THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1876.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 387, 11 August 1876, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle. FRIDAY, AUGUST 11, 1876.

Use of the last; links in the political testament of the V Government is the Public Works Bill.* The Counties Bill, the Eating Rillj the Local Elec- , tions Bill, the Education Boards Billj | the Financial Arrangements; Bill, the | public,, j'Bill,; : ;anc[ the Waste iandsrJßilb(not',yet diyuiged),' are all Pills which muststand or fall together. ;E.ach bne ! cM in the ' BF;L6car GovernThese measure? embrace about 1200j clauses; Our legislators will nete'd- more than 1 average acumen if they can tell the exact bearing that a clause in one-Bill will have upon a clause in another Bill, even in the pristine condition of the Bills. If, however; these Bills are to go through the ordeal of Committee, the results will-.-be.-. perfectly beyond the ken of model senators or . imported/: Parliamentary draughtsmen 1 , fo far, the: Local Elections JBill alone' has . got through' the Lo.wer Houst>; and <is. aiready -in; the breakers'of the Legislative Council. Councillors taken -ife - into' their "heads to'pass sin ing voting by proxy;; the parent above rQt political corruption. Proxy papers' af.tallo^elections \voulil cillors are, h owever;- to -be asked to erase : their';,apepdnien t.; "Whether they «yiir : do so or, ; iiot cannot is yet be said. , The Eating Bill is's.till hanging in the Lower House. The more important Bills have-not -vet arrived at their second reading; -The difficulty will be the Counties Bill. The Government fear defeat upon the., second reading of that Bill more than , upon Sir G.'Grey's movement- iorJ Separa--1?on. . i ;We'bazarsl an "opinipn that no WbVerwhel:ming majority,^,can' .stitution'oiow'shivered :to pieces, u'.

THE;debatp,u pon Mr./.,Whitali gr.'a,,,resolutions resolved.itself into a'duefbetween the ; -nfoverTandi which, to tell the "truth, -th£ -latter* gentleman had the worst of it.. Kor'could this well.be otherwise, na ; the ]Sqrthern representative was speaking from" conviction, while the Southern representative was -opposing g;ve anything, short of political .abnegation of power, to bring about 1 Mr. criticism -■ of Ithe Government proposals, as read in the light of the Compact of 1856, wns mosfc chant. In the-mutiiated shape in which-the speeches appearm the teleuot.be so lost upon the.i Hous e ;; thfe: scales fell at Once and -for evt-r from of the' few U tago and ■ CanterburyJ3Members open to conviction who had, : up to last week, believed that ~ the. Government pro^wpre draivh' up'irta spirit of loyalty to the :: Compact of lb's6. Mr. Maeandrew expressed the mind;bf the Otago Members most thoroughly when he said " lie would far rather, if.boiindto_ Vote for eiiifer, support Mr.- Whi,taker's resolutions . than the Government proposals." " Bath meant the r same?in ther endi cpiirse'indicated was plafn. The other led, to a labyrinth ..of. >treaehery f 'and v retributjpn, Tin future—the full evil of which we cannot even as yet imagine.- The'divisMn list "orithe question is' a curious Two eWii from Canterbury and one'from"ltfeliinoton pwent fund, and'one puVse." ' The eighteen other votes were from Auckland! Mr. Stafford was driven into having to vote against his convictions, as well as the -Pj-emieivwhile the representatives of tbo alii all Provinces—considering tfiey 'had nothing to gairi --condescended to

be just, more especially as in so being they were supporting the Government. Under any circumstances it is the policy of Taranaki, Nelson and Marlborough to support the Government. To them the Government is as Dagon. They will not court Diana until the pod they pros'rate themselves before is shivered into pieces. The Separation resolutions, which sprang naturally from the debate, had much in them to commend them to the country. Yetit is certain'that Financial .Separation of the Islands, each with one local. Government, means Innulnr Separation. No Federal bond could-bind permanently together, only two local Governments of great strength and power. The weakness of xiich a Federal Government for New Zealand would be the strength and equipoise of the two States coming, or being forced, under it. It cannot be supposed hut that the leaders of the Opposition are quite aware of the inevitable result which must follow upon the Federal system'as before the country. • It appears to us that the Assembly is not, the right body to bring about, any constitutional change. That is to say, that, while of course it is the sur preme power, it should .not act directly. but should appoint the means by which a body might be created, representing the people, for the express purpose of altering, or rather building up, the broken-down Constitution. To adopt tho alternative means that '* t:very year there will be constant attempts to amend the Constitution, each as unsatisfactory as its immediate predecessor or successor. We should have no security for the permaneuce of our most revered institutions if they are to be at the yearly mercy of an ever fluctuating opinion in tho House of Representatives. Tho Assembly would show its greatest qualification for Government in divesting itself or the right to reform the Constitution, and in referring the question to a Na-, tional Convention specially elected foiv the purpose. , ■ k