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Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 485, 27 June 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 bestow. I have been a resident among you almost 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 now two years since I had the honour of obtaining a seat in the Provincial Council. Since then my time has been 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 define? 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 left 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 with a large proportion of the executive authority of the Governor himself j 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 as 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 lay before you the nature of the office as I find it, and the circumstances that have led to its present form of development. Nevertheless, I will not shrink from avowing my opinion, that not only theoretically is the existing arrangement to be approved and defended, but that, in practice also, it supplies, under the present physical peculiarities of New Zealand, the scantiness of its population, and the difficulties of inter-communication, the best and most efficient means by which the affairs of the various provinces can be at present administered. In it too the great principle of self government is fully recognised. The power you possess, and which you have periodically to exercise, of electing your Superintendent, ought to secure you the services of an active and intelligent officer. That officer has the assistance of an Executive Council whose acts must be supported by the approval of the Provincial Council. Throughout the whole arrangement the principle of responsibility is brought to bear. The Superintendent is responsible to the pro* vince, the Executive Council to the Provincial Council, and the Provincial Council in its turn to the people. Whilst then the Constitution Act remains unaltered. I am unable to imagine a system of Provincial Government under it