PAPERS ON THE NEW CONSTITUTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. [Concluded.]

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 362, 3 October 1849, Page 2

PAPERS ON THE NEW CONSTITUTION OF THE AUSTRALIAN COLONIES. [Concluded.]

As however the proposed application of this fund must be contingent on the acceptance or non-accept-ance by the Districts of the proposed Charters, we apprehend that, until that contingency shall be determined by the even', it will be premature to ratify by the authority of Parl ament the contemplated dedication of the fund to the c c purposes. Nor is there any pr lent necessity f r the iniervdution ofPdrliampnr, as under the existing Jaw your Majesty possesses the power of directing this appropriation of the funds in questior. Amont; the appropriations o r the public revenu?s of New Sonth Wales by Parliament, is that of a sum of £30,000 per annum for the support of public worship; it being, howevei, referred to your Majesty to apportion that fund between the diffetent Chiistian Churches amongst which the colonists are divided. Your Majesty has already det-rmined that this sum shall be distributed between the Churches of England, of Scotland, and of Rome, and the Wesleyan Society. To each of those bodies has bsen assigned an income bearing to the entre income the proportion which, according to the census of the year 1841, the number of the members of each of those bodies bore to the collective number of the members of all of them. The census of 1846 has, however, shown such a change in iheie numerical proportions, or such an inaccuracy in the census of 1841, as renders tlve division of the fund s nvwhat more favourable to the Church of England than, according to the strict principle of that divisiou it ought to be. We are of opinion that the proposed Legislatures ought not to pobsess ihe unrestricted power of altering the existing ar.'Rngemeutc The vested rights which individual clergymen hold under the' New South Wales Constitutional Act ought, we apprehend, to be maintained inviolate. And in the absence of very weigh <y reasons, clearly and fully established, it would, we think, be inexpedient to deprive any one of the four churches in question "of any part of the temporal support to which it is at present entitled under the statute. The existing arrangement, however, which appears to have contemplated a periodical revision of tha number of the members of each church, and a cons'quent re-adjustment from time to lime of their respective dividends, is in this respect open to much objection ; and the effect of adopting that principle would inevitably be to bring discredit on the efforts made by those churches for the diffusion of the opiir'oni peculiar to, and characteristic of, each of them. Such efforts would be ascribed, however unjustly, to other motives than tbe disinterested desire or the propagation of truth, or of supposed truth, and a spirit of competi ion and rivalry would be excited which every devout member of each of those churches would earnestly deprecate. We should therefore propose to secure to each of the four churches, not for a definite, but for an indefinite period, that share of the common fund which has been assigned to it under the existing arrangement. If at any future time the local legislature of either piovince should ccc fit to endow any other church tbau those four, or to Augment the endowment of any one of the four, any such new or augmented endowment ought, we apprehend, be made by an additional charge on the revenue of the province, and not by a deduction from the revenue of any one of the four endowed churches. Whatever fluctuations may occur in the comparative numbere of the members of those churches, the steady and rapid increase of the population of the Australian colonies renders it eminently improbable that the absolute wants of any one of those churches will ever be lesi than they are at present, or that the existing endowment of any of them will ever be found to be excessive. In giving this permanent character to the existing appointment, it seems, however, necessaty to guard against one error which has already been brought to light. That apportionment was founded on the census of 1841. But there is reason to conclude that the subsequent census of 1846 was not only taken with much greater care, but was drawn up with much greater accuracy, and affords a much safer bniis o&j» which to erect a scheme of indefinite duration. We subjoin a schedule showing the results of the cenaus of 1846', at far as respects the numerical proportion betw en the adherents of the different churches. From that schedule it will appear that the present apportionment of the fund for the support of public worship is less favourable to the other endowed churches, at compared to the Church of England, than according to fhe census of 1846, it ought to be. In pursuance of the principle already stated, we propose that Parliament should be recommended to redress that inequality, not by a deduction from the share of the latter, but by an additional charge on the public revenue. Such a charge would not be of great amount, and would not raise the whole appropriation for public worship to the same p-oportion to the existing resources of New Soutk Wales, as that which subsisted between the former appropriation for that service and the resource! of the olony at the time it was made. In distributing between New South Wales and Victoria the total amount of the proposed annual charge fjr pubic worship, we apprehend that, in pursuance of the principle of respecting at far as possible all vetted interests and existing arrangements, tbe census of 1846 should be taken as the guide to be followed. We therefore propose that the proportion of the

grant for each of the four churcheß, to be charged on the revenue of each province respectively, should be determined by the compaiative numbers of the members of these churches in the two dihtricts at the time the censns was made. With regard to Van Dieinen'i Lnnd and South Australia, in neither of which colonies has any Parliamentary provision been made for the support of public worship, we conceive that it will he sufficient that Parliament should now piovide that the proposed Act shall not in any manner inteifere with the operation of the laws existing on that subject in cither of those colonies, but that those laws shall continue in force as fully as if no such Act had been passed. Passing to the subject of a Civil List, we have to observe that the very large proportion of the reTenue of New South Wales sit pusent withdrawn from the •control of the Legislature by the permanent appropriation of Parliament, has been ft continual subJßct of complaint and remonstrance in the colony since the passing of the Constitutional Act of 1842; and ne cannot conceal our opinion that these complaints are not without some foundation. It appears to us liardly consistent with the full adoption of the principlei of Representative Government that, as to a large part of the public expenditure of the colony, the Legislature bhould be deprived of all authority ; nor does there appear to us to be any real occasion for imposing a )estriction upon the powers of that body which manifests so much jealousy us to the manner in which those powers may be exercised. The expenditure thus piovided for is all incurred for services in which the colonist 1 ; alone are interested. The colonists themselves an; mainly concerned in the proper and efficient performance of those sei vices: and it appears to vi rlist they ought to possess, through their representative!, the power of making such changes from time to time in the public establishments as circumBiancc» may require. But, while we arc of opinion that there is no sufficient reason for refusing to the legislature! of the colonies a control over the whoh of their expenditure, we also think that great inconvenience and veiy serious evils might be expected to arise from leaving the whole of the public establishments to be provided for by annual vote. Ih this country your Majesty's Civil List is selfled upon your Majesty for Hie ; and, in addition to this, Parliament bus thought fit to provide, by a permanent charge on the Consolidated Fund, for a very considerable part of the Chtiiblit-hments kept up for the public service, including the whole of thoie of a judicial character, leaving to be defrayed by annual votes those charges only which Lj.ve been regarded as requiring the more frequent revision of the L-gis. liiture. The reasons which have induced the British Parliament in this manner to withdraw varioas heads of expenditure from annual discussion, and to make provision for them in a manner which can only be altered by an act of the whole Legislature, apply, as we apprehend, with much increased force in favour of Adopting a bimilar policy in the colonies. It is not t > be denied that in these smaller societies party- spirit is apt to run still higher than amongst ourselves and that question! respecting the remunrration of public servants are occasionally ducuitcd rathar with refeienee to personal feelings than to a calm consideration of the real interest of the community. We believe also that true economy is promoted by diving to those who are employed in the public service some reasonable assurance for the permanence of their official incomes. His thus only that efficient service can be secured in return for a moderate remuneration. With these views the arrangoment which we should recommem 1 ii, that Parliament should, in the first instance, charge upon the revenues of the several colonies an amount sufficient to defiay the expenses of ihoi-e h i« vices which it would be inexpedient to leave to be provided for by i nnual vu*es of the respective legislatures, leaving, however, to those legislatures full power to altor this appromiiition by laws to be passed in the usu»l form. It would remain for your Majeity to determine what infractions should be given to the governor! of these co'onies as to their absenting on bch,ill of the Cro»n to any laws which might t e tendered to them by the legislatures for repealing or altering nny of the charges created by Parliament on the revenues oi the respective colonies. We conceive that it mUht be advisable by iuch inslructions to restrain the Govcinois from assenting to At'ts making any alterations in the salaries of their own ofiioes, 01 of thobc ot the judges, and some otluTi of the public servan'n, unlcis these Acts contained clauses suspending their operation until they should b j confirmed by your Majesty's immediate authority, h appears to us that this course ought lo be adopted, because we consider that the salaries of the principal officers of the colonial governments ought not to be changed without your Majesty 1 ! direct concurrence ; ami because the present holdprs of some of the offices of lower rank have received their appointments under circumstances which give them a strong chim to the protection which would be thus afforded to them. M en who hate abandoned other piospects for the purpose of accepting colonial employment, which they had reason to expect would be permanent, and who Lave since faithfully discharged their duties, must be regarded as having claims which rest upon the ground «rf public faith, and on contracts which on their side have lnthcito been strictly fulfil'ed, to retain their present salaries, so long as they shall conduct themselves prfpcily, or to receive wdequate compensation for their lobs. We doubt not ihat such claims would be respected by the local legislature*, whatever reductions they might see fit to make in other cases ; but we think that your Majeity ought to secure them even from the risk of «i habty and ill-soiisidered decision te their prejudice occasioned by some temporary excitemeiit; buUjoct to theie (jDa'ifications, we are ol opinion that complete control over the colonial expenditure ought to be given to the respective legislatures. Thrrc yet remains a question of considerable difficulty. By far the laiger part of the revenue of tin Australian colonies is derived from duties on customs But if, when Victoria shall have been separated froir New South Wales, each province shall be authorised to impose duties accoiding to its own wants, it is scarcely po? bible but that in process of time difference should arise between the rates of duty imposed upor, the lame article! in the on? and in the other of them, There is already such a difference in the tarifl's o South Australia and New South Wales ; and although, until of late, this has been pioductive of little inconvenience, yet with the increase of settlers on either sid< of the imaginary line dividing them, it will In conn more and more Borions. The division of New Soutl Wales into two colonies would lurtber aggravate this inconvenience, if the change should lend to the intro. duction of three entirely distinct tariffs, and to the consequent necessity for imposing restrictions" ant securities on the import and export of goods between them. So great indeed would be the evil, and suol: the obstruction of the inter-colonial trade, and &o great the check to the development of the tehources of eacli of these colonies, that it seems to us necessary thai there should be one tariff common to them all, so thai goods might be cariicd from the one into the othei with the same absolute freedom vi between any tv»c a ljuccnt counties iv England,

We are further of opinion that the same tariff shou'd be established in Van Dieracn'a Land nlso, because the intercourse bslwcen tlmt island and the neighbouring colonies in New Hollund has risen to a great importance and extent, and lias an obvioui tendency to increase. Yet fiscal regulations on either aide of the intervening strait must of necessity check, and might perhaps, to a great extent, destroy that beneficial trade. If the duties were uniform, it is obvious that there need be no restrictions whatever imposed upon the import or export of goods between the respective colonies, and no motive for importing into one good 3 liable to duty which were destined for consumption in another; ami it may safely be calculated that each would receive the pioportion of revenue to which it would bo justly entitled, or, at all events, that th'ic would be no departure fiom this to an extent of any piactical importance. Hence it keems to us that a uniformity in the rate of duties should be bccuied. Frr this purpose wo recommend that a uniform tariff should bo established by the authority of Parliament, but that it should not take effect until twelve months had elapsed from the promulgation in the several colonies of the proposed Act of Parliament, The interval would afford time for making any financial arrangements which the contemplated change might require in any of them ; and, by adopting the existing tariff of New South Wales (wilh borne modifications to adapt it to existing circumstances) a* the General Tariff for Australia, we apprehend that there would be no risk of imposing upon the inhabitants of these colonies a table of duties unsuited to thciractual wants. We should not, however, be prepared to offer this recommendation, unless we proposed at the same time to provide for making any alteration in this general tariff which time and experience may dictate ; and this we think can only be dono by creating Borne authority competent to act for all those colonies jointly. For this purpose we propose that one of the Governors of the Australian colonies, should always hold from your Majesty a commission constituting him the Go-vernor-General of Australia. We think that he should be authorised to convene a body to be called the General Assembly of Australia at any time and at any place within yiur Majesty's Australian dominions which he might seem fit to appoint for the purpoic. But we are of opinion that the first convocation of that body should be postponed until the Governor-General should have received from two or more of the Australian Legislatures addretsai requeuing him to cxerciso that power. We recommend that the General Assembly should consist of the Governor. Genevul and of a tingle House, tojbc called the House of Delegates. The House of Delegate! should be composed of not less than twenty, nor of more than thirty members. They should be elected by the Legislatures of the different Austruliau colonies. We think that your M-jesty should be authorised to establish provisionally, ami in the first instance, all the rules necessary for the election of the delegate*, and for the conduct of the business of the General Assembly ; but that it should be competent to that body to supersede any such lutes, and to substitute otheis, which substituted rules should not, however, tnke effect until they hud received your Majesty's sanciion. We propose that the General Assembly should also have the power o( making lawi for the alteration of ilib number of delegates, or for the improvement in any other respect of its own constitution. Hut we think that no such law should come into operation until it bad actually been confirmed by your Majeity. Wo piopose to limit the range of the legislative nutliority oi the General Assembly to the ten topics which we piicei'd to enumerate. These arc— 1. The imposition of Duties upon Imports and Expoits. 2. The Conveyance of Letter. 3. The formation of Konds, Canals, or Railways, tiavcHnq; any two or more of such colonies41.4 1 . The election and maintenance of Beacons an 1 Light -bouses. 5. The Imposition of Dues or other Charges on Shipping in every Port or Hiwhour. (}, The establishment of a General Supreme Court, to be a cou t of otigiual jurisdiction, or a court of appeal for any of the infeiior courts of the separate provinces. 7. The determining of the extent of the jurisdiction, and the founs and manner of proceeding, of such Supreme Court. 8. The regulation of Weights and Measures. 9. The enactment of laws nffecting all the colonies represented iti the Gcneiul Assembly on any subject not specifically mentioned in the preceding list, but on which the General Asßemb'y should be desiiod to legislate by addrcßscs for that puipose presented to them from the legislatures of all thoie colonies. 10. The appropriation to any of the preceding objects of such sums as may be necessary, by an equal per-centage fiom the revenue received in all the Australian colonies, in virtue of any enactments of the General Assembly of Australia. By these means we apprehend that many important objects would be accomplished which would be otherwise unattninab'c ; and, by the qualification! which we have proposed, effectual security would, we think, betaken against the otherwise danger of establishing a centra) legislature in opposition to the wislus of the separate legislatures, or in such a manner as to induce collisions of authority between them. The proceedings also of the Legislative Council of New South WaLs, with reference to the proposed changes in the Constitution! lead us to infer that the necessity of creating i some «ueh general authority for the Australian colonies : begins to be seriously felt. Her Majes'y having 'aken the said Report into consideration, wui pleased by and with the advice of her Privy Council to appiove thereof. (Signed) W. L. BATHURST. ,

California.— The following are extracts from a communication from the llev. T. Dwight, of San Francisco : 11 The accounts from the gold rrgion are both favourable and unfavourable. The whole region has been, since Nov., about two feet under miow. The real ' Dorado' ha» not consequently been found, though it ii expected to be Mumbled upon every moment. The supplies of everything' are abundant; indeed, it does not require much to supply the wants of 10,009 to 15,000 men— the moit that cun be now concentrated in the valley of the Sacramento. A considerable quumity of gold has been found in the rnvines of the Sierra Nevada. It lias been picked up, and now that the people have to dig for it they begin to back out. There is a great deil of romance in all you bear from Caliio niti t ; and, to explain the whole story, the valley of Suciamento hag been claimed by about 28 individuals, who have run out the lands upon imaginary lines based upon false granla obtained from Governor Micheltorena, Mnce the war ended. Theie lands cannot be worth anything without population, and the bubble of (he gold region baa been got op more to attract attention and dr«w jmmi^runta on ihis tide of the ltocky Mountains, tbitn for any other purpose. There have b;,cn many deser-

tcrs from the nritiy nnd navy, who, led away with tlie prospect of mnkiug a fortune, have found 'die elephant,' and hive wnttcn in, wishing to compound matters and to return to duty. This has been refused them, and the result lias been that no less than a dozen have been hung up between hcav.'ii and earth foi robberies nnd assassination. Thus you have the Dorado of California, or a picture of it. Since I have gone so far, I will tell you one which I think will cap anything you beard of dining thewnr, not excepting the ' elophunt.' A hosier puiohased in this place, a few days ngo, /> dollars' woi th of pins and needles ; lie carried them to Sutter'R Foit, and thore sold 500 dollars' worth, and wrote back to u friend that he had 2000 dollnrs' worth on hand still. Governor Lane passed through this city a short time ago on his way to Oiegon. The ' Malek Adhel'lias just anchored, ei^ht diys from Co. luiubia River. She reports that the Governor had not arrived, and that ull was quiet in the country. The gold diggings, as they are caHcil by J*ck, are pretty much like the game. ' heads I win, tall you lose.' If a mun finds an ounce of gold, liuuger obliges him to give it tor a moreel to eat: so, as ouo told mo thn other day, there is no gaining anything. There is nothing like civil government heic, nor do I believe there is a man of sabo enough in him in nil California to form a code of l.uvs. Everybody does as be pleases, and General Smith will have a pretty time of it to put things lo ri-jhti now. % this time California ought to be a temlory, und a civil governor appointed.— Sydney S/ityping Gazed, Sept. 10.