The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1870.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume V, Issue 290, 9 December 1870, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9, 1870.

] Between the Superintendent and Provincial Council of Canterbury a very pretty little quarrel has arisen, the origin and progress of which, as explained in the speeches of the members who took part in the debate, occupy a considerable number of columns in the Lyttelton Times. In a condensed form, however, it is told as follows: — A change in the Executive of the Province has recently taken place when the Hon. Jobn Hall and others stepped into the shoes of Mr. Jollie aud his colleagues. Their accession to office was sood followed by a perfect tempest in tbe Council which arose out of a motion tabled by one of the members to the effect that certain claims of the Bank of New Zealand against the Provincial Government should be referred to arbitration. When this resolution came to be discussed at a subsequent meeting of the Executive Council, it became apparent that a material difference of opinion existed between the Superintendent and his responsible advisers, the former holding that as his previous advisers had virtually authorised him to refuse any proposals for arbitration, and he, acting upon this advice, having decided to refer the questious at issue to a court of law, it was not competent for the new Executive to reverse the decision of their predecessors, and so to destroy the "continuity of executive action." Mr. Hall and his colleagues, however, thought differently, and there being no chance of their coming to an agreement, the Provincial Council was called upon to decide between them. This gave rise to a lengthy debate which terminated in the following resolution being carried by a large majority : — " The Council having had uuder its consideration the memoranda that have passed between his Honor the Superintendent and the Executive Councilyis of opinion that the Executive Council is not of necessity bound by an administrative act done by the Superintendent with the advice of a former Executive, except in cases where i the good faith of the province is involved." The resolution was forwarded to the Superintendent who iv deference to the ! wishes of the Council sent down a message expressing his concurrence to it. After this it was thought that matters would work more smoothly, but now a fresh difficulty arose which is thus related by the Times : — " The Superintendent, as some of his friends in the Couucil said, believed himself to have been misrepresented by his Executive, and he furnished Mr. Jollie, who may be called the leader of the Opposition, with certain facts which were to be used in the Council for the purpose of setting him right with hon. members and the public. Naturally enough the Executive were indignant at the course which his Honor had persued, more especially as one of their number had expressly, in his place in the Council, exonerated Mr. Rolleston from any charge* that might have been made or implied against him, of having kept back papers which they ought to have seen. Again the Council backed up the Executive by a large majority, and told his Honor" that he had acted unconstitutionally in communicating with the representatives of the people through any other channel than that of his responsible advisers." ! Thus ended the disturbance which at one time threatened to bring about a deadlock in the administration of affairs in the Canterbury Province. With regard to the Bank claims, it was agreed by a large majority that they should be referred to arbitration, and a rider was added to the resolution so referring them, in which it was expressly provided that the Council would not sanction any expenditure that might be incurred in taking the case to a court of law.

The Colonist this morning returns to the subject of his Honor's circular to the members of tho Council on the railway question, and with tbat Pontius-Pilate like air of authority and infallibility which, to the intense amusement of its readers, it so frequently assumes with the utmost gravity, our contemporary repeats its assertion of Tuesday last. " What I have written I have written." Surely this should be enough for any ordiuary mortal j no arguments in support of any assertion, no corroboration of any statement that appears in the columns of the Colonist should be required by its readers, but the mere fact of its being published there ought at once to place it above all question ? Such is the tone assumed by our contemporary ou the present occasion, for he decliues to bring forward any arguments to prove the correctness of his repeated assertion — unless, indeed, it can be considered an argument fo state that the members of Council canuot consult together, and that the course adopted by the Superintendent was **uuusual." After expressing an opiniou that it is undesirable to rake up the ashes of the past, the Colonist immediately proceeds to dig andscratch among them with immense zeal, although what can be its object in so doing, uuless it might be to raise a cloud of dust under which to beat a retreat from the untenable position it had taken up, it is impossible to say. Nearly half a column is devoted to proving what, no one ever denied, namely, that the Superintendent might have acted in this matter without consulting the members of the Council. Now, unfortunately for the Colonist, it has proved rather too much for its own cause. In the first place, it was stated on Tuesday that the " circular was bald," or in other words that it did not say enough; to-day it is showu that it was superflous, that, ia fact, it need not necessarily have been issued at all, and that the Superintendent might have used his own judgment in the matter. But one of the first tenets of the Colonist's faith is that Mr. Curtis can do nothing right, and consequently it has been led into an attack upon him for performinsj; what, upon its own showing, was nothing more than an act of common courtesy on his part. Had we been among the happy few who believe in the self-assumed infallibility of our morning contemporary, our faith would have received a rude shock on perusing his leader of this morning.

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