The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12, 1853.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 704, 12 January 1853, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12, 1853.

He just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aiin'st at, be thy Country's, Thy God's, and Truth's.

in reading the last Wellington papers which have reached ns, we have looked with interest for information both as to what our Southern friends are. doing, and what they are saying, with respect to the working of the New Constitution Act, in which they, as well as ourselves, will shortly he called to engage. On the former point we find little or nothing to add to our previous knowledge. Dr. Felherslone's admirers had taken time by the forelock, by starting him at the earliest possible opportunity for the: Suporintendeucy ; and we had heard through private channels of an intention to invite Mr. Clifford to come forward as a candidate for the same office. But the latter gentleman's name had not been brought formally before the public, and, so far as the newspapers are concerned, we are left in ignorance of any further steps that may have been taken to secure the election of the ormer. Indeed the mallei' is not directly alluded to all in our late files. Nor is there any candidate mentioned as actually in the field for either the Representative Chamber or the Provincial Council. Probably the disposition was to wail for the Proclamation of the New Constitution, which would of course necessitate action ; and as it is likely that before now the Proclamation has been made, we may expoi t. more definite intelligence by the next arrival. As to the sayings at Wellington, we find scarcely anything of an immediately practical hearing in the Spectator; but the Independent is more free in the expression of opinion ami advice, in one oi its articles we find the following obseiwalions which we have pleasure in copying, and commending lo the attention of our readers. We do this the more readily as we have frequently had occasion to d*. dY from the Independent, —and indeed the very article from which we extract contains some views lo which we could give, at most, only a very qualified assent. "It must be recollected that each place will have io choose two seat:? of representatives: one which will he the more numerous, for the Provincial Council, and (lie other—which will probably be the more select, and the object of a higher ambition—for the House of Representatives. There will be perhaps no legal difficulty in choosing the same individuals for both functions. But there would certainly be many practical inconveniences, arising out of time and place of meeting, £c., which might, however, be obviated, if there were not much graver objections which ought not to be disregarded. Such a practice would tend to destroy that salutary check which the several chambers ought lo maintain on each other; and, besides this, a very different standard of mental qualification might, with propriety, be observed in the two cases. Sterling common, sense, with integrity of character, and peculiar identification with local interests, would be the qualifications principally regarded in a candidate for the Provincial Council, —such a man as you would droperly choose as a member for a Town Cotm-

oil, in England. Bui for the House of Representatives, you require legislators—men of (he most profound and, at the same lime, most practical understanding, possessing, as nearly as possible, the same average talents and accomplishments with the members of the British Legislature; men, In fact, who could, -without impropriety, be proposed as candidates for (he House of Commons at home. It is not to be expected that they should all be men of the fust class; hut there ought to be among them some individuals at least, who have made politics and jurisprudence, political economy and history, and all sorts of kindred sciences their study from their youth upwards, and who would know how to take part in a system of parliamentary government. For, if not, tho whole affair would break down, amid the laughter of the public, and the colony all, more hopelessly than ever, irdo the hands of an official oligarchy. . a It is not every man who is rich, or talkative, or who blows his own trumpet, that is therefore fit to be a representative; and, frequently, those who are the most eager to thrust themselves into such employments, are found the least qualified to fill them. Perhaps, some of those who calculate on obtaining seals have scarcely begun to consider what it is they are aiming at; —and, possibly, (hey could not employ a little lime more profitably than in studying the meaning of the word 'Legislator.' ''ln the British Parliament, with its o;>i members, and its traditional experience, (here are always found a few able men to lead the rest, and a stupid fellow may sneak in quietly and go lo sleep unobserved, under the protection of some powerful leader. But, suppose you had a Parliament entirely composed Gflogejer-heads, and a sharp practitioner— like some colonial governors whom wg have known—to deal with them ; and what would become then of your boasted selfgovernment and representative institutions?" Without dogmatically asserting that no eases can arise in which it would be expedient and desirable that the same individual should he chosen both to the Council of his Province and the Representative Chamber of the Colony, we arc satisfied that such cases, if they occur at all, must be very rare and wholly exceptional, and that, as a general rule, those Bodies should be composed of different men. This scorns to have been clearly the intention oftheframersofthe Constitution ; for although we cannot discover in the wording of the Act any formal provision establishing a legal obstacle to the election of the same persons to both Councils, yet the whole spirit of the measure points to a wide diffusion of popular influence, and to a vesting of the fights of government in the hands of the largest practicable number of the people, which is quite inconsistent with the concentration of both tiie local and the general functions in the hands of the same individuals, who would thereby be erected into a sort of oligarchy which might soon grow into a galling despotism. The Act provides as—a guard against improper legislation by a Provincial Council—the superior and over-riding authority of the General Assembly; but this check would obviously be rendered of no ellect, so far as the Representative Chamber is concerned, if the same men were to sit in the two Councils. The parallel between the Provincial Councils and .Municipal Councils in England was unquestionably intended to be maintained in the main features of the Institutions. First ami last,—in Sir George Grey's original plan, in the plan prepared under Lord Grey's direction and in the {dan now enacted by Parliament—they were designed to be " municipalities with extended powers." Their powers are indeed greater than those possessed by Corporations at home, but still they are restricted to the control of matters local to the Provinces in which they respectively exist; and although the 00th clause of the new Act gives the General Assembly authority to alter the laws ''respecting the powers of such Councils," yet, as the Times with great apparent W-rrvo, argues, "that power must, we apprehend, bo read in subordination to the express enactment of the 19th clause, which forbids tin; Provincial Legislatures to meddle with thirteen reserved subjects; and if so, the result is that it is competent to the Central Assembly to curtail, but byno means lo increase the powers of the local Councils." Still, the Provincial Councils will have extensive authority, within their own s| here, and indeed to them the colonists must look mainly for those judicious improvements within their immediate circles of industry and interest which, from their proximity and direct bearing on local concerns, may most closely alFect their welfare. It will therefore be in the highest degree desirable that men should be chosen to those Councils possessed of tho qualifications which our Wellington contemporary has sketched,— "sterling common sense, with integrity of character, and peculiar identification with local interests." It will of course be all the better if, in addition lo these indispensable qualifications, there be also the intellectual and educational acquirements which are essentials of fitness for those higher functions of legislation which will belong lo the llepresentative Chamber; and we can see no reason why this may not. be anticipated in several cases, if the electors will only exercise their privilege with due discrimination ; —for there wiil be persons qualified for any of the Assemblies whose business engagements, or other circumstances, may prevent their seeking or accepting seats in a Chamber the sessions of which may be held at a distant part of the Colony should the Governor so will, but could, and who cheerfully would, devote lo a Council silting in their own neighbourhood all the necessary time and attention. We might say much more on this subject, but many occasions for reverting to it will arise. Meanwhile the choice of suitable men for the several offices cannot be too soon taken into that consideration which leads to action. The election of a Superintendent for the Province, we again remind our readers, will be the first step, in the order of time, and scarcely second in the order of importance, in the practical working of the Constitution.