Provincial Council.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 463, 11 April 1857, Page 5

Provincial Council.

ADDRESS OF THE SUPERINTENDENT, On opening.the Eighth Session of the Provincial Council, April 2, 1857. [Continued from bar last.] I may further congratulate you upon the completion of the purchase of all the native land within the province, and I cannot but. advert to the agency by which this has been accomplished. It was one of the ' objects of my journey to Auckland last year, and I cannot too highly acknowledge the immediate and kind attention with which his Excellency the Governor met my application on the subject. Still you must observe that it was not through the Land Purchase Department that these troublesome questions were settled. A Commissioner was sent down here last summer, who, after remaining some time, was compelled to return to Auckland, having no sufficient instructions to enable him to act, But when at Auckland, I begged that Mr. Hamilton might be appointed to act as Commissioner ; and I offered to advance all the cost of the service, although I was aware that the charge oughtnot to come and will not ultimately come on the province. The result has been that these questions, which have not been settled by the General Government in four years, and would not have been settled,in all probability, in as many more, were settled in a few weeks by local agency. It is one instance in the many which occur all over New. Zealand, proving the necessity of leaving to the provincial authorities the duty of purchasing native fandg. But I turn from matters of congratulation to those of a contrary character. You may not have frgotten that, at the first opening of the Council I urged upon you most strongly the necessity of some permanent provision for the education' of .the people. It is with the deepest regret that I shall be compelled to resign the Government, leaving nothing of a permanent nature done in this matter. The system atpresentin operation is thsvery worst which can be adopted. It is a system of giving just enough assistance to paralyse all independent exertion, without giving enough to establish a thoroughly efficient system of education ; audits worst feature is that it offers no prospect of permanence, the salaries of the masters being dependent from yearto year on the political views and sympathies of the party in power, .1 have' abandoned the hope that any general system will be adopted by this Council, and I am compelled to confess, with much disappointment, that on this subject, which has always seemed to me of infinitely greater moment to the future welfare of the country than any other which you can consider, there is a feeling of lukewarmness and indifference, not so much in your Council as among the people generally. Unsatisfactory as are the schools in many respects, the people hav§not availed themselves'of them as they might have done, for in no respect are they'more unsatisfactory than in the smallness of the number of children in attendance, in proportion to the suras expended by the Government. .". '. . A correspondence will be laid before you with the Bishop of Chnstchur'ch, and the Presbyterian and Wesleyan Ministers, and the report of the Inspep-. tor of Schools will be in your hands. ' There are however some things, gentlemen, which in the absence of a general law for providing schools, I think we might affect in the present Session. The first is to set aside a reserve of land for* every district, sufficient to support 3 good school, so soon as the land shall obtain its nominal value. Ido not think five hundred acres of land for Ly Helton, a similar reserve for Christchurph, two hundred for Kaiapoi, and two hundred for every other district, would be too large a quantity. If you should approve of such a plan I would proceed to make such reserves without 4e^aJ'> leaving

the question as to how tHe proceeds of the lauds were to be dealt with to a future occasion. The next thing I would ask you to do is to make your vote for educational purposes for five years,'instead of for one year. This will give a certain degree of permanence to. the system, which will have the hest effect on the schools generally ; and I think you-[might look to the Revenues being in a great measure relieved from the charge of education by the land endowments at the end of that time. And the third thing is to sanction the payment of a fixed salary for that time to an Inspector of schools. Without such an officer I am quite persuaded that the money you vote will be, comparatively speaking, wasted. You will perceive that the Bishop of Christchurch would prefer the grant for Church Schools to be made in one sum, leaving it to his discretion to apportion it. I think this would be a good plan, but I would suggest at the same time whether it would not be wise to affix a condition to all grants for schools, that they should be made to depend on the sum raised by the inhabitants of the district. I do not know how else you can thoroughly enlist the co- operation of the inhabitants in the maintenance of the schools, and without that co-operation I am persuaded the money will be wasted. Without adopting any general system of educa= tion, I should be very glad if one General School could be established in Chrisfchurch, to which parents of all denominations could send their children, and another'of the same kind in Lyttelton ;— the clergymen of the several denominations giving religious instruction to the children of their own congregations at specified times, either in a class room, or, what,would be still better, in their churches. You will see by the correspondence that all denominations would gladly agree to such a plan. To carry it out it will be necessary to build and fur--nish a school-room in Christchufch, a thing greatly needed, for one great drawback to both the schools here .is the want of a sufficient schoolroom, and of proper schoolroom furniture; I think such a school, properly conducted, would do much towards preparing the public mind for some general system of education in a future year. I now turn to the immediate business of the present session, and I am happy to inform you that your duties will be very light. The only bills to be laid before you on the part of the.Government are two bills of a local nature, involving no matters of principle. /The one is for making Kaiapoi a town for certain purposes, the, other is for making a road through Cathedral Square, and enabling the Government to recover possession of the centre plot of land, by exchanging Waste Lands for it. The principal items of discussion will be the Estimates for the year, and those especially showing the Extraordinary Expenditure. lam glad to be able tv state that your revenues this year may be estimated at £28,000, which, with the loan of £30,000, will enable you to spend £58,000 in the course of the ensuing year. I lost no time at the close of the extraordinary Session of last spring in putting m hand the various Public Works for which you had voted supplies and in negotiating for the loan which you have authorised me to raise. But the increase in the revenues, through sales of land, and the necessity of suspending the works during harvest, rendered it unnecessary for me to borrow money, the balances in the chest more than providing for all the works which I could execute in the time, with all the labour available. The whole of the Loan will therefore be at your disposal for the present year. And I would urge upon you to devote an increased portion of it for immigration. The neighbouring Proyinces of Wellington and Otago are voting large snpplies for immigration purposes, and I think it would be a wise policy to work in harmony with them in this matter. I do not think it would be right tp incur any larger debt at ■ present. I entirely agree in the policy of borrowing for purposes of immigration' and public works, but I do not think it wise to incur so large a debt that the annual interest should bear more than a certain relation to the annual resources of the country. If the experiment of borrowing succeeds tl»'s year, it may, and probably will, be quite wise to borrow again next and every succeeding year; because the interest on one or two hundred thousand pounds a few years hence may bear a smaller proportion to the then revenues than the interest on £30,000 does to our present revenues. The only thing tp be gjiarded against is borrowing to such an extent as. to cripple the credjt of the country in any temporary depression which may occur, and to wljich all countries, but especially young countries, are periodically liable. But in djscuss.ing tlje Estimates, gentlemen, a subject will come before ypij of the greatest impor r tance. Referring to the expenditure on. behalf of the Resident Magistrates' Courts, a correspondence between the General and Provincial Governments will be laid before you. and you w 11 be called on to say what course the province should take in reference to the present state of affairs'. As this is the1 time and place for a c to justify what has been done by the Provincial Government, T will ask your attention to this matter for a few

moments. I entertain no doubt as to the full right of the Superintendent to appoint.Resident Magistrates, for the following reasons ,\~~ A ', • • The office is one created by a colonial- ordinance, and the person selected to fill it must be already one of her Majesty's Justices of the^ Peace,,and the Governor is empowered to appoint to it' prbvisonally, until her Majesty's pleasure be,known.' Thispower of the provisional appointment is not delegated by the Crown, but is given by a .local prdi-, nance, one which may be altered or repealed by a provincial ordinance. The Constitution Act, alone limits the powers of the Provincial Councils ; but the Constitution Act;only debars the Provincial Councils from interfering with the Superior.Courts. No one can read .the Second-matter .excluded r from the provincial .powers/tlie establishment or aboliUion of any Court of judicature of civil or criminal 'jurisdiction, except Courts ; for trying and punish- ' ing such offences as by the law of New Zealand • are or may be made punishable in a summary ' way, or altering the jurisdiction, or • practice of. any such" Court, except as aforesaid,?without inferring that-the, Pxovincial Councils are specially empowered to alter the constitution of any Court of summary criminal1 jurisdiction ; that is the plain meaning of the words. Now the Resident Magistrates' Courts are Courts of summary criminal jurisdiction, Their Constitution .may therefore be .altered by the provincial laws. lam quite at a loss to conceive, what argument can be set up against the plain and manifest, intention of the Constitution Act to place the •Co.urts of sum-, mary jurisdiction under tha Provincial Legislatures. Under your .first Empowering .Ordinance the, right of appointment of' Resident Magistrates was-' vested in the Superintendent. That Ordinance was, disallowed by^the Governor under the advice of the Attorney General; but, it was re-enacted with the alterations suggested by the Governor. We are at. liberty then to conclude that an Ordinance which, was disallowed by the. General Government had, been catefully considered; and yet this power- now in question was not objected tor by her "Majesty's then Attorney General. We h.ave then almost, the highest legal authority in this -colony .for saying", that the power of the Superintendent to appoint ;is not to be questioned. Not only so, but the * same power was exercised by me, and the right so to exexcise it fully recognized by Mr. Whitaker,: the present Attorney General,wheu the acting Attorney; General in 1855. ' ,- .. „ ,-. But I am prepared to say that, without any Em-. powering Ordinance at all, the power of appointing, Resident Magistrates, and performing all other - functions of. Government, is fully, and, entirely vested in the Superintendent by the ' Interpretation Ordinance' of the late Legislative Council, Session" XJ, No. 3—and which has not been objected to by the Law Officers of the Crown in England.

The doubts which have arisen upon this question are not derived from legal opinions by. competent Lawyers, but from vague expressions arising on the | debates in the General Assembly, and .dictated more by a regard to the policy, than to the right, of. such appointments. But in such grave questions as the jurisdiction Courts, there, ought to be.no doubt whatever; and I confess I never was more astonished, then when, upon applying to the, General Go*vernment to give its aid in support of the authority of the Courts of Law, I heard ,that the vague doubts to which I have referred were adopted for the first time by ihis Excellency's > advisers, and thrown into the scale to bring the administration of justice into disrepute. You will perceive that I have stated, in the correspondence, that no expenses would be paid after last month on behalf of the Resident Magistrates! Courts. I thought it-my duty to state this, because this Council laid it down as a general principle at starting, that no departments should be maintained out of Provincial Revenues, which;were not placed under Provincial jurisdiction. I have always scrupulously adhered to the resolutions which have been passed by the Provincial Council for the guidance of the Government, especially in matters of important principle;' ' , I have however placed the departments on the estimates, and I shall be ready to concur'with you in any course you may finally adopt. It now becomes your duty, gentlemen, to act promptly for the well being of the province in this emergency, aud it seems to me that the proper and uigni.iad course for the' province to assume, is to assert the validity of its own acts, until there is valid ground for believing them to be illegal. The present state of affairs ought not to continue an hour ; and although I could not guarantee the Resident Magistrates agaiust legal consequences without your sanction, yet I will readily concur with you in such a guarantee. If you will give me rhe necessary authority I will issue fresh commissions, and I have not the" smallest doubt but that lam correctly advised that those commissions could not be successfully attacked in law. If. will then be left for the General Government to pursue its own course, or to the Province to reconsider its course at any future time. But the existing embarrassment,- which is uhmeasurably

greater at this time of the year than at any other, will be removed at once. I \yill not occupy, your time, gentlemen, by alluding to 'any particular items in the proposed expenditure on Public Works, except'td tw,o ;' Orie is that proposed for Timaru. Next year there will be more than £30,000 worth of produce exported I thence.' If there were heavy moorings laid down there, a large-ship could load, and the exporters would save a very considerable sum in the way of freight. .■ If there be a Government - agent on the spot, a town will soon spring up, and town land will be sold; and probably much of the rural la^nd in the neighbourhood also. With some preparations it -may b& qiiite worth while to land a body of Immigrants direct from England at thatplace, next year. I would strongly' urge upon you the expediency of opening that country for agricultural settlement} for which it is peculiarly adapted. "'The large squatting population of the district (a- district which is.daily extending by fresh discoveries of country further inland) will afford a good market to a considerable agricultural population; so that the community might become in ,a great measure self supporting ;• whilst wood, of. which there is a scarcity, could be supplied from Akaroa, with equal, if not greater facility, tHan it is now ~ supplied to Christuhurch. The only other item to which I will allude is that for building Government Offices. This is a work which you cannot longer delay,,in common justice to the gentlemen' you employ in the Government. I have forborne, whilst I, continued to hold the office of Superintendent, to remind you that I have never been provided with an office or office conveniences of any-kind whatever. In justice to my successor I must press upon you that such , a state of things is not right. The present offices for the clerks cannot be occupied without .danger to the health. Now that funds are to be obtained, these evils ought to be at once remedied. -The -Government Offices alone would not cost above £1,500; £3,000 will.build the offices and Council Chamber, in addition, and, if you vote money this session, the' ] Council Chamber will only then be {completed by the time the lease of your present Chamber is expired. The last subject to which I will'refer is one which I can also press upon you without reserve, as I am shortly.about to vacate th 3 office of Superintendent.' It has,-always appeared to me a very unseemly ond dangerous proceeding that those charged with the expenditure of the public revenues should vote money to themselves. The salary of the Superintendent and. the expenses of members of the Council ought to be settled by a permanent act instead of by annual vote. I would suggest to you that the present is the best time for passing such an act, and if you will acquaint me by a resolution that you coincide in this view, I will send down a bill for the purpose. The main Jbusiness of the session, however, will consist iti appropiiating the revenues to the public works atid undertakings. If the colony continues as prosperous as at present, this will always occupy the most prominent place in your debates. I have no doubt but that the present proposals of the Government will meet your best attention. | I have now to declare this Council opened for the ' despatch of business. ' JAMES EDWARD FITZ GERALD, Superintendent;

MESSAGE No. 3. April 3, 1857. . (In re^ly to a resolution transmitted from the Council on the appointment of Resident .Magistrates ) ' The Superintendent has received a resolution from the Provincial Council praying that he " will issue commissions to Resident Magistrates at Lytteltou and Chiistchurch, and assuring him that the House will guarantee the expenditure of such s.ums as may be necessary to support the authority of the magistrates so appointed, until a commission can be obtained from, His Excellency the Governor removing the doubts as to the validity of existing appointments." " The Superintendent greatly regrets that he cannot comply with the wishes of the Council. The resolution of the Council expresses that it entertains some doubts as to the validity of the commissions issued by the Superintendent. The Superintendent is somewhat surprised that the Council, entertaing such doubts should request him to do what would, had those doubts any weight, amount to the gravest possible offence a Government can commit—that of endeavouring to establish an arbitrary and illegal tribunal. ' . The Superintendent has repeatedly said that he entertains .no doubts on the matter : in this he is supp >rted by almost every legal authority of any weight in the colony. If the Provincial Council share m this confidence, the Superintendent will act on his opinion, but he will only do so as a matter of right, not as a matter of expediency, as virtually recommended by the resolution of the Council , James Edward Pixz Gerald, Superintendent.