The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 116, 18 May 1870, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY, MAY 18, 1870.

It must be highly satisfactory to the Council, and it certainly is a matter for congratulation to the province at large, that there is at last some prospect of the real business of the session being proceeded with. In a message sent down to the Speaker last night, the Superintendent has expressed his willingness to meet the Opposition half way, and to accept as portion of his Executive, two members appointed by the Council, and he further invites a distinct expression of their views in order that some understanding may be arrived at between the a Executive and Legislative bodies. But the message is of so important a nature that we give it in full in order that the public may have an opportunity of judging it on its merits : — The Superintendent, looking to the fact that the Provincial Council has already sat three weeks, to the existing condition of the business before the Council, and to the character of some of the Notices of Motion for discussiou this evening, has arrived at the conclusion that, unless some change is effected in the relations between the Council and himself, the execution of much needed public works will be indefinitely delayed, and the interests of the i people of this Province will materially suffer. The Superintendent is convinced that a complete system of responsible Government, although it is more or less imperfectly carried out in some of the larger Provinces of the Colony, would, if applied to the comparatively small affairs of this Province, be both costly and inefficient. But the Superintendent believes that some approach to that system may be made in a manner to secure more cordial relations between the Council and the elected head of the Province, and at the same time to promote a more satisfactory understanding between the Goldfields and the more settled Districts. The proposal which the Superintendent submits with these views for the consideration of the Provincial Council is, that he should appoint to two of the present seats in the Executive Council two Members of the Provincial Council indicated by Resolution of the Council, one of them to be a Representative for the South-west Goldfields; and that such two Members should resign their seats in the Executive upon the passing of a Resolution of the Provincial Council calling upon them to do so. The Superintendent feels assured that the Provincial Council will consider this proposal in a calm and impartial spirit, and trusts that if it does not meet, their views they will tell. the Superintendent in plain words, by definite resolution, what would do so. Temperate iu its language, and conciliatory in its spirit, the message is one which bespeaks an earnest desire on the part of the Superintendent to work in harmony with the Council, and, notwithstanding that one of the members has rather scouted the idea of the Council being asked to give an explicit statement of whac it really desires, we are disposed to believe that the proposition of his Honor will be entertained in the same spirit in which it was made, and that for the future the time of ihe Council will be devoted to the transaction of business instead of being occupied in tbe incessant dissensions that have hitherto characterised its meetings.