The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 337, 23 January 1856, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Wednesday, January 23. An Empowering Ordinance was passed during the fiivt Session of the Provincial Council, containing the following cUuse, which is characterised by the Colonial Secretary in his letter of 30 th Jan.-, 185-1, as so objectionable a- to call for the exercise of the power of disallowance vested in the Governor by the New Zealand Constitution Act."' The objectionable clause runs as follows :—

" In case of the death of the Superintendent, or hi« absence at any time from (he Province, the President of the Executive Council for the tim» being, shall be taken and deemed to he the officer b-irniiy administering the office of Superintendent for thr time being ; and in nil Ordinances now, and '.viiich may at any rimo herea'ter he iii force within the Province, the term Superintendent shall be deemed to include the officer legally administering the office of Superintendent for t!m* time hem"-." The Colonial Secnnarv pays *" * 5 hut it. is enacted by the 2nd clause of the Ordinance, that in case of the death or absence of the .Superintendent, the powers given to him may he exercised by the President of the Executive Council. " Between these two officers theie is this marked diflm;m.-e. The- Superintendent is an ofh-.-er known to the Constitution; on the one hand elected by the people of the 1 roviuce ; and whose election on the other hand is hable to be di^lluwed by the Governor, and who is subject to be removed by

the Crown. There may be, therefore, no valid objection against entrusting to an officer so appointed the powers conferred upon the representatives of the Grown by the Ordinances in the schedule.

" The President of the Executive Council, however, is an officer unknown to the Constitution of New Zealand, and ueithtr elected by the people, nor appointed by the Crown, but nominated by the Superintendent and holding, office at his pleasure. The name, character, and qualification of this officer may be wholly unknown to the Governor of the Colony."

The following remarks were made on this subject by the " Lyttelton Times" of" the 25th of March, 1851, on the news of the disallowance of the Ordinance reaching the Province.

" We are certainly disposed »o allow that on the whole the reasons given by His Excellency are weighty enough to justify his decision : yet we cannot refrain from remarking on a portion of the Colonial Secretary's letter.

'• We cannot, for instance, conceive it possible how any officer deriving power from laws enacted under the express authority of the Constitution Act can in any way be said to be * unknown to the Constitution of New Zealand.' Nor can we understand how the Governor can consistently ignore the existence of any person so constituted an Executive functionary, if he but considers for a moment that the Superintendents themselves, as chief Executive officers of the respective provinces, are, as far as any express words can be found, in an equal decree ' unknown to the Constitution.' It appears to us that every lawful development of the Constitution Act cannot by any possibility remain unknown to it; that every law enacted under its authority necessarily and ipse facto, becomes on the instant known to it ; and if this be so, then—as a logical and legitimate consequence, —no officer holding office under that law can be ignored in any way by that power from which it is itself evolved.

'• That the ' namr\ character, and qualification ' of the President of any F;"x*?cutive Council k may be wholly unknown to the Government of the Colony' is by no means an alarmingly wonderful improbability. Considering where that Government is established, it is likely to know equally as much of the elected Superintendent as of the officer he appoints, whether by name, qualification, or any thing else. / " We can conceive no cogent cause fo ' alarm if an officer, selected from among tH< mem birrs of the Provincial Council by tK1 Superintendent, who necessarily enjoys the confidence of the people which the ' Government of the colony ' does not necessarily do, should, during a temporary ulseuue, or in case of death, conduct the affairs nf tho Province. There is nothing extraordinary or unheard of in this.

1 The postal communication hot ween Canterbury and Auckland now averages from sto V) months. For that space of time at least this Province, were llu: Superintendent suddenly to die, must be without an administration. We conceive that it becomes the duty of the General Government, either itself to make immediate provision agains: such an evil, or to leave it to the Province to do so."

We have put those quotations together in order to draw attention to a question which is now of great importance to all the Provinces." All the Superintendents will attend the next session of the General Assembly. There need he no practical difficulty about this ; some steps, however, ought to he taken to insure the easiest means of transacting business 'in their absence. At present in none of the Provinces is there any provision for the

carrvii;" on of business in the event of the ab<e'ne • >r death of the Superintendent for the lime boiug.

The Zim/ari, from Olago, with His Excellency ami suite on board, arrived in this hcrbotir last, evtMiini?. The Dunedin came into Otago while tin: #my«W;was lying there, with emigrants iVom Knglaml, after a passage of 82 days. This vessel brings English news to the 26th of October. No movement of importance had taken place in the Crimea since our last dates. The Baltic fleet had returned to (England.* The most important domestic intelligence was the death of Sir William Molesworth, the newly-appointed Colonial Secretary. The following military rewards have bee!) conferred in honour of the fall of Sebastopol : —

Major Wyndham, the hero of the attack on the Redan, is to have a division in the Crimea. General Simpson and Marshal Pelissier are made G.C.B.'s. General Simpson has also received the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor from the French Emperor.

The"subjoined account of the engagement near Eu pal one. supplies a few more additional details than the one we published from the Hobarton papers on the 16th instant.

Paius, Oct. s.—The following despatch from Marshal Pelissier has been posted atthe Bourse :-—" A cavalry action took place on the 29th of September, at Koughill, five leagues from liupatoria. Russians, under General Korf, were defeated by the' French under General Allonville. The Russians lost 50 killed, 105 prisoners, 12 caissons and 250*. horses. The French lost 6 killed, and 27 wounded."

From Melbourne we learn that Sir Cliaries Hotham, the Governor of Victoria, is dead. The "Argus" says, (Jan. 1.) —

" It is with very sincere sorrow that we have to announce the decease of his Excellency Sir Charles Hothani, Governor of this colony, who died at Toorak yesterday, about a~quarter past one o'clock.

" We understand that Sir Charles was seized with a very severe attack of choleraic diarrhoea on the morning of Saturday, the 22nd December. Dr. M'Crea, the colonial surgeon, was called in, and his Excellency's complaint yielded rapidly to the medical treatment that was adopted, though il left him very muuh"debilitrited." Subse-

quentlv, it appears, irritation of the brain was caused by political difficulties, epilectic fits succeeding, during one of which Sir Charles expired.

The succession to the Government devolves,in accordance with a clause ia the !nfe Governor's commission, on Major-General Macarlhur, commander of forces in the Colony. Major Macarthur is the eldest son of Captain Macarlhijr. who first introduced the M>*rino breed of sheep into New South WaK's. and he is the brother of Messrs. William and James Macarthur, of Camden, members of (he Legislative Council of New South Wales.

The first I{<;.*ponsib!e Ministry of Victoria had resigned in consequence uf an adverse vatc of the House, on the Electoral Bill Considerable diiliculty had been experienced in the appointment of their*suceessor.s. and it was anticipated that the old Ministry would be recalled.