Page 2 Advertisements Column 6

New Zealander, Volume 9, Issue 793, 19 November 1853, Page 2

.... cienlly carried out until the Registration Bill became law. Select Committees which had not yet reported, were by special vote empowered to sit during the recess. Amongst the acts now standing as passed by the Council during its sittings, measures for the improvement of the city of Sydney occupy a conspicuous place. And perhaps most eminent amongst those in the Sydney Corporation Abolition Act, which has all Hie merit of lifting off an incubus under which th e community bad long suffered,—and sweeping an immense accumulation of rubbish away, jn order to make room for the establishnientofa municipal system from which better things may be anticipated. There wasscarcely an ip, dividual who had not some interest in ihe maintenance of the abuse who could be found to move hand or tongue to avert the blow • and—the Act having on the 20th ult. received the Governor General’s assent—on the 3ist of December next the “Corporation of Svdney” will cease to exist. Whether it will “ { fie decently” and out of debt, seems a doubtful matter. The Herald says, “There are some rumours abroad that the retiring body will not leave their affairs in that correct state which might be wished for. So Air front a balance beiiig to the credit of the city according to the best information we have been able to procure, a deficit is anticipated.” The Municipal Gavernmeut is in future to be vested in three Commissioners,—to be appointed by the Governor General, the Chief Commissioner with a salary of 1000/ per annum, the others with 800/. per annum each. To them the whole of the property at present vested in the Corporation is to be transferred, and with them (subject to Hie approval of the Governor-General) will’ rest all the appointments of officers, surveyors engineers, collectors, workmen, Ac. They are to possess all the powersfor the improvement and sanatory guardianship of the city formerly conferred on the Mayor, Aldermen and Councillors, together with important additional powers and facilities derived from new measures adopted in this session of Council one for the better sewerage and cleansing of the city and suburbs: another for supplying the city and suburbs with water. On the whole, the project promises well, and the results of the change will be looked for in other places, as well as at Sydney, with interest, from the light it may be expected to throw upon the question whether a paid Commission is not generally preferable to the machinery of a regular Corporation after the old fashion.

From Victoria there is intelligence via Sydney a few days later than we had received directly from Melbourne. The only part of it which calls for notice here Is the outline of the New Constitution for the Colony which is likely to be proposed by the Select Committee. The deliberations of this Committee were kept very private at first, but their intentions seemed at length to have transpired. The following is a brief view of the chief features understood to characterise their plan : The Legislature of Victoria to consist of two Chambers, both wholly elective, and to be designated respectively the “Senate” and the “ House of Representatives.”

The Upper Chamber, or “ Senate,” is to consist of twenty-five members, for whose election the colony is to be divided into five electoral districts, and one member is to be elected for each district every alternate year. The qualifications of a member are to be —that he shall be at least thirty years of age, a British born subject, and a resident in the colony for five years, and that he shall have a free-bold estate valued at •10,000/., or producing an ncome of 1000/. per annum. The qualification for electors to the Senate is to be, a freehold valued at 1000/. or producing an income of 100/. per annum,—or a leasehold estate producing a clear bona-fide income of 500/. per annum, —or occupation as tenant of a leasehold estate paying 500/. rent,—or being a graduate of any British University, a Barrister or Solicitor on the Roll of the Supreme Court, ora legally qualified Medical Practitioner, all such having resided in the colony for twelve months, —or being an Officiating Minister of Religion,—or a Licensed Occupant of Crown Lands possessing 8000 sheep or 1000 head of cattle.

For the House of Representatives, the qualifications fora member to be—a freehold estate worth 2000/., or of the anual value of 100/. The qualification for electors includes all who have votes for senators, all freeholders of estates yielding 5/. per annum, lease holders of property rented at 10/. per annul* tenants at an occupation rental of 30/., persons holding diggers licenses for twelve months, and persons having salaries to the amount of 100/. per annum. Amongst the dis-qualiflcations of an elector are nonpayment of taxes, and, after 1856, being unable to read and write.

The Executive Government it is proposed shall consist of seven Heads of Departments, whp are to hold their appointments from the Governor, but in bis selection of them, at least must have scats in each House.

A Civil List is proposed, in which, it was said, the Governor’s salary would be fixed at 10,000?. a year, with 5000/. fo r the ex* penses of his establishment,— this amount it was hoped being sufficient to induce me Governor General of Australia to reside at Melbourne. Various Retiring Pcino and the support of Public Worship also be provided for in the Civil List. Such was the scheme of a Constitution for Victoria expected to be presented by m Committee. The Melbourne Jhrald w already pointing out faults,—such as enormously high qualification both fornt bers and electors of the Senate;’’ the . sence of any soi'l of consideration for who have no bouses of their own, but as boarders in this city of boarding hous » the power given to squalors “whoniaj grossly ignorant and intellectually <m ( l lJ lied,” and so on. A New South 1 gentleman writing from Port Philhp - ’ (in a letter to which the Sydney the position and type of a “ leader”) ‘ * s well imagine how we in New South would have risen as one man il a Co ns , lion had been proposed for us. | IC^.; S , precedent which occurs to me is the L ‘• lence of aristocratic power of Louis iVap o in conjunction wilh universal suffrage ■ We had prepared a similar notice of n® proceedings of the Legislative Counci Van Diemen’s Land, but the demands on space compel us to omit it to-day.