THE PRACTICE OF PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 447, 14 February 1857, Page 6

THE PRACTICE OF PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT.

(From the • Nelsou Examinur.') The prominent points of the Provincial Council's proceedings at the late preliminaiy. meeting consisted of a question and a vote. The question went direct to the character of1 the composition .of the existing Government. It was put by, Dr. Monro in a long speech of considerable ability. The members of the former Executive, it seems, remain in office under the new superintendent, who had been the opponent and denouncer of that Executive or some portion of it. Dr. Monro descanted upon the English practice on a change of ministry'; how the new minis-. ters, on assuming. office, make a public declaration of the policy;th,ey.mean -tq.-.pursue; howthe Sovereign lends his support.to any ■ ministry, representing the; parliamentary- majority; how a general agreement in • opinion on political sub- > jects is required of the ministry; with what suspicion coalitions are looked upon, and how they are seldom allowed but as expedients to cany out a.specific measure... Then he contrasted the relation of the Governor ,of the-colony to his ministry under responsible government (correspondingto that of the English Sovereign, and an English ministry) with that of a Super-' intendent to his Executive officers in a province ; and argued with much truth that, the. Governor being nominated and independent of party, But the Superintendent elective and the head of a, parly, there is much more necessity for comma-' nity of feeling and identity of ..opinion between a Superintendent and his Executive officers than between a Governor and his Executive officers. And having laid down these principles, he went on to show the diversity of opinion or want of cordiality there must or should be, according to his view of the affair, between the present Superintendent and'his present Executive.. Now that the Superintendent, being an elected officer, is likely to be a mere party man, is indeed one of the greatestevils of the scheme of Provincial Government under the new Constitution. His being the organ, the .tool, or the head of a party, is one of the worst misfortunes that can befal a province, however naturally the working of the Constitution -may result in placing such a man in such a position-. But though our provincial constitution allows, nay, almost seems' intended^to produce such a result, it is equally clear that it is far from being the duty of the electors to choose a party man for that office; still clearer that it is,the positive duty of a Superintendent when elected to cease to be a mere party,man. That is clear and decided. By the ; fact of election he is removed, from the head of a mere party to the head of all pai-ties of the whole community. If therefore he has any appreciation of the high duties of his, station, of the true ideal of his office, his every act will tend to moderate" and assuage the previous bitterness of party feeling, to heal differences, to bind up and restore to harmony and. union the hitherto conflicting and divided elements of society. For his position^ requires of him what its opportunities might give him, a more correct and inti-. mate acquaintance with a hundred matters; a partial knowledge of which may have excited much of his own and his party's hostility ; it requires of him and gives him the means of obtaining a better insight into the motives of his previous opponents, which, in ninety-nine cases out of every hundred, would inspire every man of generous temper with a greater liberality, a larger allowance for their deficiencies, a higher opinion of their motives and capabilities. But if the Superintendent is to be a party man and tict as such, then there is imminent danger that his Government will become a mere instrument: of tyranny over the defeated party; an. organized system of petty revenges upon former ;i'.bzcrsaries/ and partial rewards of former allies; a virulent, oncrsided, concentration and nucleus.

of prejudices and narrow-minded animosities;. producing at last its own overthrow from the opposition it continually engenders and increases,' and rendering stuTmore inevitable the election again of another partisan of the opposite faction, who, enters upon his office under a still stronger. I temptation to abuse it in a greater degree than I it has been even by his predecessor. The evils . produced in a small community by this', perpetual antagonism, this alternate oppression and endurance by opposing factions, are incalculably mischievous, as may be imagined. i We deny therefore that a Superintendent need or should, be a party man. We say it is a,misfortune when such an one is elected; a weakness in himself if he continues to be'so one moment after his election. But this will not. prevent him carrying out his own policy; modifying, altering, departing from the policy of his predecessor where he conscientiously believes it necessary. Still, it is always in the highest degree desirable that, even to carry out a new ; policy, a man should be chosen as Superintendent who has been distinguished by the moderation, and temper, and high-mindedness with which he has carried on ,the previous warfare of politics; otherwise he would do more evil by his, mode of carrying out Ms neAV " policy than the new policy, however superior to the old, will do good. But, then, in any true sense of the word, the man with the good qualities just mentioned is not a party man —a term applicable to one who adheres to one set of .men on all occasions, right or wrong, in every detail, with less reference to justice and reason than to blind fidelity to those particular individuals. Well, then, a Superintendent not being a party man, in the obnoxious sense, it is desirable that, he and his Executive should have, some community of feeling and opinion. They should agree in " policy."'. But, now, let us, as Johnson, says, clear our minds of- cant. " Endeavour, my dear sir, to clear your mind of cant." We use the word policy, policy, without .perhaps ever questioning its meaning, till it really becomes a cant.. But have we here, in ■r the little Province of Nelson, have any of our ■public men, or set of men,- a " policy," as distinguished from any other set of men ? Even in the General Government affairs, it would notbe difficult, .to show that there are really no opposing, '{policies" to fight about —at "least that none have yet been brought forward to fight about. But in Nelson is there any such thing ? In England, there is a Whig, a Tory, a Radical party; there is, or rather was, fox. ' even there the blind adherence to one principle, of change or resistance to change, is ■so getting out of fashion that we question whether we are not allowing too much in allowing the existence of diiferent policies, as permanent characteristics of different sets of men, even in England. But there, for years, and through1 generations of men, an obstinate uniformity of action, a blind determination to see only one side, of all questions, had once established .opposing principles of Government so distinctly and firmly that men could be and were classed invariably as adherents of one set of principles or of the other. But we think there is nothing of the kind here. We differ on individual questions according to our individual differences of mind and character. But we believe, if we all acted sincerely, we should agree in all cases on as many questions as we differ upon. Any set of men, coming, into one of our Governments, must adopt mostof what was done by any set going out; and the latter must agree with most of the amendments' or changes the former would ■ make.' It! is in particulars only that we can much amend each other's doings. - And now, with respect to the case before us. ■ The Executive Officers are attacked by Dr. i Monro for acting with the new Superintendent. Well, what old principles have they given up in so doing ? What new ones do they adopt ? 'We look carefully into Dr. Monro's speech; and here we find that he has exerted his greatest skill in the detection of > principles or facts, in discrimination.and definition. And what do we find ? Any great principle or agy great measure which the Executive are required to renounce or to adopt? None whatever! But there are certain foolish charges of ' jobbery;" certain husting common-places about 'mis-government;', 'greatest dissatisfaction with the previous mis-management of affairs ;' ' province, in consequence, in a very bad state ;' ' verge of a crisis,' &c. Nay, out of the shadowy, vapoury mass, one element does seem for a

moment about to take definite shape, intelligibleform. Here it is. The. Superintendent had, said, it.seems, that 'immigration had b,e,ejj conducted solely with a view to the reduction of. wages'.'. An imputation.'of: a motive, mark, not ; an enunciation of a principle. A. good; motive,' too, it may be; for wagejs^excessively high aro, are perhaps as great an .evil .as wages too low. Well,.can you extract, with all the alchemy you have at command, any ' policy? out of all this ? Is not all this hustings clap-trap the commonstaple in which all opponents of all Governments. ' deal ? Are not these- phrases established formulae —cuckoo-notes, watchwords, and party-cries, as - old as the hills ? Are these distinctive principles of opposite policies ? No; not they the. standards, the eagles, the colours distinguishing opposing armies in a nobler, warfare; rather the muskets and sabres common to both ; not they the orange and green even of fighting factions ; only the brickbats and shillelahs seized on by both indiscriminately in the chance-medley of political Donnybrooks. ; In heaven's name, then, let there he a policy; let there be distinctive policies, before a set of men are condemned for joining another set. ■' First catch your policy,' as Mrs. Glasse would say. Do not take for principles of policy the, substitutes and make-believes which come to do duty for them in the charges under review— charges' such as are flung at each other's heads so recklessly and ruthlessly'by so many political partisans. Still more, do not treat as deserving of the respect due to . a policy that miserable feeling which Dr. Monro scorns to attribute to - the Superintendent, however some of his sup-, porters may have laid themselves open to. the. charge of having betrayed1 it; but which, however, is assumed to be a principle of party, that paltry • dislike and jealousy of gentlemen, so called, and men of education. Well, ought the members of the old Executive really to have taken these vague or strong evidences of feelings good or bad, on the other, side, and carefully elaborated and moulded them into a mockery of .a. public policy, which they could denounce and oppose ? Would they have been doing.good service by modelling this rubbish, this dirt, into a .kind of mud crown, andclapping it, will he nill he, upon the head of the, other party, as a distinguishing badge, a cleaving, permanent brand, an opprobrious stigma ? To make a policy of class feelings, to elevate party spites into public principles of action; would not this have been the surest way to perpetuate them, and stamp them indelibly into the features of our society ? We believe it may safely be affirmed, then, that the officers of the old Executive, in so far as the resignation or retention of their offices could affect the future welfare of our community at all, have taken the course best calculated, to allay, or at least to prevent the increase of animosities and divisions that, if not speedily put an end to, would become the greatest curse that could be inflicted upon it. Say their resignation might have caused some temporary, embarrassment to the Superintendent. The em-, barrassment would have been but temporary, and its being even that was a mere possibility. But what set-off would that advantage to one, party have been for such evils of dissension as affect the primary bonds of the social system - f separating, not "the free-playing, light-waving branches, but cleaving asunder the very trunk and parent stem of the great.social tree P