TACTICS OF THE COLONIAL REFORMERS. [From the Spectator, March 16.]

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VI, Issue 523, 7 August 1850, Page 4

TACTICS OF THE COLONIAL REFORMERS. [From the Spectator, March 16.]

Dreaded as it may be, and often deferred, the stage to which the Australian Colonies Government Bill has at last arrived cannot longer be delayed ; the committee is set down for Friday next. Ministers probably bail their own progress as the bridegroom hails the happiest day of his life, who knows that he is fitter for the penitential cell. They had impeded their own course with every decent pretext ; the last time they put off the bill because they had received "*' new information:" the committee stood over.; but it turns out (hat the information is not new, and that the bill has not benefited by it in the way of alteration. The day has come — all but ; and the bill will have to undergo the dreaded scrutiny in committee The fate of the ministry, indeed, does -not hang upon it — no ministry will be turned out ; but their reputation is at stake, their reputation for evermore. Without ascribing any fraudulent intention to the Prime Minister, we take leave to say that the bill is in substance a fraud ; since it is found to have no conformity with the fine sentiments put forward in his speech, no capacity for giving effect to those sentiments. Certain friends of the' ministers perceive this awkward predicament, and they aie casting about to descry a corner of escape. They see well enough that when the close scrutiny of the committee arrives, the fraud involved in the bill as a sequel to Lord John Russell's speech will be exposed, and they are preparing pretexts for openly ignoring the fraud, and retaliating some kind of detriment on those who are likely to expose it ; for tbey do not perceive that the real disgrace to their proetges the ministers will consist in carrying so bad a piece of work. There are in the House of Commons a number of persons who desire to take credit for being independent of official influences, and to be deemed promoters of any M reforms," so long as such reforms cost nothing ; but at a pinch these fairweather companions always find an excuse to back out ; and they are often not sorry to see those who are more earnest than themselves fall into some pitfall. So it is new. There are some, even among " reformers" called colonial, who are seeking pretexts for helping ministers to evade colonial reforms, and already have hopes that the promoters of reform in the matter of this Australian bill may fall into a trap. i The actual position of the bill at present i encourages their speculation. The general i opinion is, that there should be in each colo- < ny not one but two legislative chambers, re- < presenting severally the principles of young eneigetic progress and mature firm conserva- ; tism — principles to be found in every cultiva- { ted community. Even the democratic United States of America have felt that necessity and J adopted that plan. In accepting this general c opinion, one distinguished member of the as- ; sociation pledged to colonial reform, who is t by connexion a member of the " Tory" party, t endeavours to carry out the proposition in a r fashion accordant with bis own traditions, by f forming an upper house of members " ap- i pointed by the crown under its sign manual." n Sir William Molesworth, following his tradi- t; tions, with a closer analogy to the American s model, agrees that there should be two cham- q bers, but proposes to make the second champ ber or senate elective. This difference of n view inspires the " hopes" in question. tl A morning contemporary, professing to a: hold the just balance between Downing. street ai and the colonial reformers, shows how minis- oi

I ters, obliged to give up tbeir own single Council composed of one-third crown nominees, might agree to Mr. Walpole's project of a second Council composed entirely of nominees ; and thus, blocking out Sir William Molesworth, establish a bureaucratic body capable of vetoing all the legislation of the colony. That the colonial reformers have afforded their censor an opportunity to suggest this man«uvre, no doubt favours his disparaging estimate of their Parliamentary tactics. The way to vindicate tbeir tactics, and defeat the manoeuvre, is to concentrate their strength upon a larger and more important issue than the question of two chambers — namely, the real local independence of colonial legislation, to be established by the constitutional act. Sir William Molesworth has made an invaluable contribution towards this object, by a paper printed and circulated yesterday morning with the votes. In the form of " clauses/ as amendments on the Grey-Hawes bill, he virtually lays before the House of Commons a complete bill ot his own. It is just what the ministerial bill is not. Compressed within six pages, it is succinct, simple, and compressive; it rests mainly upon the total separation of colonial and imperial powers ; and, reserving to the imperial government, with the appointment (and therefore payment) of the Governor, the entire control over imperial affairs, it concedes to the colony the entire disposal of local affairs. Sir William Molesworth's bill is substantive, without the puzzling references to previous acts and parts of acts which encumber the ministerial project; it is distinct and clearly intelligible in itself and by itself. It is deliberately and maturely put forth from the hand of the workman in a complete shape, and cannot invite those retractations which have so distinguished the projectors of the ministerial bill, The most unlearned member, provided he be conscientious, will discover its superiority at a glance. To those who take an interest in the litetature of the subject, we can recommend a paper of comprehensive scope and animated style in Fruser's Magazine for the current month. Mr. Adderley has been exercising his acute pleasantry in a pamphlet on Lord John's " go-cart" measure — not to give the colonies self-government, but, in the words of the title page to the authorized edition of his Lordship's speech, " to promote their capacity for it." A heavier battery is brought to bear against the unfortunate bill, by Mr. Mackay, the author of The Western World; whose studies and travels have peculiarly qualified him to test the Downing-street production. Mr. Mackay dissects it clause by clause, and demonstrates that the bill would be utterly unworkable for good — first, on account of inherent defects in its machinery ; and secondly, from its being, in essential features, at variance with the tastes, habits, feelings, and prejudices of the colonists.