The New-Zealander.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 555, 9 August 1851, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

Be Just «ml fear not : Let nil the ends thou aims't at, bo thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth'!.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY AUGUST 9, 1851.

Although the Reports of the proceedings o^ the General Legislative Council, which have arrived by the Overland Mail from Wellington, are rather old in their actual dates, and although as respects one important measure, (the Customs Duties) we have had later intelligence, bringing the Ordinance in its completeness as it was finally enacted, yet Reports which we have now received for the first time are new to -us, and some of them h ave a general and permanent interest, which entitles them to a place in our columns whenever they reach us. In our last we summed up the principal facts, — but necessarily in a few brief sentences. Today, we introduce here a communication from a Correspondent at Wellington, which, so far as it goes, forms an excellent substitute for any summary we could ourselves prepare, coming as it does from an attentive and well-informed observer on the spot. Our Correspondent writes as follows :— - i

Wellington, June 30, 1851. The only subject of interest here is the General Legislative Council, now sitting, for the first time, at Wellington. The Council was summoned for the 19th ultimo, and met on that day, and was then adjourned to the 29th, in order to ! give time for the arrival of the Colonial Secretary and Attorney General of New Zealand, &c. &c. from Auckland. Some attempt was at first made to impugn the validity of the Council, on the ground that it is essential to its constitution that the Colonial Secretary, the Attorney General, and the Colonial Treasurer of New Zealand should be members, and that no such officers are now in existence. But it was explained that the Gentlemen now filling the corresponding offices for the Province of New Ulster, did not, by agreeing j to act in that capacity, cease to fill the offices to j •which they were originally appointed by Warrant j from the Crown.

Sir George Gret exhibits great tact, skill, and ability, as President, in the conduct of the proceedings. During the presence in the Province of the Governor -in- Chief, the position of the Lieutenant- Governor., under the provisions of the Charter, is rendered very anomalous and embarrassing.^ As a Member of the Council, Mr. Eybe takes little part in the proceedings; seldom speaks; but shows coolness and self-command. Whatever opinion may be formed of the business qualities of the Council, or of the abilities of its several members, it must ba admitted that the proceedings are conducted in a gentlemanly tone and temper. It is noticeable that the members all act and speak as if they were amendable to public opinion. For the first fortnight of the Session, the public were put to the inconvenience of withdrawing on every Division of the Council ; but that absurd and vexatious custom has been abolished, — much to the satisfaction of the frequenters of the Strangers' Gallery — on the motion of the Attor-ney-General of .New Zealand, who contended that the custom, ancient though it was, would be " more honoured in the breach than in the observance." The Bills actually, or virtually, passed are, — 1. The Debtors Arrest Bill, which in the absence of a Judge of the Supreme Courf, authorises the Registrar of the Supreme Court, or, in the absence of both, a Resident Magistrate, to arrest Debtors attempting to leave the Colony. 2. The Land Fund Appropriation Bill, which empowers the Governor to grant to a Corporation, instead of to the Wardens of Hundreds, a portion — not more than one-third — of the Land Fund arising in any Municipal District. 3. The Census Bill, 4. The Bill for the Abbreviation and Interpretation of Colonial Ordinances. 5. The Duties of Customs' Bill, which impoess on a long List of enumerated Articles, a specific, in lieu of an ad valorem duty. By this Bill also the Duty on Spirits has been increased One Shilling per gallon.— The Duty on Flour, &c ; , has been repealed for one year.— Tobacco, previously rendered unserviceable for any other purpose, may be taken oui, of Bond, under certain regulations, Duty Free, for the purpose of being used for Sheep washing. For this boon the Flockholders are indebted to the zealous efforts of Mr. CAUTLEr.— The Duty is also repealed on Canvas, Anchors, Sheathing, &c, and other Marine Stores necessary for the ntting out of Coasters ; also on -certain Agricultural Implements, and on Coals. The Bill is to come into operation here on the sth of July ; and at all other Ports the day after the

receipt by the Collector of a Copy of the Ordinance. 6. The Provincial Councils Bill. The great debate of the Session was upon this Bill. The conduct of it through the Council was entrusted to the AtTORNEY-(jE> t ERAL of NEW ZeAland, who moved the second reading ; according to the organ of the Constitutional Association — the opposition Independent — " in a long and exceedingly able speech." The Spectator had a full report of it, — almost verhatim; so much so that it evidently must have been supplied, or at all events corrected, by the speaker himself. Looking at the political character of the measure, and to the violent party feeling which has so long been kept alive here on the subject of Representative Institutions, the Learned Gentleman's Speech had the singular good fortune of being well received by both parties. All parties appeared to feel the force of his arguments in favour of the position that, in New Zealand in particular, the Crown ought to have a voice in the Colonial Legislature. The motion was seconded by the Lieutenant Govkrnor, who took that occasion to express his opinion of the impolicy of dividing the Colony into Provinces, and his regret that the measure had not been brought forward in 1848. All the speakers concurred in the impolicy of dividing the Colony ; but all admitted the liberality of the Provisions of the Bill, and the second reading was carried nem. con. Only three amendments of any importance were moved in committee : 1. by Mr. D. Bell, — That the one-third of the Council to be nominated by the Crown should be Government Officers ; this was opposed, however, by the Mover of the Bill, as a direct infringement on the liberality of the measure, and because it would deprive the Country of the services of many independent members of society, of ability and fortune, if the Crown were restricted in its choice to more Government Officers ; the Amendment was lost. — 2. Mr. Bell also proposed as an Amendment that the Franchise be lowered, so as to extend to the occupiers of houses in Towns, of the annual value of £5, This Amendment was also opposed by the Attorney-Gene-ral on the ground that men having no other tie in the Colony than the occupancy of a house in Town for which they were paying two shillings a week, could not be considered to have taken root in the soil, or to have a permanent interest in the country ; and therefore that they ought not to be allowed to have a voice in the election of the Legislature. The Amendment was rejected. But the proposal for extending the Franchise to a Householder occupying a Tenement in the Country of the annual value of .£5, not being opposed, was agreed to. The Bill has gone through Committee, and is virtually passed. The measure- which has excited the greatest amount of discussion is the New Zealand Company's Land Claims Bill. Numerous amendments have been proposed, but the Bill is still in Committee, and the fate of the Amendments has not yet been decided. That which gave rise to the most animated discussion was the proposal for allowing an appeal to a Judge of the Supreme Court. This Amendment was proposed by Mr. | Domett, and appeared to receive the support of j Sir George Grey ; but was opposed by the Law j Officers of the Crown, as tending to defeat the main object of the Bill — the prompt and conclusive settlement of the Claims. No objection has been made to the Amendment of the AttorneyGexrral that Scrip 'should he available in the purchase of land in the Province of Neio Ulster, not being within the limits of any Hundred. The Preamble, which appears to be* intended as a History in little of the short comings of the New Zealand Company, is almost the only part of the Bill on which no Amendment has been proposed. Comparing the Bill as it is likely to come out of Committee, with* the Bill as introduced by the Government, it has not, according to public opinion, been' improved by the, so called, Amendments made in it by the Council. The following Bills are in various stages of their progress : 1. A Bill for Extending the Crown Lands Ordinance to the Province o£ New Munster. 2. Marriage Amendment Bill, for giving to the Weslcyan Methodist Society, and to the Church of Scotland, &c, the power of granting Marriage Licenses. 3. Valley of the Ilutt Fencing Bill. 4. Naturalization Bill. 5. A Bill for adopting certain English Acts of Parliament. 6. A Bill to dispense with the ability to read and write in the English language as a qualification for Voters in a Municipal District. 7. Building Societies Bill. The Session may be expected to come to a close in about three weeks. The Provincial Councils Bill being undoubtedly the most important to /he Colony at large, of the measures before the Council, we select the discussions upon it for our first series of extracts from the recently received papers, and devote to them a considerable space in our present number. In a few passages, — for the saie of clearness' and completeness, —we repeat matter, which in substance, though in a detached and comparatively imperfect form, appeared in our columns before ; but most of what we this day insert, will be new to the generality of our readers. The speech of the Attorney General of New Zealand, on moving the second reading of the Bill, will especially repay a careful and even a repeated perusal, not only as—what may be deemed — an official exposition of the principles on which the Bill has been based, and of the objects which it is intended to attain, but also as a clearly arranged, closely argued, compact, and consecutive address, expressed in eloquent language, and conveyed in a temperate tone and conciliatory spirit which are worthy of all commendation. We cannot wonder the refore that it " won golden opinions" in the South, even from those whom its reasonings did not lead to an agreement in all its conclusions. We do not attempt to sum it up here, as, in order to do it justice, the summary could not be much shorter than the speech itself, to which, as a whole, we invite the best attention of every reader, who desires to understand the subject before he forms a judgment upon it. Lieutenant Governor Eyre's remarkable hot-and-cold speech,— of support and opposition incongruously associated — was copied into our columns from the Independent of the 21st of June, and as we find the report in the Spectator of that date, the same, verbatim, (leaving little doubt that the Speaker had himself supplied it to both papers), there is no occasion for our re-publishing remarks which it would be as well for Mr. Eyre's political character that he had never made. We gave from the Independent also, Sir George Ghey's speech on the occasion, but our contemporary apologized at the time, for its report being " an imperfect sketch," and we now insert the whole, as more fully published in the Spectator. In the additional matter thus given, will be noticed his Excellency' 0

statement that " he had that morning put the last touches to a measure foy introducing a mun cipalily at Auckland, which had been prepared with the assistance of his friend the Attorney General of New Zealand." [This confirms the statement which we made some weeks since, that a plan for the formation of a Corporation to embrace the town and several miles of the country round, then existed in draft.] The Spectator's report of Mr. D. Bull's speech on the measure generally, and particularly on the Nominee element in the proposed Councils, is so much fuller and clearer that we copy it also. The discussion on the Bill in Committee comes before us now for the fitst time, and includes so many observations tending to elucidate the character of the measure — to exhibit the objections urged against some of its provisions, and the arguments by which its promoters meet those objections — that, we are : sure our readers will not grudge the space which the report occupies. Having from the outset viewed this measure with approbation, we cannot but feel gratification that it has passed the Council. It is scarcely necessary to repeat what we have more than once said, that we regard it as no ! more than an instalment of Free Institutions : — it will he seen that Sir George Grey himself stated that the twenty-second and fifteenth clauses, taken conjointly, reduced the Councils to be established under it to the level of " Municipal Councils with large powers ; over the revenue," and declared that " the ! effect of the measure would be virtually to introduce Municipal Institutions into the country :" — but as an instalment, it is large and liberal, — such as we may rejoice to have secured, considering the uncertainty whether New Zealand affairs may not have been nearly, if not wholly, lost sight of amidst the ! Parliamentary tin moils at home, to which we have before adverted, and which has been rendered yet more problematical by the latest j accounts of the unsettled state of the political world in England. | We insert an original report, forwarded by our Correspondent, of the discussion on the second reading of the Marriage Ordinance Amendment Bill. It needs little comment, as the objectors to the measure evidently had but an infintesimally small acquaintance with the subject they were talking about. It is within our knowledge that Sir George Grey has taken much pains to possess himself of full information on all its bearings ; and we are convinced that the Bill was framed with a j desire to meet the wants and wishes of the various religious communities in the Colony, — including those who have, as yet, no ministers of their own, but who may, on the arrival of an accredited minister, obtain (however small their numbers) a participation in the privileges which the measure is designed to confer. We shall, however, look with interest for the report of the Committee on the Bill, There is one point leferred to in our Correspondent's letter on which we need further information here. We allude to his statement, (corroborating that which we before gave on the authority of the Independent,) that the repeal of the duty on Flour and Wheat was only for one year. In a very brief report in the Spectator of the proceedings in Committee on this provision, we find that a motion by Mr. Hickson for the permanent abolition of the duty was lost by a majority of eight against six ; and that a motion by Mr. Cautley, that the duty be i emitted for one year, was carried by a majority of nine against four. We are therefore unable to account for the appearance in the Act of these articles as " Duty Free," without any restriction or limitation. We presume some further arrangement must have been eifecled between the 30tb of June (the day on which our Correspondent wrote) and the 3rd of July (the day on which the Ordinance is dated as passed). The Wellington papers are utterly devoid of news, except the proceedings of the Council j and we have no paper, or intelligence of any kind from Nelson, Otago, or Canterbury.

Footpaths. — "We are always happy to notice any endeavour, whether by Private or Government effort, to " mend our ways." The state of the Mount Eden road is well known to have been so bad as to render it all but impassable. Lately, however, Mr. Ridings has done much towards the improvement of a part of it by making a good Footpath from Mrs. Tucker's, just beyond the Cemetery, on towards his own house ; and now, we understand, His Excellency the Li euten ant-Governor, with his usual readiness to help forward every undertake ing of public utility, has directed that a Path, from the gate of the Cemetery to unite with this path shall be immediately constructed. This is a very great accommodation so far as it goes, to those pedestrians who would otherwise be obliged to wade through mud, the depth of which could scarcely be credited by any but those whose misfortune it has been to struggle through it. A continuation of the path for some 300 yards more would greatly add to the convenience, making a pleasant walk round to the Government Garden, the Hospital, &c.