Page 3 Advertisements Column 3

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 469, 2 May 1857, Page 3

•at the outset of .this address some,of the considerations which have, led me to offer myself to .your notice and to ask at your hands the highest civil appointment it is in your power to hestaw. 1 have been a resident among you .almoht from the foundation of the settlement, and have ever taken a more or less active" part in the public affairs of the province. It is jiow two years since I had the honour of obtaining a seat in the" Provincial Council. SiuCe then my time has heen wholly engaged in the public service; and there is scarcely an office under the Provincial Government, if I except that of the Solicitor and that of the Provincial Engineer, the duties,of which I have not for some period discharged. . I mention this not to found any present claims on your confidence, for I feel too conscious how great the distance is between the most important of the offices I have held and that to which I now aspire, but to show that I have had considerable experience in the administration of the affairs of the province, and thus, I hope, establish the presumption, that I possess some of the qualifications required for the discharge of the administrative duties which attach to the office of■ Superintendent. You will, Gentlemen, probably expect from those who may present themselves-to your notice on this occasion some general exposition of the views they take of the nature of the office for which they are candidates, and the leading principles by which, should they succeed, their conduct of affairs would be guided. To that task, therefore, I now address myself. Had this been the first election of a Superintendent, this task would have been one of very considerable difficulty. In no part is the Constitution Act more defective than where it defines the 'duties of the Superintendent. It would almost appear as if the framers of that Act, unable to determine with anything like precision the status the Superintendent should occupy in the Government of the country and the functions he should discharge, had confined themselves to simply defining his legislative duties, leaving it to time and circumstances to develop the amount of executive power he should exercise. Gentlemen, that which the Constitution Act le(t so vague and unsettled, time and experience have to a great extent determined. The Superintendent is now recognised' not merely as the legislative but also as the executive head of the province, endowed with very ample powers. Within his jurisdiction the Empowering Ordinance has, in some cases definitely, in others provisionally, invested him wi£h a large proportion of the executive authority of the Governor himself: and the recent legislation of the General Assembly, while it appears to lean towards a restriction of his legislative, shows no disposition to interfere with his executive functions. The necessities which have led to the investiture of the Superintendent with these important powers have also suggested the means by which he should be guided in their exercise. Thus, in this Province us in others, an Executive Government Ordinance has been passed by which the Superintendent is bound to have an .Executive Council,'by whose advice he is to be guided in carrying on the Government of-the province. I do not consider it necessary in this place to discuss at length the advantages or otherwise of this order of things. I simply lny before jou the nature of the office as I find, it. and the circumstances that have led to its present form of development. variance with the spirit of our present law, I have no. hesitation in expressing luy opinions 1 frankly on some subjects of general interest and importance, which I believe are being at present discussed by you. It is said, but with what amount of accuracy I am unable to state, that there are some persons who do not approve of the price that has been fixed on our Waste Lands and who will make it the subject of appeal to you. It must be unnecessary, Gentlemen, to insist on the fact that nothing etui be more objectionable amongst our own solves, or more calculated to discourage persons in other comitiies from settling here than uncertainty on tin's, point. I could almost s;iy that it would he wiser to adhere to an arrangement having some imperfections in it than by frequent changes to create the hnpres&ion that no settled law on this subject will ever prevail among-.t us. But I venture to assert that the question has already received as am pit. deliberation as under any circumstances it could receive. When the price of land was under deliberation in the legislature of this province, every reasonable gum, and