The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6,1847.

New Zealander, Volume 2, Issue 88, 6 February 1847, Page 2

The New-Zealander. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1847.

Be just and fear not: Let all the ends tliou aims't at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

THE NEW ZEALAND GOVERNMENT BILL.

The Analysis of this Bill, published in our columns of to-day, will give our readers as good a view of the New Constitution as can be gathered from the provisions of the Bill. The main objects of the enactments are, the Establishment of Municipal Corporations, and the Introduction of the Representative Principle into the Government. The precise amount of advantage, which' the inhabitants of New Zealand will derive from Corporations, will,, of course, depend upon the powers vested in them, and the means conferred upon them of exercising and executing , these powers. That the powers vested in the corporations will be sufficiently extensive, we do not doubt. But, there are reasonable grounds for fearing, that the Imperial Government may, overrate the means of executing them possessed by the inhabitants of the towns, in themselves and without external aid. We 1 may, however, venture to predict,, that some external assistance for carrying out the powers vested in the corporations, will be granted to these bodies, by the letters patent or instructions under the sign manual, by which they are established. A Municipal Corporation Ordinance was enacted in this Colony in the beginning of the year 1844, aud, from that period to the present*' the public attention has been thereby directed to the subject of corporations j and, we may boldly assert, that there is not a town in New Zealand, which would, for many years to come, claim incorporation under that Ordinance, simply and solely, because any attempt to carry out its provisions, without external aid, must prove to be a failure. We take it for granted that these facts are known to the Imperial Government, and, therefore, think ourselves warranted in concluding, that their own enactments on this subject will be of a more practicable nature.' - The rents that would, in a very few years, accrue' from a fair proportion of town and suburban land, if granted to a corpoiation, would form a valuable addition to the amount of the borough-rate, while the amount of revenue derivable from tolls, dues, fees and tines, must, for a long time, be very inconsiderable. In the event of a final settlement between the Imperial Government and the N6w Zealand Company, the former would have an opportunity of possessing themselves of the reserved town and suburban lands of the Company in their settlements, as well as of the town and suburban lands in and about Auckland, purchased by that body : and it is at least worthy of consideration, whether portions of those lands might not, with great benefit to the public, be granted to the new corporations. Perhaps il may be intended, too, that the dues aud other charges on shipping, which the

general assembly of New Zealand will have the power of imposing, should form a part of the revenue of the corporations^ thesoa-port towns. But, if tho new corporations should be established under a form at all practicable, they must prove' to be positive blessings to the settlers. For, it would surely be to waste words, to use them in proving, that the power of providing for such matters as the good order, health, and convenience of the inhabitants of grown towns, and- their neighbourhood, should be committed to any other persons than those, who are at the same time most directly interested in them, and most thoroughly acquainted with them. In another point of view, too, the municipal corporations about to be established in this Colony, are eminently interesting. It is upon them, as a basis, that the representative principle is to be worked. The members of the Hous3 of Representatives of each 1 Provincial Assembly will be elected by the mayors, aldermen, and common-councilmen of the corporations established, within the limits of the province. On this account, every the minutest regulation connected with the corporations will become a matter of importance, and, above all; the number of the members of each corpora* tion, the qualifications required from them, and the mode of their election. Id fine, the municipal corporations will be strictly so many electoral colleges, chosen from the general body of the settlers, and they must, of course, become the very foci of the agitation insepable from representative institutions. Upon the details, however, relating to the corporations, the bill is perfectly silent ; and it is equally silent upon several other points intimately connected with the working of the representative principle. The wording of the bill, (though not decisire upon the point,) combined with the analogy of the other colonies of Her Majesty enjoying representative institutions, incline us altogether to the belief, that the houses of representatives will be distinct branches of the provincial legislatures,and of the general legislature. If, however, any doub should stillt hang over the minds of the settlers upon this i subject, we think that it must be completely removed, by the palpable absurdity of establishing, by way of improvement of the present legislature, a single legislative house, composed of a majority named by Her Majesty, and a , minority elected by the people ; for this is the only way in which a single legislative house, containing some popular representatives, could be practically worked. The number of representative members, therefore, in a provincial' legislature, will be a matter of very inferior importance, while the relative numbers of representative members, appointed from the provincial legislatures to sit in the house of representatives of the^ general legislature, will be a subject of deep interest to the respective provinces. The mode of naming the members of the house of representatives in the general' assembly, will also- be a subject of great importance to the Colony at large. Judging from the analogy of the other colonial possessions of Her Majesty in which the representative principle is established, we should say, that it will be the peculiar province of the "house of representatives, in a provincial legislature' to examine and controul the accounts of the treasurer, to vote supplies, and to impose taxes, and that the legislative council will not have the power of originating, rejecting, or proposing amendments to money bills. An extreme abuse of these powers by the houses of representatives will be prevented by the power reserved to Her Majesty by the bill, of appropriating a certain sum of money, not exceeding £6000, by way of civil list, out of the revenue of each province. All jobbing, too, folly, and injustice, in the appropriation of public money for public works, whether in the provinces separately, or in the islands of New Zealand collectively, by the provincial assemblies or the general assembly, will be effectually prevented by the power reserved to Her Majesty, of prohibiting such appropriations of the public nioney, without her consent having been previously obtained. As to the residence of the governor-in-chief, the evidence supplied by the bill, though ' extremely indirect, is, nevertheless, anything ; but weak. The very circumstance of this '■ district being excluded for so many years from tbe benefits of the representative principle, is ' almost decisive upon the question. For, it is manifest that, if Auckland should be the' residence of the' governor-in-chief, this district would be under the very eye of the prime mover of the government of the Colony, and would therefore require a representation in an infinitely less degree than a distant proi vince, ruled by a person, necessarily more or less fettered in his plans, by the governor-in-chief residing at a great distance, and therefore often imperfectly informed of the elate of' things in a distant part of the islands. It ' would, indeed, be analmost incredible piece of injustice, that,- at one and the same time, i Wellington should be the residence of the j governor-in-chief, and Auckland deprived of the benefit of a representative government. Again, the subjects of positive and immediate enactment in the bill, relate only to the mere theory of the new constitution. Most of the really practical principles, and nearly nil the 1 details, are reserved for settlement by Her Majesty. This may be fairly judged to be an

expedientadopted by the'govern merit, for the purpose of avoiding the 'discussions in the House of Commons, which would, there is littls reason to doubt, be continually raised by the members in the interest of the Company. More than half the burden of these discus* sions would, of course, turn upon the grandquestion of the capital, and the praises of. Wellington, that future emporium of all thetrade of the globe ! The desire of the Government to avoid all this oratory, plainly proves*,, that they have, at least, something in view»* not very palatable to the Company, and the* openly avowed hostility of that body to the* bill, is a strong confirmation of this conclusion.. Upon the whole, high privileges, and great 1 , advantages are conferred by the bill upon thesouthern settlers, to which we believe them to» be fully entitled, while Auckland has not only lost nothing, really valuable to her at the present time, but, on the contrary, has acquiredsome valuable rights. In the mean time, Her Majesty, by letters patent or instructions under the sign manual, may delegate to the jgovernor-in-chi.ef for the time being, or to any provincial governor for the time being, the exercise of any of the powers reserved to her. She may, therefore, and> we have no doubt that she* will, too, commit to Captain Grey the introduction* of the new system infothe Colony, and- the ordering and marshalling 1 of all the machinery of it. The single clause in the bill relating to the Natives, is of vast importance to both races, and by. no means admits of discussion in a short space*