GOVERNOR GREY AND THE HERALD. [From the Maitland Mercury.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 371, 21 February 1849, Page 3

GOVERNOR GREY AND THE HERALD. [F rom the Maitland Mercury.]

Our contemporary tbe Sydney Morning Herald has taken Governor Grey to account for his recent proceedings in New Zealand. We, too, have been watching the Governor's late proceedings with some interest, and as we thiuk that his Excellency has received somewhat scurvy treatment at the hands of our contemporary, we feel impelled to say a few words in his behalf. The Provincial Councils Bill was, we must admit, passed in unseemly haste. But we are at a loss to understand how the constitutional rights o^ the settlers in Cook's Strait have been compromised by that Bill. Previous to its passing they were under the control of the Governor and a nominee Council at Auckland ; they have now got a nominee Council of their own 10 manage their local affairs. The alteration is certainly an improvement. The immediate question was not between a nominee and a representative Council ; but, between a nominee Council, or none at all. And a nominee legislature is, after all, no bad preparative for representative government. It serves as an excellent medium of communication between the Governor and the people ; and although the members are appointed by the Government, they are practically scarcely less under the influence of public opinion than if they were elected. The history of our own, the Van Dieroen's Land, and the South Australian nominee legislatures, show that subserviency to the Government, or indifference to the interests of their fellow-colonists, are not characteristics of-

crown-made legislators. In the present case, totf, it is obvious that the Wellington Provincial Council is appointed to prepare the way for representative government — to accelerate, rather than to retard, the boon which the colonists are so anxious to obtain. -Our contemporary not only finds fault with Governor Grey for establishing the first Provincial Council, but for the manner in which he has filled up the appointments. With how much reason we will let our contemporary himself show : — "Whilst Governor Greg's bill was under the discussion of the colonists, he was busily engaged in making out his list of nominees ; and to appease irritation and win over the affections of his opponents, seats in the new Council were offered to those who had been Governor Grey's staunchest enemies. The bait was not swallowed. Those who at first were solicited to take seats in the Council were men who had taken a prominent political position, they were among the most intelligent, wealthy, and influential of this little band of settlers. They rejected Governor Grey's overtures, preferring a position in which they could agitate for political freedom, rather than have their mouths sealed by being his nominees in Council. Governor Grey, 'by the refusal of the elite of the settlers, whom he had hoped to prevail upon to become his tools, issues fresh invitations ; his endeavours are attended with success, and the New Zealand Government Gazette, of the 21st of December, furnishes us with the information that Messrs. W. M. Bannatvne, F. D. Bell, W. Hickson, G. Hunter, A. Ludlam, and G. Moore, are Members of the Legislative Council of the Province of New Munster. If Governor Grey had thrown the names of every settler in Port Nicholson into a bag and determined upon having for his Council those six whose names were first drawn, he could not have drawn out men remarkable for less intelligence, less influence, or possessing smaller stakes in the colony, than those whom he has selected, and who have accepted. If it was Governor Grey's intention that a diversity of interests should be represented in his Council he has completely succeeded. He has nominees who are owners of land, and nominees who do not possess an inch of real property in the colony. He has an ex-Un-der Secretary of the New Zealand Company, and a partizan of the late Colonel Wakefield. He has merchants, and a retail dealer in tapes ; but, with the exception of Mr. Hickson, they have never shont out in political relief." Is Governor Grey then to be held responsible for the donkeyism of the " elite of the settlers "at Wellington ? If they refused to assist the Government in managing the affairs of the settlement, what was his Excellency to do but to take the next best he could get, even though one of his selections should lie under the enormity of being a "retail dealer in tapes ?" What better guarantee for honesty of purpose in the establishing the Council could Governor Grey give than the ■offer of seats to "his staunchest enemies;" and these opponents, too, the most prominent amongst the little band of settlers for their intelligence, wealth, and influence. Our friend of the Herald and the " elite of the settlers" in New Zealand are hard to satisfy. Did a seat in our own nominee Council prevent Messrs. Macarthur, Blaxland, and Jamison, from " agitating for political freedom V Or rather, did not their position in that Council enable them to assist their fellow- colonists all the more effectually in winning' representative government ? Look, again, to Messrs. Gregson and Dry, and others, in Van Diemen's Land; and to Messrs. Morphett, Bagot, and Hagen, in South Australia. Have the mouths of these nominees been sealed by the acceptance of a seat in the legislatures of their respective colonies ? Or are they not invariably in the van of their fellow- colonists when any measure on behalf of freedom is to be achieved ? The plea for non-acceptance on the part of the "elite of the settlers" of Wellington is, then, as hollow as the complaint against Governor Grey for finding the best substitutes he could is unreasonable. Before our contemporary undertook to dissect and dispose of the new constitution which Governor Grey has suggested for New Zea- j land, he should have made himself master of J Jts details. He would then have avoided falling into the blunder " the General Legislature is to be composed of a portion of the several Provincial Legislative Councils." This is not the case ; for" Governor Grey is of .opinion that it "might be desirable to return , to the Provincial Councils persons who would ,not be suitable for the General Assembly." The members of the representative chamber .of the General Assembly will be elected directly by the various constituencies of the colony, as will also the representative members ,of the Provincial Councils. Nor do we find .anything in Governor Grey's written outline fif the proposed constitution, or in his verbal of jts pr.oyisjons, to warrant the j Herald's assertion that, "as in olden times '

in England, when the Parliament assembled in provincial cities alternately with Westminster, so Governor Grey has proposed that the General Legislative Council shall assemble alternately in the northern and southern portions of New Zealand." From the general tenor of the Governor's minute and speech, we should infer that the meetings of the General Assembly will be held permanently in the capital of New Zealand ; and the establishment in each province of a Legislative Council with rather ample powers would seem to render it unnecessary for the General Assembly to travel from one part of the colony to another. From want of local knowledge, we are not qualified to offer an opinion as to whether the constitution sketched out by Governor Grey is or is not the best that could be devised for New Zealand in its present circumstances. We have some doubts whether the supreme and the provincial legislative assemblies wiil work well together; -and whether in an infant colony it would not have been better to have entrusted the whole of the legislation to one assembly. But whatever doubts we feel on these points, we feel none as to the decided superiority of Governor Grey's constitution over the one which it is intended to supersede. In every respect, we think we may say, it is better than Earl Grey's : it is more practicable, more simple, and more liberal and constitutional. It distinctly recgnises and preserves the invaluable principle of direct election ; it confers the elective franchise on the great bulk of the European population, and on such of the natives as are likely to use it judiciously ; and while it provides for the establishment of municipal institutions in districts where the inhabitants desire them, it guards against these institutions being forced on districts to which they are unsuitable or unpalatable. Whatever defects, therefore, there may be in Governor Grey's proposed constitution, it embodies too many sound, valuable principles, to be condemned on slight matters of detail, more especially if, as in the case of the Herald, these objections aiise at least as much from the misapprehension of .the critic as from the mistake of the statesman. Colonial Governors like Sir George Grey are not plentifnl as blackberries. Where we find a Governor who has the courage to suspend a constitution sent out by the British Ministry and Parliament because he thinks it would be injurious to those under his authority — and who, by his statesmanship and energy, has conducted one colony from a state of depression to almost unexampled activity and prosperity, and is fast extricating another from a mesh of most perplexing difficulties — we are in common justice bound to fairly represent his actions and policy, and to place a candid, if not a generous, construction on his motives and intentions.