CHARTISM IN NEW ZEALAND.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 596, 19 April 1851, Page 4

CHARTISM IN NEW ZEALAND.

[From the Sydney Morning Herald, March 25. J The settlers of Port Nicholson appear to be thoroughly inoculated with the principles of Ultra-Chartism. Hitherto, the Government of the 'New Zealand Islands has been so strangely mis-managed, that any change would be preferable to the autocratical government of Sir George Grey. Some two or three years ago, the Settlers’ Constitutional Association was established at Wellington, for the purpose of obtaining, if possible, a representative legislature and responsible government. The intentions of the Association were delayed by the expectation of the New Constitution, but towards the close of last year a Committee was appointed at a public meeting, held at Wellington, “to consider the provisions of a Constitution suitable to the colony and that Committee met the Association, for the purpose of considering the report, which it was the intention of the Committee to lay before a general mee'ting for its adoption. The report is a lengthy document, but the following extracts show the recommendation proposed as the basis of a New Constitution. The report commences by “ defining selfgovernment to mean the entire independence of the colonists on all local matters, excluding all interference by the Home Government on every question of mere internal interest to the colony, but giving to the Governor a veto to be exercised on his own responsibility and that of his local advisers without reference home, and independently of instructions from the Colonial Office.” It next recommends “ the responsibility of all Local Officials to the colonists by making their tenure of office dependent on their retaining public confidence, manifested by their being eiected to the Legislature.” These two proposals are so manifestly just, first to obviate the delay and inconvenience of communication with Downing-street upon questions of purely local importance, and secondly, to prevent the intrigue, jobbery, and favoritism, which are inseparable from an irresponsible government, that sooner or later these two recommendations must inevitably be conceded to all the Australian colonies. The report next requires that “ the Governor shall be appointed by the Home Government, but to be removable on an address to the Crown of two-thirds of the members of the Legislature, and his term of office to be renewable.” What properly qualified man would accept office on these terms ? Who would undertake the trouble and expense of even leaving England as Governor of New Zealand to be turned adrift at the caprice and whim of two-thirds of the Legislative Council ? The report provides for the Governor exercising his veto on his own responsibility and that of his local advisers. We can suppose that a popular measure may be adopted by the Local Legislature, and inimical to the Government, from which the Governor withholds his consent to ■ its becoming law, a collision takes place immediately between the Governor and the Legislature ; in the heat of disappointment, a motion is made for his removal, and hastily anu imrriedly he may be driven from the country without even what would be conceded to a domestic servant, “ a month’s warning.” But if this p ro p OSa i be absurd, the one which follows convinces us how thoughtlessly these recommendations have been penned, without rag ard to their ultimate effect. « The Judges of the Supreme Court are io hold office dunng g-oorf behaviour, removable on an address to the Governor from two-thirds of the Legislature. Imperial questions are defined, Ind in cases of dispute, referred to the Supreme vouh, Wltn appeal to the Privy Council.” ? u f ‘ he " eC n Sl 7 of bavi °g ‘he Judicial Bench pure, unsullied, and above suspicion, there uTof th ? C ° nd Opiniofl - The appreciation of the judgments of British Judges ar i- ’ Se 3 from the fact that they are unbou|ht and unpurchasable, that fearlessly their judgments are given, whether in favour of the Crfwn or inVhn D' ; and ,H U(lBraent a Chief Justice "Van Diemen s Land in support of the law and in opposition to the views -and wishes of wbi ?° ver " m . ent Js an instance of the respect ’ ’ ? S ln . de P Bndent conduct must command ; but place the Judges in a different position holding office on]? at the will of wo-thirds of a Legislative Council, and then z e su f rr of p ja3 - — • ..vu. xl such a state of cir-

cumstances had existed in Van TY R Land, Sir John Redder would, i n |> leiDei >'iK bility, have been removed from’ the B Pt M' giving an honest judgment, in not same construction upon an Act of 0 l, | which the members of the legislature passed it. Besides, the term of office during good behaviour” * too in SI to form a ground of removal by a £ e ■ ] , 1,! B Council. A pun from the Bench ma i'' e i garded by some legislators as and a breach of good behaviour, whH commission of an immoral act rnregarded by another as an insufficient b for a Judge’s removal. The report th on to say, “The Committee thinks th the present, one Legislative Chamber be sufficient; but in deference to then ii I of the colonial reformers at home, and 'vl view to the future, recommends* tffoptbeing entirely elective, and every p at( ’j i ol ' l the nominee element rejected from 'the * H stitution. The Upper House toUjZl for seven years —the Lower for three. Legislature to sit once a year,” i,. ! 8 Zealand, where the population is so I scattered, and the settlements at such die ces from each other, there is no doubt that one Legislative Chamber will bo n u j, — much as .they will be aale to find membre for, and therefore the recommendations p entirely in accordance with the quantityopg gislative material which the colony If the constitution were to be comnoseß .'L two Houses instead of one, and all the bers elective, great difficulty would existiiß finding sufficient and suitable representative! The report next proceeds to give the n.S commendations of the Committee on "Th® elective franchise.” After arguing the qu y .fc vour of universal suffrage, limited only hl twelve months’ residence, and a proviso h against convictism. In the case ofthew.! tives, their ignorance of the British constiti. I tion and every political subject, suggesti ■ much caution ; care should be taken to pre. I vent half civilized aborigines from outbalanc-1 ing the intellectual Europeans, and a sufflci. I ent guarantee given, by a qualification suffioi. I ently high, to restrict the few who havereihjl emerged from barbarism. This test it bl proposed to leave the responsibility of fixio»l to the Home Government, protesting, how-H ever, most strongly against the Governorha.|

ving the power to confer the franchise by a cer-1 tificate of fitness. Next follows “ QailihcaM tions for Representatives,- in thelostthonwl the same as for elector ; in the upper house, U five years’ residence in the colony.” These! two recommendations of the Committee cer-1 tainly carry with them the extreme principlesg of ultra radicalism. A franchise based upon I a twelvemonths’ residence, to begin with, is B as low a qualification as could well be reqoi-| red from an elector. Universal suffrage has B hitherto been repudiated in Great Britain, | where people are concentrated and have unli-S mited advantages in obtaining education, Botg in New Zealand, where from the very nature fl of the country education must necessarily bt g limited for years to come, a twelvemonths' g resident, without restriction as to age or edu* H cation, is to enjoy not only the importaiit and B highly valued privilege of being an elector, E but is to be deemed qualified to sit also as a B member of the Legislative Council. InAffi’l rica, universal suffrage appears to work tole- B rably well. In France it has proved a fail- B ure. In Great Britain it has never been tried, ■ for this most prudential reason, viz., a desiroß to preserve sacred the present constitution, R and not to risk its destruction by a tic assembly. With such a low franchise and || qualification in New Zealand, would, again repeat, properly qualified men be found re to accept the appointment of Governor or the| office of Judge ? Let the qualification both for elector and representative be adapted W the circumstances of the colony, but some I 1 *' lification beyond a twelvemonths’ residencein the colony must be required, if the Lcgtsb' ture is to be respectable, and its members bo‘ nest. We are only surprised that the Com' mittee did not recommend that the rnembe*’ of Council should be paid for their services, 'as the effect of universal suffrage that artizans and mechanics without mean s support themselves will as n ire to be leghb' tors. The report lastly requires that waste lands shall be subject to the control ° the Legislature,” a proposition so reasonahkt and one that vye have so repeatedly advocate, that we heartily concur in its recommends' tion.