; that they -shall be accountable to a, high Court of Justice, and shall be liable to fine and imprisonment for a violation of that oath. Secondly ; that the t^liief Executive Officer shall be rendered incapable of performing acts of Government except by his ministers. These conditions are equally applicable to4he General and Provincial Governments. But in the Provincial Governments^ further condition is required, that the Superintendents shall be permanently appointed, and shall be rendered individually .irresponsible. Without these conditions Responsible Government is but 'a trick or fashion of the day,' without reality and without substance^ To attain these conditions in the General . Government.«f the colony should be one great aim audj effort, and that we shall succeed is inevitable. .. But it may justly be questioned whether it would be wise to .exchange' the form of Government in the Provinces given us by the Constitution Act, for that-which I have been describing. I venture to doubt whether We should benefit by the alteration. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, Connell Counsellor.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times. Sik, —In reply to a letter which appeared in your last number,- respecting1 .Mr. Wortley's leaving for England, I beg to state that Mr. Wortley's intention upon leaving this, was, I believe, to attend the meeting of the General Assembly, if upon arriving in the northern island he should find that it was to. meet immediately for the dispatch of business. In the absence of such immediate meeting, I believe he intends to resign, and to sail for England, where his' presence is required. I am, Sir, Your obedient servant, X.