WARDENS ON GOLDFIELDS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 172, 3 August 1874, Page 2

WARDENS ON GOLDFIELDS.

(N.Z. Times.) Mr Harrison moved, "That, in the opinion of thia House, it is desirable that all the Resident Magistrates of the colony and their officers should be placed solely under the coutrol of the General Government, and their salaries paid by appropriation of this House." Mr Yogel opposed the motion. If tbe Houae wished to give the authority asked for, it should do so in a proper manner, when it waa in Committee of Supply. Aa tho forms of tbe House did not permit resolutions of this kind to be brought on, everything should be done to discourage them. Even if carried, the Government would take no action upon this resolution, aud it would not be right for them to do ao. With regard to the question whether or not warden's salaries should be paid out of the ordinary revenue, there could be no two opinions in tbe minds of hon. members tbat tbe goldfielda revenue should be primarily responsible for the salaries ofgoldfielda officials. The literal meaning of tbe resolution waa, that the salary of the Mayer of Auckland, who was also a Resident Magistrate, and those of his officials, should be chargeahe on the Consolidated Revenue. Io some cases it had been found convenient to appoint as Resident Magiatrates, persona holding other poaitions, and it would be riduculous to say that thei. salaries should be paid by the House, when the gentlemen were not under the controlof the General Government. The real question the hon. member wished to raise was whether the Consolidated Revenue should bear the cost of goldfieids officials; and he had before Eaid tbat the clear intention was that tbeir salaries should be a first charge on the goldfieids revenue. For tbe rest it waa quite competent for tbe Government under power possessed by Act, which would override any resolution which might be come to by that House alone, to require that these salaries should be paid out of the goldfields revenue. Even if the House voted the salaries the Government would have to see them paid out of the goldfiids revenue. It was also competent for the Government to require goldfieids officers to fulfill the duties of Resident Magistrates, without attaching extra salary to their office. He was, berefore, not able to assent to the tmotion, and if it had been brought forward iv another shape — and without meaning any offence, he might be allowed to say it was not brought forward in an honest shape — he would not have able to agree lo it. Mr O'Conor in replying to a charge made against him by the member for Grey Valley, said, tbe reductions in the goldfieids staff of. the Nelson SouthWest Goldfieids, referred to by that hon. member, had been made with the consent and concurrence of tho Provincial Government of the Province. As to tbe main question, it was burdensome and unfair to the goldfieids tbat while the Provinces had to pay the salaries of the officers, the fecß and fines were not handed over to them. Mr Curtis was alsD of opinion that the fees and fines should be returned to tbe Provincial cheat. With respect to the dismissal of a number of officials on the goldfieids in the Province of Nelson he wished to state that the hon. roemfor Buller was scarcely correct in saying that the Provincial Government had arrived^at the conclusion. It was certainly not arrived at by the Superintendent. Under present arrangements in tho Province, an ordiance having been passed by the Provincial Council at ita last session, what was responsible government had been brought into operation, and therefore there was no actual power on the power of the

Superintendent with respect to the dismissal or appointment of officers or generally as to the administration of the affairs of the province. Everything was done by him with the advice and consent of bis Executive Council. So far as he could see, the Superintendent had no more responsibility in matters of this kind than the Governor had for the acts of the Colonial Legislature. His opions of tho reductions made, or about to take place, in the the officials of the Nelson Goldfieids were not consistent with the public good and not conducive to the cause of economy, because he felt certain that for every pound saved by these reductions at least two pounds would be lost to the Province. Mr C. Parker was understood to say tbat the reductions in the goldfields staff were agreed to before tho member for Buller took office in the Provincial Executive, and before the Executive Bill was passed. Mr Rolleston observed that the remarks of tbe member for Nelson City were exceedingly instructive ns to the relations of Superintendents to j; their Executives. The hon. member said the Provincial Government of Nelson, i.e., tbe Superintendent and Executive, was uot responsible for a certain course of action, because the Superintendent disagreed from the action of his Executive. He wished the House would realise what that position was. He for one could not admit that a Superintendent was justified in putting his name to any paper that was wrong — (hear) — or to a wrong action by his Executive, and no Executive could force a Superintendent to do what he considered wrong. A Superintendent had power to remove his Executive, and certainly tho power of declining to take action which his Executive advised him to take if he believed that action to be wrong. This was really becoming a serious question. It was one that had betn thoroughly discussed, and had been the cause of a certain amount of public difficulty in another province. tie Bhould be glad if the attention of the Colonial Government were called to the matter on account of its relation to tbe work that had been undertaken by the provinces. Sooner or later great difficulties would come out ot it. It had been his (Mr Rolleston's) good fortune to have an Executive to work with wbicb had the same objects, the same interests and feelings as himself, and tbey were not likely to bo brought into conflict. But he was quite certain that tbo present atate of things could not continue if doubts arose about immigration, &c. Mr O'Conor, in explanation, said the Superintendent of Nelson was a consenting party to the reduction, he having acquiesced in the proposal. Mr Reid could Dot allow tbe remarks of the member for Avon to pass without drawing attention to them. That hon. member seemed to be aorely exercised about the position Superintendents occupied at the present time, and said some action must be taken in order to place Superintendents in a position of entire independence of their Provincial Councils or Executives. (Mr Rolleston : No.) If the position were assigned to the Superintendents which be claimed for them that they could sign their names for only such salaries as they thought fit; and that consequently if they do not approve of the salaries, they would not be voted. He could not think for a moment that the member for Avon was seriously in earnest. Because a Superintendent represented the voles of the Majority of the Province it did not always follow that he was in many respects a superior man to some of those who were elected to the Provincial Council. Thoy knew tbat in these matters personal popularity went a long way sometimes. Assuming tbat the Superintendent was superior to those in the Provincial Council, he (Mr Reid) did not think for a moment that it would be conceded that if it were determined that ihe system of Government should be carried on by means of an Executive who should advise tbe Superintendent, the Superintendent, although elected by the majority of the Province, should be placed ia a position to override and set tbe Council at defiance. He was at a loss to imagine what position the member for Avon wanted to place Superintendents in. In the position claimed, for them under the Constitution Act, he could not look upon them other tbau as autocrats, which was a position they were not in this nineteenth century prepared to coucede to any individual. The hon. member laid great stress on Superintendents acting with the advice of their Executive Council. It was always understood that the action taken was that of the majority of those who consulted on these matters. For his part, he could see no better system either for Superintendents, or for tho public service, than that there should be consultation on all these matters. Mr Rolleston said his remarks had been misinterpreted. What he said was, tbat Superintendents should not be forced into doing anything that they believed to be wrong. After some remarks by Mr Shephard, Mr Luckie, Mr White, Mr Tribe, and Mr Sbeehan, the motion was negatived on the voices. — ' ~~