The New-Zealander. AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1853.

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 755, 9 July 1853, Page 2

The New-Zealander.

AUCKLAND, SATURDAY, JULY 9, 1853.

Be just and fear not: Let all the ends thou aim’st at, he thy Country's, Thy God’s, and Truth’s. ‘ ’

Although the engrossing interest attachino to the election of Superintendent,—parti! cularly under the circumstances into which Mr. Brown’s coming forward in opposition to the civilian candidate, originally in the field forced the people -has undoubtedly diminl ished the excitement which might otherwise have attended the return of members for the Provincial Council and the House of Repre. eenlatives, yet we are happy to observe that the importance of these elections has not been so overlooked as to lead to apathy or negl igcnce in the part of the electors. Already there is such a number of candidates—especially forihe Provincial Council, the members for which are to he first chosen—as will enable the . constituencies, generally speaking, t 0 fi x upon men well qualified to represent their interests, and to promote the welfare not only of the particular districts for which they may sit, but of the Province as a whole. And indeed it would have been a blind and deeply injurious oversight, if ihe importance of * securing competent Provincial Councillors had been disregarded. The more the functions which will devolve upon them are considered, the fuller must be the conviction on every reflective mind that the prosperity of the Province may to a large extent be either advanced or retarded according to their efficiency or inefficiency. R is true that their functions have been defined .as being mainly of a municipal character, but ibis" fact, so far from reducing them to comparative insignificance, rather invests them with augmented responsibility and weight, as regards those concerns which,forihe very reason that they are local, have the most immediate bearing upon personal and business interests. Perhaps there is no single point in the theory of New Zealand government upon which there is a more universal agreement than the special adaptation of municipal institutions to a country geographically, commercially, and socially circumstanced tts is this. The failure of the Auckland Corporation of 1851 is well known to be attributable to causes, a right understanding of which must plainly show that the abortiveness of that particular Council in no degree invalidates this principle; and few, if any, will question that Elective Bodies—by* whatever title they may be called--which are essentially municipal in their organization and purpose, and at the same lime are endowed with adequate powers and means to carry out their objects, are peculiarly fitted, in the existing condition of the several “colonies 5 ' in these Islands, to give to each of them self-govern-ment in its most practically and directly advantageous form. Such a Body our Provincial Council is evidently intended to be. With a more elevated" title and station, it will also have powers far more extensive than those possessed by any ordinary Corporation. It is true that there are certain subjects on which, by the Constitution Act, it is prohibited from legislating; but on a careful examination of these excepted subjects, it will be seen that very few of them are either of properly local or of pressing importance, and that they have been excepted because they relate to mailers on which, —so long as ihe several Provinces remain in the sort of unioirwhich they now form, —uniformity of legislative enactments is not only desirable but absolutely necessary to the beneficial aid satisfactory working" of the general Government of the Colony. Whether all the ends of good government might not be as well, or better, attained if the Northern Districts were divided from the Southern as completely as Port Phillip has been divided from New South Wales, is a distinct, though a very iniportanlqucsiion. Itwouldonly embarrass the business immediately in hand to mix it up with the question of Provincial Separation ; we have just now to do simply with the best mode of turning to account the law T as it stands. With the exceptions of the restrictionsapplyingto the CustomsDuties,and to the Marriage Law—(which a considerable portion of the community are undoubtedly very anxious to see restored to the footing on which it was placed by the Marriage Amendment Ordinance, passed by the Colonial Legislature but recently disallowed by the Home Government), —perhaps thereisnol one of the thirteen restrictions imposed by the Act of Parliament on the legislation of the Provincial Councils, which, here at least, would be felt by any large number as a practical and present annoyance or injurySubject to the exceptions named in the Act, the Provincial Council will have power “to make and ordain all stub laws and ordinances as may be required for the peace, order, and good government of the Province,” in short, (to quote from the elaborate despatch of Governor Grey which was avowedly taken by both Lord Grey and ir John Pakinglon as the basis on which to construct the New Constitution), it “possess the most ample, in fact all requisite, powers of legislation for the regulalioa of all questions that can arise within the s Province.” < All things considered, indeed, it may be doubled whether we, in this Province, need be in any anxious haste for the meeting oj the General Assembly,,—provided we seem good local representation. Had a in the price of land not been obtained, a stroiip and urgent reason would have existed Jj> wishing that the Assembly should at t earliest possible dale be convened in order the adjustment of that momentous but now —by the delegation of 1 Queen’s authority in this mailer to . Governor, and by the prompt and energe manner in which his Excellency has acte upon the authority by conferring upon country the boon of Cheap Land— 1 motive has been set aside, and even an opP°“ site feeling may be induced by lheappi’ e “ e * sion thatsomeof the Southern Represents!- 1 * may rather thwart than promote an arrang - mciil which is here so unanimously hau with pleasure. If, as w 7 e trust will be t _ case, the Land Fund be placed by the vernor at the disposal of the Provincial Cou

cil, together with control over the general revenue of the Province—(which the General Assembly, on its coming together, may proceed thenceforward to appropriate to such extent, and to such purposes, as it may think desirable)—then there are evidently many ast eels in which we need not be in any great impatience for the meeting of the Assembly, or feel much dissatisfied if the former should give a full latitude of interpretation to the clause in the Secretary of State’s despatch on sending out the Constitution Act, in which it is said, “The Act contains no provisions touching the periods of its (the General Assembly’s) sessions, or rendering it imperative on the Governor to assemble it at stated times. It has been felt that, under the present circumstances of New Zealand, and with a complete machinery of Provincial Councils, it was possible, although no absolute prediction on this point can be hazarded, that for some time its meetings will he occasional only.” the meantime, the first duty of the electors Is to return to the Provincial Council suitable men —men of intelligence, sound common sense, knowledge of the wants and the capabilities of the Province, integrity of purpose, and, as far as possible, men who have proved their independence by thinking and acting for themselves, and who may bo relied upon as men who will not lend themselves slavishly to the views, prejudices, or personal or parly objects of any aspiring leader; —who will be neither unreasoning and obsequious supporters of the Government, because it is the Government for the time being, nor ycl opponents for the sake of opposition , and under the mischievous delusion that the only way in which a man can demonstrate his “ independence,” is by finding fault continually, and throwing obstacles in the way of every measure that does not emanate from himself, or from those with whom he has been accustomed to act.