The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 335, 16 January 1856, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

HY</)i<\«(rti/, January 1(1

OnK of the financial questions which the public expect the house of Representatives to deal with during the ensuing: session, is one which prima facie appears a very small one, but which in reality involves important consequences ; —We mean the subject of the payment of members. Our readers have not forgotten the extraordinary vote of the first Mouse, whereby they gav v themselves one pound per diem during session besides travelling expense? to and from Auckland. The vote was strenuously opposed by many of the members, but, it was nevertheless carried. Messrs. Fitz Gerald and Bewell,who were two of the opponen's of this measure will we believe do their best again, to prevent the Kstimates passed by, the House being, disgraced by such a vote. It cannot be expected, however, but that there will be many men who will prefer selfish to public considerations. It will be therefore well if the qucs'iou is agitated beforehand, in order thai public opinion may be brought to bear upon the House. We are sorry to see the principle of the payment of members ..dmitted at all, —as it has been unfortunately in some of the Provincial Councils as well as in the General Assembly. The extravagant vote of the House of Representatives sUe^s v ■• to what, lengths men will ga, if they once countenance eacli other in voting money directly for themselves. la America the argument of necessity was made use of —Members of Congress paid themselves, and the consequej.ee of the admission of the principle of payment is that every Representative row receives eight dollars a day during session besides travelling expenses. The House <its for nine moaths hi ti.e year, —and the most good for nothing fellows who have some power of talking represent many of the States to the exclusion of men of education and honour, who would otherwise have been proud to represent their districts without any remuneration for their trouble, but the honour of enjoying the confidence of their fellow citzenVand the consciousness of being at work for the public service. Such men will not make a trade of their political labours : they leave that to men of a totally deferent stamp, who now for the most part fill the seats of the American Mouse of Representatives. We are not speaking with any prejudice against Ameri-ca-all that we have said is allowed by the educated Americans themselves. And we must remember that we are sowing the setd of those evils in New Zealand by admitting the same principle. We shall have men, A'ithout education and without public spirit, elbowing fheir way forwards, and humbugging elector* who are too busy to think for themselves, in order to obtain an easy livelihood, snd to be in the way - f whatever the political lottery may turnup to their advantage. The duties of a representative are not to be considered as duties for which remuneration should be paid. Men will be found 10 perform them without any pecuniary inducement. iJut if, during the infant state of the Colony. It is still thought necessary to pay members of the House of Assembly, who are taken away from their homes and their occupations, let the payment be the smallest

on which a man could possibly live ; anything further should come from his own private resources. Even this we should object to in a very shorL time, aa we are reluctant to admit in any case the principle of the payment of members of a legislative body. We will not now dwell upon the payment of members of the Provincial Council. In this Province, at any rate, we cannot see the necessity which has caused a bad principle to be admitted. Several of the members of the Provincial Council have in our hearing repeatedly said that (hey were ashamed of taking1 the money voted for their expenses. Why do they not make a stand against the vole in the Council ? We hope that the next session may see the members of the Canterbury Council doing their duty without claiming payment from the public purse.

By the Louisa from Hobarton we have Hobarton papers to the 2nd of January, containing news fiom England to the sth October. The whole of the late European intelligence contained in the papers that have reached sis will be found in another column. Bs" the William and Jane, we have also Wellington, Taranaki, and Nelson papers. Neither of these vessels brina an English mail. We understand that the William and Jane passed a vessel supposed to be the Cheetah from Sydney (with 4 English mails on board, Aug. 20:h, Sep. 4th and 20th, and Oct. 4th) on her passage here. To the Editor of the Lytlclton Times. Sit, —The excitement occasioned by the late elections having now pretty well subsided, the candidates having had their say and explained their views, we may as well try and find out. what our representatives are going io do for us. j I have carefully looked over the published accounts of what the different candidates said on the hustings, and on other occasions ; but I cannot discover that any one of them alluded to a question winch excited a good deal of attention during the session of the General Assembly in 1804, but which the candidates seem altogether to have forgotten ; or perhaps they may have thought it rather too ticklish a matter to mention at so critical a moment. The question I allude to is. as to whether the evils of intemperance occasioned by the excessive use of spirituous liquors could not be checked and controlled by means of legislative enactments ? It will be in the recollection of some of your readers that both the Legislative Council and the Mouse of Representatives unanimously passed a scries of resolutions upon this subject, pointing out the more prominent evil consequences of intemperance, (characterising^ as a " principle incentive to crime." and the "increasing cause of degradation and ruin to individuals, and of misery to families/) and expressing a hope that some legislative measure might be adopted, without delay, to arrest the progress of the evil. Mr. .E. Jerningham Wakefield and his father were the principal promoters of this movement, and by their energy and perseverance succeeded in gaining over a large portion of the Auckland public to their views. Numerous and well-attended meetings were he'd in various districts of that. Province ; and the result of all was, that a j&Society was formed called the '4 Temperance JLeague." This body decided that the ultimate end of their operations should be the enactment of some measure "similar to that, known in Am -rica as she " Maine Liquor Law." By this law the sale of all intoxicating liquor-* is absolutely prohibited. I am sorry that, Mr. \Vakeu\-ld is prevented from unending the next meeting of tlu: General Assembly, because from his energy

and perseverance we might have, hoped that he would have brought in some measure upon the subject, and y-ot it carried into practical operation. Not that I think the original proposal to stop altogether the sale of all intoxicating liquors would have the desired effect. A measure of this kind would no doubt suit Utopia very well, but would be too stringent for New Zealand; and I believe that, in point of fact, the '* Maine Liquor -Law" is breaking down, more or less, wherever it is bein.y tried ; neither am I sure that the General Assembly is the most proper body to deal with the matter. Taking into consideration the great differences in the circumstances of the different r rovinces, and in tiie habits and feelings of their respective inhabitants, it would peril "ps be the wiser plan to leava legislation on the subject to the local Councils. For instance, in this Province, where the land j available for agriculture is practically tin- i limited, and where, should anything occur to glut the Australian market, our aijricul- ! tural produce would become unsaleable, it mitrht be deemed advisable to encourage the growth of barley for brewing purposes; and the requirements of our case might be suffi- [ ciently met on the one hand by affording every facility for the sale of beer.—and on *ha other, by putting as many restrictions as you like upon the deleterious compound which is the chief ingredient of a " nobbier." If we could once succeed in brewing larire quantities of <rood wholesome beer, we should preserve our health and produce a valuable article of export, —instead of, as we are doing; at present, injuring our health and sending money out of the Colony to obtain the poison. y These, however, are questions subordinate to the main point. J would lay down neither the precise provisions of .the law. nor would it be necessary, for the present, to decide whether the General Assembly or the Provincial Councils should legislate in the matter. Th^se are" subjects for subsequent discussion. The general principles, however, which should iruide us might, I think, be embodied in the following propositions : — Ist. That intoxication is an evil which ought to be checked as much as possible. 2nd. That any measure for correcting this evil, in order to be effectual, ought not to be of too stringent a nature. 3rd. That a great deal might be done by a revisal of the " Licensing Ordinance." with a view to making it the interest of the publican to keep i\n orderly house, all the year round, instead of just a few months before the licensing day. 4th. That should any person think it absolutely necessary to get drunk, it would be more to the advantage, both of the cotnmunitv and himself, that he should get drunk on beer rather than on spirits, because, as regards himself, his health would be less injuriously affected, and, as regards the community, there would be a consumption of home rather than of foreign produce. sth. That, whereas intoxication produced by spirits, maddens and excites the patient so as to make him dangerous, intoxication from the influence of beer only makes him stupid for a time, and then sends him harmlessly to sleep. Your obedient servant, X.