MARKETS.

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 181, 23 February 1848, Page 3

MARKETS.

Sydney, Feu. I.— Wholesilc Prices: — Wlicnl,, 4s 3d j maize, Is 9d ; bran, Is per bushel; potatoes, X's lUs; hay. tl per ton ; flour. X J H per ; butter, 9d ; bacon, id ; cheese, 4d per lb.

In Van Diem fin's Lund, the Governor and Chief Justice are at a " dead lock." The nature of this extraordinary collision may be gathered from the following article, which we copy from the Sydney Morning Herald of the 2nd install I.

Now and then we meet with a person in sociefy, wh<» from a constitution il piopcnhiiy for cxtiavagiincies hi thinking, in eonver aiion, and m manneis, keej s com - mon-place people in .1 constant and excited state, and is familiarly and expressively described as " a rich fdlow." Ssuch a chuinctcr we teel disposed to consider the present Governor of Van Diemen's Land to he. Like every other Engluh gentleman who has reail Blricksto ic's Commentaries, he has doubtless heaid an<l cordially subscribed to the usu.il qutmtity of talk, about the independence of the Judges ; but it is clear that he considers it only a pleasant fiction of law, to he altogether disrcgaided whenever it threatens to interfere wth the sucred subject ot taxes. Several Acts of Council were some time back pusied in the sibier colony, imposing penalties of different kinds. Amung-Kt others, was one culled the Dog Tax Act. The kw reg iirs that Acts of ihia description shiil' distinctly specify in what manner the penalties linponed thereby sii ill be appropriated The Acts in question,— -drawn it is htiiicd, by Mr. Home, the then Attorney Genei.il, (now filling the judicial t>caf, vacated by the reinuvalof Mr. Justice Montagu),— were detective in this respect. Prosecutions and summary convictions having token place under them, many defendants, subdued by threats of distress, paid the penalties under protest, and appealed to the Supreme Court. After argument by Counsel, and after tlis Court had taken tune to consider, the Doft Tax Act was declared to be illegal, and theufore all the parties concerned in the different ctscs weie made liable to suffer in damuges, for the procee lilies below. Aclions weie commenced accordingly, and it is stated by some of the speakers at the late public meeting held upon the subject in Hobart Town, that the various cases involved abouU.£ J 12,5t)0 to the Government, inespective of costs. Beside* tins law, tlieie are other AcM defectively framed in the like lespect, so that the Government difficulties, although they commenced, beenidd by no mem* likely to dust: with the Dog Act. Mr. Montagu having been suspended, and Mr. Home, (a. gentleman who, it was expected would stand up for his own Act, through good icport, and through evil report,) having been put into the vucsint seat, tue next step of the fix'jcutirtt was to ascertain whether the state ot the law, with the Uenci thus constituted — Sir John I'edder condemning, and Mi. Home supporting the Act m question — would enable theGoTsrnmc.it to defeat the vaiious actions commenced, as above stated. Accordingly, the following questions were submitted by the Government to an oflicer of the Court : " When a phintilf in the Supreme Court obtains a verdict, and the Couit uj>on motion in invest of judgment is divided, which way is the judgment ?" Answer : •' The plamtill keeps his verdict." This, therefore, would nevei do (or the Governm°nt, which wished to set aside nil verdicts, which wouLI involve ihe neccsjity oi lestoring the extorted fines to those who had paid them. The next question was thii : " When a plaintiff sues, and the deci.uatio.ijisdcmuiredjto, who gets judgment if the Couit is divided ?" Answer. "It has not happened in prac'ice." The Government thus seeing no chance of brenkmg through the difficulty by tncius of only one well inclined Jud«e, and birJolm Pedder, the Chiet Justice, still lemainmg inflexibly ol the harne opinion touching the illegality of the Dog Art, he is at length, — hear it, oh, all ye worshippers of ihe abstract idea of the independence of the Judgcb,— coolly requested by Uir Govci ument to accept eighteen monthb' leave of absence, to avoid being turned out ot office, " tor obstructing the Government." Obstiucting the Government, quotha? Obstructing the Government by refusing to peijure himself, by assisting the gaid Governmeut to ovdridc the law ! 1 Sir John boldly refused either to ribign, or to accept i he leave of absence; — the rcbult of which refusal we have yet to learn. Deplorable as are these miscarriages, and injurious to the colonists as is this perveise wronght-iidedntssol tlie Vandemoniaii Govuknok, what is it compared wi h the still moie lamentable system wh eh mustcvci, under the iulc of rash men, be fiuufnl in such aicidiints. The two great paitß-s. into which the poetical world at home is divided, aie too a pi, we are afraid, to th nk that almost anybody will do for a eolonul Governor It bus been said that many a great family, when it has had — no uncommon case — n youth bloulvhead in it, bcndb him to sea, or into the Church. We suspect that it is by some Mich kindly feeling for providing fur tho«e less gitic I partisaiib, bteudy and well deserting voteta, wlinse spirits aie willing, but whone bends vie tooweuk, lor i'aiiiumenrary nailare, that they me freqiuMiily packed oft" us good c.iouifli tor Colonial Governmurs. And thua a duty, wh.ch, under n

sound system of Colonial policy, ought never be delegated to any but men of eminent and tried ability, h not uncommonly filled by one who, whether able or not, whether prudent or not, is placed merely as a superintendent over a (lock of Colonists, to obey the orders of, peihaps, a perfectly ignorant Downing. street wnstei, upon whom he must draw for all his ideas, whil't cairyuig on the business of the station. Only at his own peril dare even an enlightened and well disposed Governor act upon an equitable idea of his own, upon so despicable an item as quit-renti. And why should he, especially if he value his own comfort, have any idea ot his own ? Or why should able men be appointed to the government ol colonies, which they are not allowed to govern ? If a Governor is to be a mere Downing street tool, what does such a tool want with a governor-like head ? Is it not HKely to be more trouble than profit to him ? Will n not get him into difficulties from which he has prebably j no delegated power to escape ? Like And, let him do Ins tooling "gently," and there stay. If he move furilur, be derives little gloiyfiom success, but incurs much disgrace from lailure. So it is with Sir William Denison. Without being at all responsible lor the blundering ift Acts drawn by >i n AUoriiey-Gtnerul, who, according to the prevailing system, would be chosen for anything but his law ; without being at all blameable for ths consequences that would probably ensue to the colonial revenue, and therefore it would appear, without any special personal motive for going out of his way, much less for flying in the face of any constitutional miixim of law or government, he sets to work to remedy these evils, how i Why, by laying that a Judge must be turned out of his place, if lie docs not decide what he knows not to be the law, and so decide only, because any other decision wou'd be unpleasant to the Government. Senouhly, and in effect so, neither more nor less. A great meeting has theieforc already taken place in Hobart Town, to petition for .Sir William Denison's removal. He has found it easy to raise the storm. — Let him Liy it as easily, if he can. Out of this evil, let us hope that good may come. Let us hope that mother- country may, in time, — with a few such les,sons as the above,— come to learn, that that only can become a great and prosperous colony, in which a free people are presided over by a wise, and unfettered Governor. By one who is free to iirt by wh->t he knowi of the Colony, not by what he kars of Downing stieet. By one why is not merely a superintendent receiving his orders from a master; but by one who possesses an Executive power, commensurate and accordant with the demands which in every free society must be constantly made upon it. — Let such power in a Governor be at the same time ac«ompanied by corresponding liability on his part of its abuse, and the office would be truly worthy the ambition of a wise man. He would see a people growing and waxing strong under his ministering caie. He would have the strongest motives that can actuate human nature to honourable endeavour, the ever pre. sent consciousness of the greatness of his work, the abiding conviction that eveiy act ot his would work vast good or vast evil ; and that the credit of success, 01 the disgrace of failure, must be his. Then we should have no such confusion, entanglements, or dead locks, s>uch as we now see interfering with the administration ot justice in Van Dieman's Land. The real power of a Governor would not halt behind his ostensible authority, but under the influence of public ophnon would, in the words of the gieat jurist, be exerted " for the greatest happiness of the greatest number ;" and not, as now, for the gieatest annoyance of the q eatest number.