The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 555, 27 February 1858, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, February 25 . A short and not very brilliant session of the Provincial Council terminated on Wednesday. His Honor dismissed the members with very complimentary language; it is to be presumed, however, that the expressions made use of are intended simply as a courteous farewell to a goodhumoured and easy-going- assembly. The public generally would, we think, scarcely be satisfied if the system followed on all sides -this session, of yielding to the majority without a struggle, were to be looked upon as a precedent in all future Councils, Easy-going and reckless, and guided by no appai'ent system, honourable .members voted.. ; away .the public money in grand style. The real complaint out' of doors appears too well grounded, viz., that the sum finally voted for each specific work was determined accidentally; and sometimes, if a specific vote was proposed for a certain work, an honourable member would get up and say vaguely that he thought the sum proposed too great or too small ; for a few moments there would be much doubt in the legislative mind as to the fate of the vote; till some other member- either assented to or dissented -boldly from what fell from the last speaker; and according as this might be the vote would be.earned or lost. We do not say that this is -a type of all the votes of the late session, but it is a, type of too many of them. The Government, as far as we could gather, did not much care about many of the items discussed ; . and we quite understand this. They must have known that a great deal more money was voted than could be spent with the labour likely to be at our disposal during the next half-year; what then did the relative proportions of mere empty votes signify? His Honor and his Government have every reason to be well pleased at the issue of this session. The sums voted leave a large margin over what can be actually

expended ; and thus everything is submitted to their discretion in a safe and pleasant manner. There is every prospect of a superabundance of money in the provincial chest. We can only hope that the Government will make such a use of their opportunities as may be most to the public welfare. It is curious to observe how surely the state of the treasury affects the temper of the Council. The very best Government in the world becomes unpopular when the business is low, and every measure is cavilled and carped at by men who, though they cannot propose a better one in its stead, get dissatisfied and crotchety in the face of a difficulty which they cannot surmount. When under the administration of Mr. Fitzgerald the Government were struggling against the difficulties of an almost empty chest, the Council did not smooth the way for an anxious Executive, Every proposed measure was very properly and carefully examined and criticised. But with increased wealth,—a wealth which is due to the legislation introduced by a former Government on the subject of waste lands, —we have become careless and indolent. There is an old proverb about money easily gotten being* lightly spent. We hope that it will not prove true in our case.