TO THE ELECTORS OF THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VIII, Issue 491, 18 July 1857, Page 2

TO THE ELECTORS OF THE PROVINCE OF CANTERBURY.

(~i ENTLEMEN, Mr. FitzGekaxd \JX having announced his intention of resigning the office of Superintendent of this Province, I have the honour to state, that I shall present myself to you as a Candidate for it when the period of Election shall arrive.

It may perhaps'be thought presumptuous in me to take this step without having had the way prepared by the customary requisition. But the fact that I should be a candidate, m case Mr. FitzGerald did not desire again to be elected, has been so long and so generally known, that it would have been affectation in me to have waited for one. I have thought it the less necessary too, because the means by which signatures to sueii documents are now too often obtained have tended to invest them with almost as much of disrepute as credit. At all events they have deprived them of much of that value in public estimation which such testimonials once possessed. I feel it to be my duty, Gentlemen, to state 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 err taken a more or less active part in the publL 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 i 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 aflairs of the province, and thus, I hope, establish the presumption, that I possess some of the qualifications required foi

the discharge of the administrative duties which attack 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 fake 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 cow 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 Irani ers 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 denning 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 Ordi-

nance has, in some cases definitely, in others provisionally, invested him with 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 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 vaiious provinces can be at present administered. In it too the gi'eat 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 province, 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 combining more of simplicity, efficiency, and economy. I say while the Constitution Act is unaltered, for you are not unaware that many persons are of opinion that it can be amended. It would, however, be an unprofitable occupation of your time and altogether beside my present purpose to consider on this occasion possible changes. My duty is to deal with facts. If

changes are introduced it can only be by an authority to which Superintendents in common with all others affected by them must bow. I take it, then, that the Superintendent in his Executive capacity is simply the head of the Government and not the Government itself, an officer charged with the execution of certain duties committed to him by law and for the most part defined by law, and that in all original and discretionary acts of importance he is bound to proceed in conformity Avith the advice he may receive from his Executive Council. Gentlemen, I accept this view of the office as much from choice as necessity. No consideration could induce me to undertake it if the responsibility of Government were not shared in this way. You will then, I have no doubt, concur with me in thinking that it would be inconsistent for a candidate holding these views to express himself dogmatically on particular subjects, or labour to produce what is termed ' a policy' by which he should be considered bound during His tenure of office. I have shown that the \iw compels the Superintendent to act under advice. I have also shown that he can only retain such advisers as the Provincial Council will support. It is obvious, nay certain, that those advisers may, at one time, be persons holding one set of opinions, and at another time persons holding opinions directly opposite. It is equally obvious that the Superintendent could not agree with both. Should he unfortunately difier with those

who have the confidence of the Provincial Council, he must cither attempt to carry on the Government with an adverse Council or modify his views in deference to theirs. I think the cases can be veiy few indeed in which doubt can exist as to which course should be pursued. But while, for these reasons, I abstain from placing before you a policy which shall imply a rigid adherance to particular views on particular subjects, as being both indiscreet and at variance with the spirit of our present law, I have no hesitation in expressing my opinions IVankty 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 can be more objectionable amongst our own selves, or more calculated to discourage persons in other countries from settling here than uncertainty on this point. . I could almost say that it would be wiser to adhere to an arrangement haying some imperfections in it than by frequent changes to create the impression that no settled law on this subject will ever prevail amongst us. But I venture to assert that the question has already received as ample deliberation as under any circumstances it could receive. When the price of land was under deliberation in the legislature of this province, every reasonable sum, and almost every imaginable mode of payment was proposed to the Council and discussed. I should probably be within the mark were I to say that more than a dozen divisions took place on this point. Ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, and sixty shillings were all separately advocated and proposed. The mode of payment, too, whether by money down or by instalments, was equally the subject of difference of opinion and division in .the Council. JJz length, however, by almost universal concurrence, the present price of £2 per acre (prompt payment) was determined on. That price has not yet been tried more than, a twelvemonth, and even if there were no experience in its favour, I should still, for the reasons I have given, be indisposed to change. Butil think the experience of the brief time during which £2 has been the established price may be safely appealed to in its support. The sales of land,without being in any way forced, have been free and. continuous ever since. Nor is there at present any indication of falling off. And should there be no falling off, the estimated revenue from this source during the coining year is. £10,000. But what appears to me to be the most satisfactory fact connected with those saljss is this-—that the large majority of them have been made to persons of the working classes and to bona fide settlers and cultivators of the soil. It may be fairly asked, how much of this land would have found its way into their hands had the price been materially lower? It is matter of notoriety that, within two or three days of the present regulations coming into operation, some large capitalists arrived here for the purpose of making extensive speculative purchases^ even outside the t original Canterbury block, and at-a distance from the cultivated districts. . How much land worth having would have been left inside, and especially in the neighbourhood of your towns, had the cheap land policy prevailed, I leave you to conjecture.

But there are also extensive interests to be considered in this question of price. On the firm, belief that it was definitely settled a very large amount of capital has been embarked in pastoral pursuits; and I think the faith of the legislature and the Government is pledged to its protection—that is, protection to this extent— that the order of things under which that capital wasi invested and the stockowners induced to enter on their separate enterprises should not be liable to frequent change. But I am disposed to maintain that regard for our own interests, no less than good faith towards others, should prompt us to resist any alteration in the price of land. The produce of our pastoral districts now constitutes a most important item in our commerce. Whilst agritulture is at present languishing, and its prospects are much clouded, the pastoral interest is happily flourishing as much as could reasonably be desired. Already, wool is our main export, the clip of 1856 being valued at £70,000; and in a few years it will acquire a magnitude that will abundantly justify all which legislation has done towards encouraging its growth. Nor is this all. While the pastoral interest is contributing to the progress of the country, as every interest does which materially increases its export trade, it is also yielding largely to our territorial revenue. Within a year or two the rents derivable from that source will be alone sufficient, not only to pay the large contribution annually required from this province towards the extinguishment of the New Zealand Company's debt, but will leave a considerable, balance available for the use of the province. The present price of land, Gentlemen, constitutes the main, almost the only protection of the pastoral interest; and I ask you seriously to reflect whether it is expedient to withdraw it—whether it is wise to kill the goose for, the golden egg, and interrupt this steady and satisfactory progress for the sake of a sudden influx of money into the Treasury, which our resources in labour may not permit us profitably to expend, and the possession ;of which might tempt us to extravagance. My own conviction is that it would not. |

Another subject on which I desire to say a few more words is our form of Government. There are some persons who regard the present mode of administering the affairs of the province as too cumbersome and too pretentious, and %vho talk of conducting the Government after the model of .a .corporate town in England,

of which a Mayor, Aldermen, and Council are the presiding geniuses. Never having been a member of one of those select societies, I ai^ perhaps unable to appreciate properly th advantages of such a mode of Government. If is, however, not long since that the jobbery peculation, and corruption, which had grown out of the old corporate system in England led to a sweeping measure of reform, by which the whole of those model Governments, except, ing that of London, were swept away. And now it appears that the days of the corporation of London itself are numbered. Experience therefore, does not appear to justify the pre! ference shown for corporation rule, and, personally, I can feel but little attachment to a system which has produced such results. But in truth there is no fair analogy between the circumstances of a municipal corporation in England and a province in New Zealand. To no corporation has there ever been committed anything like the power conferred on the Superintendents and Provincial Councils of this country namely, the powsr to legislate for the entire people of a province—or, in the words of £he Constitution Act—" to make and ordain-vfe such laws and ordinances as may be required for the peace, order, and good government of the province." This alone destroys all parallel in the cases.

It is said, however, that, even if the analogyfails, it will be more economic to<do away with the existing departments and have the business of the Government conducted by the Provincial Council divided into committees. I must say that I disbelieve in this altogether. It assumes that these committees will ■ do- their work without remuneration. I know not on what grounds gentlemen can be expected to devote their time to the public service without return. Nor do I think the public desire that they should do so. But there is no warrant for believing that any persons could be found who would so act. Certainly the practice of the Provincial Council at the present time does not justify the expectation. Every member residing beyond a certain distance from Christchurch is paid a certain sum per diem for every day he attends the Council. If, then, the members of committees are all to be paid their expenses merelyj the system will not only be cumbrous arid clumsy, but more expensive =than the present one. If they are not to be paid, my belief is that the attendance will be so irregular as to make the system obstructive of the business of Government. I yield, gentlemen, to no man in a desire to see introduced into all the departments of Government a rigid economy. It must, howevei-, be one consistent with efficiency. It is not economy else. My conviction is, that the plan pat forward is as fatal both to efficiency and economy as ingenuity could devise.

There is one further subject to which I will allude, for though it does not come within our control and is not a question of domestic policy, it is one, nevertheless, on which the efficient Government of the province is so dependent as in my opinion to. demand notice in this place. I refer to the seat of the General Government. Every day's experience shows how seriously the administration of our affairs is embarrassed by the great distance of this General Government from us. lam anxious therefore to state my desire, in whatever position I may be placed, to co-operate with those who will strive to bring it to a more central spot.

There are many other subjects, gentlemen, to which I might direct your attention, but this address has already, I fear, exceeded convenient length. Opportunities, however, will doubtless be presented in which such subjects maybe discussed between us. It will be my business, so far as may be practicable, to wait upon you.

With regard, however, to a canvass, I must express my great regret that one should be necessary, not on the score of trouble, nor becauseit may expose a candidate to inconvenient questioning, but because I entertain a strong conviction; that the highest office of the province should be conferred by the people rather than Avon from them by the ordinary means of an electioneering canvass. Motives more or less impure will be attributed to the candidate, which cannot fail to disturb those feelings of deference and regard which should attach to, the person- filling so high an office. By some he will be looked upon as an adventurer practising on the confidence of- his fellow-citizens for some ■unwort' v.v object'—by some as stimulated by inordinate vanity and ambition—and by others as impelled by a love of official power ;. whilst it can hardly be possible in an active canvass to avoid rousing feelings of animosity and hostility which it is most desirable should not exist, I can only say for myself that it will be my anxious desire to keep the canvass as clear of these evils as possible. • '

And now, gentlemen, it only remains for me to assure you that, whatever the result of this appeal, I shall be perfectly satisfied with your decision. While I admit most freely that the office [of Superintendent of this province maywell he regarded as an object of laudable ambition,|yet I feel so conscious of the labour, anxiety, and responsibility of the office, as -to regard it with much more of apprehension than desire. I have, however, endeavoured to show that the Government will not rest solely on the Superintendent, but on him in conjunction with advisers. With this view of the nature of the office, and with the hope that, should you confer it upon me, I shall not fail to secure the assistance of good and able advisers, I respectfully offer myself to you as a candidate for it. I have the honour to be, Gentlemen, Your very obedient and humble servant, JOSEPH BBITTAN. Linwood, April 3, 1557.