The Lyttelton Times

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 486, 1 July 1857, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times

Wednesday, July 1. I On Friday evening, after a long and weary I debate, the Provincial" Council virtually 1 rescinded the imprudent resolutions which f they had passed about a week previously. \ The next best thing to not making a j mistake is to repair it when made. We! wish that all the members of the Council \ had been actuated by this wish. But those \ who had fathered the previous resolutions j did not seem to be at all inclined to submit | toj any alteration. They must be looked j upon as hopelessly imbued with that j excessive degree of misplaced caution which I ranks with culpable timidity. At least, I this would be the construction put upon I their conduct if there did not appear to | lurk some other motive under the one put! most prominently forward. They had dis- j covered that practical men out of doors did j not admire or appreciate their policy, and! they were all most anxious to repudiate the! charge of wishing to hamper the means of 1 providing for immigration into the province,! The repudiation, however well intended! was not effective. The absurd cry of floodl ing the country with discontented immijl grants was repeated in different shapes; and! I this bugbear was presented to rational meif with the hopes of deterring them fronj spending £20,000 at once on immigration 1 Really honourable members must get rid o| the idea that our resources are co small that a comparatively trifling sum spent onl the importation of labour would crippl^j them, aud swamp t the province. It is si

absurd an idea that we would not allude to it but for the mischief that might be created if such opinions went abroad toplaces where Canterbury and its means are very little known. Meantime, the inhabitants of Canterbury must mistrust the policy of those who put forward by implication or otherwise such opinions. It is not under sueh 1 auspices that we have hitherto got on, or that we hope to get on in future. The reason for the usurpation of the powers vested in the Executive by the Immigration Ordinance was not explained. There were allusions made to the subject but no tangible defence was set up for the Council's proceedings. Indeedjwe might infer from the tenor of the debate that no objections were raised against "the rules and regulations now in force. These rules were made by the present Superintendent with the advice of the Executive Council; now that the office of Immigration Agent is offered to His Honor himself, these members appeared to think larger precantions necessary than they had yet used. And vet they all 'professed great anxiety that he should ! accept the office. We cannot understand ' this immigration policy, but should not have I thought it necessary to say any more on the | g U biect, if some hon. members had not I persisted in their opposition to removing [ the fobstacles thrown in the way of rapid j an( j effective immigration by the resolutions I previously passed by the Council. The ' only explanation we can find for the manifold contradictions apparent in such conduct is, in the petty affectation of dignity which the the Council is always setting up whenever it differs from the. Superintendent. We do not now allude to the simply absurd and bluiteving tone assumed by some members, when talking of the "dignity of the Council," but to the jealousy and soreness displayed on all occasions when their ■ opinions are not immediately assented to. J The Council appear to forget that under our present Constitution the Superintendent represents the people just as much as the Council does, that he is in fact in the place of a second legislative house. It is not to be expected that both houses will always aoree. We have often differed from the present Superintendent, and only a short [ time ago on a very important subject; but I we" feel bound <to say, on the eve of his [ leaving office, that it. is not likely that we '< shall soon see a man in his place who will I do as much for the province as he has done. f■ .And if the Council"provokes" comparison f between the services rendered by him and ; themselves, we fear that they would show very badly. A little less talk about their dignity would leave room for more appreciation on the part of the public. When hon. members constantly repeat that twenty-four I men ought to be wiser than one man, !we can only regret deeply when I the duty or obligation is not fulfilled; < when they affect great words of virtuous [indignation they do not look dignified. \ The tone of several honourable members in i speaking of his Honor's last Message } induces us to make these remarks, in order | to remind them that iheir constituents may [ possibly consider that their other represen. I tative is more in the right than representaI tivesin the Provincial Council. One thing I the public generally knows very well, and j that is that all legislative energy, at any irate, has been in one branch of the I legislature. Whatever blame may attach lin the eyes of many to some of the present I Superintendent's actions, most men j attribute whatever been done, and not I merely talked about, to the incessant ■ goading [whereby his Honor hae kept the ICouncil "from going to sleep. There is I undoubtedly a sleepy element in the I Council. It is not in the seats, for we have j tried them, and they are ..hard and I uncomfortable, —nor is it in the atmosphere |«f the room, for that is often cold and drafty: I but it may be in some of the honourable I members' speeches, for we have tried them I too, and we are bound to say that they I would conquer bad seats and cold comfort. I It may be that the angry driver at times is 1 tempted to use his goad too freely, and that I the goaded team sulks at last: but that I does not prove that the driver is not on the I whole right, and the team on the whole deserving of the goad. Seriously speaking, the last freak of the Provincial Council, although redeemed by the exertions of some of the members, gives us a dreary prospect for the future, and we ask anxiously, as we look over the division list, whether Messrs Slow-Coach and Twaddle are to be our future rulers ? Will Talk or Work be the characteristic of our future parliament?