AUSTRALIAN COLONIES BILL.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 445, 7 November 1849, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN COLONIES BILL.

The following are the series of resolutions of which Mr. Adderley gave notice as

an amendment of the Australian Constitution (No. 2) Bill, but which proved too detailed to place on the Notice Paper. As the Bill is now recast for the third time, and some of the suggestions thrown out in these Resolutions have been adopted, he is the more anxious that this amendment, proposed contemporaneously with the Second Phase, should be put on record ; so that the counter views of those who desire the alternative here offered may be kept, pan passu with the changes of the original proposition, before the eyes of the public at home and in the colonies. I. That inasmuch as it is impossible that her Majesty's subjects in Australasia should be ruled by the laws and authorities which compose the government of the United Kingdom, necessity requires that Parliament should constitute a special authority for the purpose, and thereunto delegate subordinate powers of legislation and executive government. 11. That of the two very different systems of subordinate authority for the government of distant colonies ; namely, first, the Central System, which places colonial rule in the hands of a special department of the Imperial government ; and secondly, the Municipal System, which empowers the colonists themselves to manage their merely local affairs in their own way, without control or interference from any distant authority, — the Municipal System is greatly to be preferred in providing for the local government of her Majesty's subjects in Australasia, because it affords the only means of beneficial subordinate government in countries so extremely distant from London ; because it agrees with the self-rely-ing national character of colonists proceeding from England; because it would impose on the distant colonies alone, the cost, trouble, and responsibility of their local government, and would wholly relieve the mother-country from those burthens ; because it would prevent with respect to the colonies in question, those unceasing colonial discontents, remonstrances, and collisions, with imperial authority, which the central system invariably produces when applied to English colonists ; and, finally, because the municipal system is highly recommended by a comparison of its results in the colonization of America by our forefathers, with the results of the central system in the colonies of France and Spain, and in the modern colonies of England which have been placed under its depressing influence. 111. That in framing constitutions of municipal government for the five colonies mentioned in the Bill entitled " A Bill for the better Government of her Majesty's Australian Colonies," it is above all things necessary, for the purpose of averting discord and collision hetween the colonial and imperial governments, to exclude from municipal interference all those subjects which concern the interests and honour of the empire, and strictly to confine municipal jurisdiction to the subjects which exclusively concern the distant colonies. IV. That inasmuch as the subjects which exclusively concern the distant colonies, are infinitely numerous and diversified, whilst those which concern the empire in its relation to these colonies are, notwithstanding their importance, so few and obvious as to be readily specified, the most convenient mode of proceeding whereby effectually to separate imperial and colonial jurisdictions, is an ample specification in the constitutional law of the latter class of subjects, with a provision for debarring the municipal governments from every sort of inteference with them, all other subjects being placed by means of general terms, under the exclusive jurisdiction of each municipal government within the bounds of each municipality. Y. That the only subjects which concern the interests and honour of the empire with relation to these distant possessions of her Majesty, are, first, the allegiance of the colonies to her Majesty's crown ; secondly, the naturalization of aliens ; thirdly, whatever relates to treaties between the Crown and any foreign power ; fourthly, all political intercourse and communications between any of the colonies and any officer of a foreign power or dependency ; fifthly whatever relates to the employment, command, and discipline of her Majesty's troops and ships within the colonies, and whatever relates to the defence of the colonies from foreign aggression, including the command of the municipal militia and marine in the time of war ; and sixthly, whatever relates to the crime of high treason. And that all the subjects aforesaid being specifically excluded from municipal interference by the constitutional law, then, for the management of those subjects within the municipalities by officers of the imperial government, separate provision ought to be made by Parliament. VI. That the subjects in which the colonists of Australasia have a concern surpassing all others in real importance to their, welfare,

and in which, accordingly they take the most active and unremitting interest, is the disposal of waste lands, with the object of promoting emigration and settlement ; and that although the concern of the mother- [ country in the due performance of this business is very considerable, yet, inasmuch as the subject is one of such indifference and disregard to the people and Parliament of the United Kingdom, that imperial legislation and administration with regard to it are necessarily both ignorant and irresponsible, whilst the most efficient performance of this business by the colonists for their own advantage must likewise be most efficient for the advantage of the mother-country ; therefore it is just and expedient that the whole business of the disposal of waste lands, in each colony, should be confided to the several municipal governments, or, with a view to uniformity of legislation, to a federal government of the group of the colonies. VII. That next in importance to the complete separation of imperial and municipal powers, is the form of municipal governments to be established in Australasia : that inasmuch as such governments are intended for subjects of her Majesty emigrating from the United Kingdom, it is most expedient that the form of such subordinate governments should as far as possible resemble that of the government to which such emigrants have been accustomed and are attached ; and that although in framing such municipal governments it would be expedient to use titles and designations different from those which pertain to the government of the empire, and expressive of the subordinate, limited, and merely local character of municipal authority, and although circumstances peculiar to the colonies may require that the form of their municipal governments should differ in some other respects from the British constitution, yet every consideration of policy suggests, whilst the subordinate character of municipal authority in nowiseforbids,thatamunicipalconstitution should so far resemble that of the mother-country as i to be founded on the mixed principles of po- j pular influence as secured by the House of Commons, of conservative influence, as secured by the House of Lords, and of a strong j but responsible executive as secured by means of an hereditary and irresponsible head of the government acting oa the advice of responsible ministers. VIII. That whereas her Majesty's subjects in Australasia ardently desire to possess constitutions of local government founded on the general principles of the British constitution, and whereas the particular application of those principles in framing the details of municipal constitutions for the Australasian colonies ought to be regulated by the peculiar and varying circumstances of those distant and ever growing communities, with which Parliament can at no time be duly acquainted, therefore it is expedient and most convenient, that Parliament, adopting in this respect numerous precedents furnished by the English charters of colonial government granted by the Crown in the seventeenth century, should, in establishing constitutions for the colonies in Australasia, confine itself to the enactment of general provisions founded on the main principles of the British consti- j tution, and should bestow on the colonies themselves authority to settle all matters of detail, and to alter the same at pleasure, but subject always to the general provisions so enacted by the supreme legislature of the empire. IX. That whereas questions might sometimes arise relating to real or alleged violations of the law, through the invasion of reserved imperial rights by the municipal governments, or the invasion of granted municipal rights by imperial officers, and whereas it is most objectionable that such questions should either remain matter of dispute between the parties concerned, or be left to the determination of either party, and whereas such questions, being of a legal nature, could only be satisfactorily determined, and thereby put at rest, by a legal tribunal set in action by either of the parties concerned, and both investigating the facts and giving its decision in the face of the public, therefore it is expedient that one of the highest of her Majesty's courts of law should be empowered to determine all such questions ; and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council appears to be a suitable tribunal for the purpose. X. That whereas with a view to the peace and good government of a colony possessing municipal authority sufficient for all local purposes, it is fitting that the cost of keeping the peace should fall upon the colonists themselves, by whose mismanagement alone disorder could arise; therefore in case any such colony should require the presence of imperial troops for any internal purpose, and her Majesty should see fit to grant their request for the same, then the expense of maintaining such troops ought to be borne by the colony, as happens in the case of British India. XI. That, whereas an act of the supreme legislature purporting to establish constitu-

tions of government for these colonies, ought to be as simple and plain as possible, and ought especially to be complete in itself, by containing all the constitutional provisions which are to bind the colonies, to the end that the whole of such provisions may be seen at one view, and the constitutional law be readily understood in the hearing of its several parts upon each other, — therefore it is highly inconvenient that such a law should in any measure consist of existing Acts of Parliament, and Acts to amend and continue Acts, but all provisions of existing A.cts relating to the subject ought to be repealed, and such of their provisions as it should be deemed fit to continue ought to be inserted in the one constitutional law as substantive provisions of the sime. XII. That the bill entitled " A hill for the better government of her Majesty's Australian Colonies," and purporting to enact a constitutional law for these dependencies, is objectionable for the .following reasons: — 1. Because it is based on existing Acts of Parliament relating to the government of the said colonies, and Acts to amend and continue Acts, whilst it repeals parts of such Acts ; so that the true intent and effect of the whole constitutional law is hard to be discovered. 2. Because, in conjunction with several Acts relating to these colonies, it establishes neither the central nor the municipal system of colonial government, but parts of both, mixed together in such a state of confusion with regard to the subjects and means of legislation and the execution of laws, as to insure conflict between imperial and municipal powers in each colony, and discord between the colonies and the imperial government. S. Because, in particular, it does not specifically withhold from colonial jurisdiction any of the subjects which exclusively concern the empire. 4. Because it does specifically withhold from colonial jurisdiction subjects which exclusively concern the colonies ; namely, the local taxation of the colonists by customs duties, provision for the support of religion out of local funds, the appropriation of a large portion of the local revenues, the amount of the salaries of the principal local officers, and the appointment and removal of all .local officers. 5. Because, in conjunction with existing Acts of Parliament, it withholds from the colonists all control whatsoever over the disposal of the waste lands. 6 Because, as respects the form of government in the five colonies, instead of bestowitjg upon each of them a constitution purposely adapted to its peculiar circumstances, ihe said bill merely extends to four of them the present form of government of the penal colony of New South Wales, and preserves the same for New South Wales itself. 7. Because it leaves to the Colonial Office in London authority to disallow all laws passed by the local legislatures. 8. Because it establishes an uniform electoral franchise for the representatives of differently circumstanced colonies, and of an amount in consequence of peculiarities in the social condition of the colonies, is virtually much nearer to universal suffrage than that of the British House of Commons. 9. Because it does not establish a second legislative body so composed as to promote due deliberation and conservative tendencies in legislation, to render the ambition of leading settlers conducive to the public welfare, to check the vacillation of a fluctuating society, and to attract from the mother country the most valuable class of emigrants. 10. Because instead of identifying the head of each local government with the colony, and investing him with high and permanent station, it preserves the system under which the head of a colonial government is generally an utter stranger to the colonists, seldom, except through his appointment to office, a person of higher rank and station than many of the colonists, and almost sure to be removed from the colony soon after acquiring a knowledge of its peculiar circumstances and wants. 11. Because it provides for conflict in the legislature, and grievous impediments to legislation, by mixing together in the same legislative body, members to be elected by the colonists as their representatives, and members to be appointed by a resident officer of the Colonial Office,, as the representatives of official opinions and interests.