The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 572, 28 April 1858, Page 5

The Lyttelton Times.

, ; . Wednesday, April 28. In the uncertainty as to our most important business under, which we must remain as long as the meetings of the General Assembly are held at Auckland, it is some comfort.to know that the next session is to be held at Wellington. With that province we have communication tolerably certain under all circumstances ; and when steamers are plying on our coast all the representatives of every province may at- i tend without inconvenience. As matters stand at present, the bare quorum which we suppose to be now at Auckland is com- ; pletely at the mercy of any individual member who may choose with or without good reason to absent himself, while the interests of the South are barely represented at all. The conduct of the Nelson members as a body, and of those members of other provinces who have chosen at the last moment to absent themselves from Auckland without concert or previous conr sultation, cannot be defended. They knew or ought to have known what they undertook, and unless pledged to the contrary they werebound to make their appearance at the, opening of the session. If nothing is permanently settled as to the removal, of, the seat of Government from Auckland; it may become a question ■ With" the COllStitUCU«>«o^;.<»f. .-<J^-» ■ Oo.*cli. .rr llO~±hev it would not be advisable to pledge !^"ikOT'-meinl|6rs;^ stay away from the meetmgorxne House. Such a step, however, should only be taken as an extreme one and unanimously,—-as a protest which must have weight with the Government. -No mischief could-then be done to the South by legislation, as no quorum could be assembled; and his Excellency could not fail to see that Auckland was standing in the way of New Zealand. But a partial non-attendance of members, —each man acting according to his own sweet will—^cannot fail to be prejudicial to us. All the Auckland members are on the spot, and will probably take care to have Northern interests attended to in the first place. The few Southern members, without any policy or any means of communication with their own provinces, are comparatively powerless. We trust that this will be the last session held at Auckland. As long as the Southern representatives all attended we had no reason to be ashamed of the position we held, or to fear any attempt to take advantage of us; but now— to take the case of our own province— which of us feels the same security as when Messrs. Fitz Gerald and Sewell were leaders in the House of Representatives f We. are quite in the dark as to the disallowance of the Waste Lands Act. All the news we_ r have got is that it is disallowed.; What the Government intend to do,—-what position we are likely to stand in-—we do not know. The public of this province can form or express no opinion on an important question until it is settled finally, at Auckland, the seat of what is-ironically called, the Central Government. We must wait patiently until the next mail from Auckland, which may arrive some iime or other before Christmas. < ' -

As to, our Land Revenue, we may reassure those of our readers who have dreamed horrible dreams in consequence of the disallowance of the Waste Lands Act. It would indeed he hard if the revenue which we have nursed by care and economy should Tbe tampered with at the moment that bur system is beginning- to

show its advantages, . But fortunately this is not possible. Our financial arrangements are not dependent upon the act of 1856 which has just been disallowed; and our Regulations are framed in accordance with the provisions of the Waste Lands Act of 1854. No government | could sanction any tampering with the financial arrangements of the last session las regards the land revenue after the negotiation of a loan on the strength of j those arrangements j and no legislature with any respect for principle. could moot the subject of a change under present circumstances. The next session at Wellington will, we hope, give us a real representation of New Zealand. In the meantime we must be content to hear of the doings of the Auckland members whenever the news may reach us.