To the Electors of Lyttelton.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 285, 25 July 1855, Page 5

To the Electors of Lyttelton.

Gentlemen,— Having, alter very anxious consideration,determined, unless unforeseen circumstancesshould arise, not lo attend the session of the General Assembly summoned for the Bth August, it is right that I should acquaint you with the reasons which have induced- me to arrive at this determination ; and I hope and helieve that yon will think I am acting in the manner most conducive to your interests. On the lllh July, I received a letter dated the 25th May^f'rom the Colonial Secretary, informing me that arrangements had been made for carrying me to Auckland for the approaching session on the sth July ; that is to say four days before I received the notice. On the arrival of the Zingari last week, I received a second letter dated the 9th Tuly, informing me that the General Assembly* was prorogued to the Bth August, and that a passage was provided for me in the steamer on her return from Otago next Saturday. From the letter of the 25th May I learned that the only ,'measures contemplated by the Government in the ensuing session were, first, _si bill to provide pensions for the present holders of offices with a view to the establishment of responsible government; secondly,—a bill to continue the present appropriation of the public" revenues for a limited period : that a dissolution or at all events a. prorogation was contemplated immediately afterwards in order to allow the new ministers loprepaie such measures as they might deem necessary to prppose to the Assembly. I learn at the same time that the Governor of the Colony was to have sailed from England on the Ist of May, and may therefore be shortly expected. I am also acquainted by private letters that there is a feeling of disinclination on the part of many of the southern members to attend a session in which so little can be done and in the prospect of a speedy dissolution. And I also

find that several of the southern members have resigned their seats, others are about, to do so, and some are unable to go to Auckland at present.

Taking all these circumstances into consideration the proposed meeting of the General Assembly appears to nic likely not only to be useless, but probably mischievous. That the Assembly should not have been convened until after the expiration of the Appropriation act, —that the Colony should again be placed in a situation in which the public monies are being expended without law, is a fresh and flagrant instance of the total disregard of the present Government for all constitutional principle. The General Assembly ought to have been called, and proper means for its meeting provided at least a month before the expiration of the Appropriation Act on the 30th June. With two steamers on the coast no excuse can be urged for this neglect. But the illegality having been committed, its continuance for a few months longer will be a less evil than those likely to arise from the proposed session to which I will now advert.

The alleged object of the session is, to pass a bill providing pensions for the present holders of office. As a general rule it is right that the holders of patent offices should be compensated for their loss, when that loss arises, not from their own fault, but from a change in the constitution of the country. Bat this principle is only applicable to where the duties of the office have been fulfilled. The disclosures made by the publication of the accounts by the Auditor-Gene-ral would, at first sight, suggest the propriety not of granting pensions to the present members of the Government, but of placing them on their trial before a competent tribunal for mismanagement of the public revenues. For example, I find in the published accounts, for the nine months endingthe 30ih Sept., 1853, a balance of 17,000 left in the Treasury. In the accounts for the succeeding nine months I can not find that balance brought to account at all. I accuse no one of dishonesty or malversation ; I take the accounts simply as I find them. To grant a pension to a Treasurer, whose accounts are declared by the Auditor to show a deficiency of £17,000 will hardly be asked. Again, the accouuts for the six months ending on the 31st December last, show an over expenditure of £30,000. But these accounts contain misstateinents. It will hardly be believed that the £30,000 paid to Mr. Brittan, for land, in the beginning of 1854, and a great part of which has been actually expended, is not yet brought to account; so that the accounts of the General Government, for that six months, state the revenue for the Province to have been £8,407 17s. 6d., and the expenditure for the same period to have been £28,220 7*. 9d. Nor does a foot-note, appended by the Auditor-General, explain or palliate this wholly truthless statement. It is made to appear that, during six months this Province has received not only a larger portion of the revenue than its share, but more than three times the whole amount of its own revenues. You are aware that the sum of money in question,^ which arose from Mr. Moore's purchase of land, was distributed in conformity with the regulations laid down by Sir George Grey, in August, 1853 ; the General Government and the Provincial Government each receiving its respective share. You are aware that the General Government is now arbitrarily, and illegally as I conceive, enforcing the repayment of a part of one share. Does there not seem a singular coincidence between the necessity for justifying this arbitrary act, and the suppression of £30,C00 of revenue in the accounts, by which it would be made to appear1 to the rest of the colony that Canterbury had received more than her share of the public revenue?

I am asked to go to Auckland, solely to vote pensions to officers over wbom these grave charges are impending ; and that in a house which will necessarily be very thinly intended. I cannot make myself a party to such a 'proceeding. In a house, thinly intended by the southern members, it is possible that such a bill might pass. But so grave a question ought not to be determined, except in a full house ; certainly not to be shuffled through without enquiry. My attendance will help to make a house too small for such a subject to be fairly dealt with ; —by staying away I hope to deter others from going. And I have great hopes that so many of the southern members and of the northern members belonging to the Constitutional party will decline to attend, —that there will be j no session. In a full house, and after proper j

enquiry, if the present officials shall be found not to have forfeited their places by*maladministration,—then I shall be prepared to support their claims to pensions ; but not until the present strange anomalies in the accounts have been satisfactorily cleared up. But it may he said, I ought to go to try and rectify these errors. I am persuaded that they cannot be rectified, or even fairly considered in this coining session. The great .questions pending, especially the adjustment ..of the public burdens, and the settlement of the revenues, cannot be dealt with until the government is in the hands of men capable of grappling with large and complicated questions. The attempt to settle them before a ministry is formed would e.n 1 in a scramble for money between the Provinces, in which the-Auckland .party, being all on the spot, would get .the lion's share. This is so obvious, that the Government only propose to pass the Pension Bill and a temporary extension of the Appropriation Bill of last session.

But 3 further shrink from obeying a summons issued by the officer administering- the Government fur the purpose of forcing a policy on the country, which he is just about to leave for ever, and on the eve of the arrival of a new Governor, hourly expected.. Ordinary respect for Governor Biown forbids such a proceeding. His Excellency may think, on arriving, that the proper course would be to institute an enquiry into the conduct of the present Executive; to call on them to render an account of their stewardship, before granting the rewards only given to faithful servants of the crown. Now that the session has been so long delayed, it ought to be postponed until Governor .Brown's, arrival.

A dissolution seems inevitable. The number of resignations renders it necessary, because as the writs to'fill the vacancies could only be issued after the house had met, the elections could not take place in time for the new members to take a fair share in the business. Moreover it would be.desirable that there should be a dissolution before the selection of the new ministers, and with a special view to the constitution of the new ministry. Governor Brown will no doubt immediately dissolve on arriving should there be no session. He could readily call the new Assembly together in five or six months, and could ascertain in the mean time the proper men for the first ministers. Such a session would be a real session for work, and would be well attended. The whole.of what it is' proposed to do now in a scramble'just as Col. Wv"yard j s leaving, could be better done then with proper deliberation ami enquiry, and with a strong ministry to guide the.house.. The session now proposed will require another in the course of a few months. In the present state of inter Provincial communication these frequent sessions of the Assembly are impossible. They will never be well-attended. The Colony will never be fairly represented as a whole, and jealousies, confusion, and conflict, ■will result. On. the other hand, Gentlemen, my presence is urgently inquired in the Province at the present time. If I could hope to do any good by leaving it, I should not hesitate .to do so, but being- persuaded that I should do nothing but harm b.y sanctioning a meeting at such a time, and under such circumstances, I hope I shall meet your approval in staying away from this Parliament. I am. Gentlemen, Your obedient servant, James Edward Fitz Gerald.