New Zealand Spectator AND COOK’S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, June 18, 1851.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 613, 18 June 1851, Page 2

New Zealand Spectator AND COOK’S STRAIT GUARDIAN. Wednesday, June 18, 1851.

The settlers have now had an opportunity of judging of the scope and tendency of the Ordinances submitted to the Legislative Council, and the general opinion appears to be that of concurrence and approbation in the principles embodied in those measures. Nor indeed could it well be otherwise, since the bills introduced into the Council have chiefly for their object either the removal of serious evils which have long afflicted the community, and have interfered to prevent its progress, the alteration of existing laws so as to render their operation in accordance with'the wishes of the settlers, or the gradual extension of local self-government in the different settlements. And any further delay m bringing forward these measures would have been to the detriment of the Colony, by deferring the possession of those substantial benefits and privileges which the measures before the Council are calculated to confer. For example, the New Zealand Company’s

Land Claimants bill will have the finally disposing of all those question nected with the possession of, or land, which have unsettled and di'f '°’ the Southern settlements from formation, and that in a manner factory and complete than could ever? 8 ’ been effected by the Company, Tp le . ing of titles to their purchasers by the c* 11 pany would at best have been a p rotr business, while in many cases it - • doubted whether the claims of their n sers could have been arranged in manner as to have produced general 8 tentment; and the directors and their nJ 011 ' appear to have been impressed withso me such notion, when they contrived to allo the Act of Parliament authorising the© t issue titles to the Company’s purchasers to become a dead letter without availing them selves of its provisions. In fact the main business of the New Zealand Company the last three years appears to h ave ’ the receipt of £236,000, which has been a free gift to them by the Government iufte shape of compensation for the calamities « dured by the settlers, as it has been th main business of their agents in the colony to receive salaries for doing nothing; the Company has managed to secure a fa. ther payment from the land fund of the co. lony of £268,000, and £9OOO a yearns interest till this large amount is paid One of the most important provisions of the bill by which the holders of landorders or Company’s scrip will be allowed to exchan» t them for Government scrip, to ho sv O ;uw. at Government land sales, is a boon which the Government only could bestow, and this coupled with the proposal of the Governor to allow the funding of scrip in certain cases, will soon reduce to order the present chaos which exists with respect to this question. Again, the alteration proposed to be effected by the Customs bill by which a

fixed rate is to be established in most cases in lieu of the present ad valorem rate of duties, is calculated to give general satisfaction by removing those fruitful grounds of dispute which exist in the present mode of levying duties, while its effect will be to increase the revenue. At the same time the remission of duty « coals, on marine stores, and on tobacco fa sheep-washing, are proofs of the liberaldisposition of the Government, and of the earnest desire entertained by his Excellency to foster and promote those interests on which the future prosperity of the Colony mainly depends. In like manner the Land Appropriation Ordinance and other measures nos before the Council have either for their object to grant some fresh privilege, to confer some new power on the colonists, to remedy some defect in existing laws, or to remove some inconvenience complained of. So clearly is this admitted, that among the Jeremiads of the Independent which bewail the sittings of the Council, among the lamentations and catalogue of woes of this unhappy grumbler, we hear of no attempt to disparage the principle of any of these measures ; his efforts have been exhausted either in personal attacks on the Nomine or in questioning the legality of the Conn®-

These personalities need not occupy oll attention ; since to accuse an opponent 0 being an expectant of office, or of havinj applied for a Government berth, is just wha might be expected from a disappointed ph s hunter, who would naturally measure otherby his own standard, and infer that his op ponents were actuated by similar motivethose which influenced himself. Then 0 attendance of some of those to whom sea in the Council were offered, as is well has been occasioned not from any opP° tion on their part either to the G° unCl the measures to be introduced there, chiefly arises from the difficulty expett by those living in distant settlements in ving the superintendence of their priva e fairs for the lengthened period which a tendance in the Council necessarily en And this difficulty will always the present state of the country and imperfect means of communication different settlements, in tendance of distant members, as

few persons to be found so independent in their circumstances as to be able to leave their homes and devote several months to the consideration of public affairs to the neglect of their own. To render any system of representation effective, to lessen in a great measure this practical difficulty, the introduction of local steam communication should precede that of representative institutions, and long before another session of the General Legislative Council is held, we hope that steam will be established, as well for the convenience of the members (considering it merely with reference to this question) as for the speedy diffusion through the colony of a knowledge of the proceedings of the Council. We shall briefly advert in the last place to the notable discovery made by this learned pundit of the illegality of the constitution of the Council, which is precisely the sort of mare’s nest that such a philosopher would stumble over. A few words will suffice to dispel the delusion under which he labours. It is to be observed, then, that the Colonial Secretary and Attorney-General of New Zealand still hold their appointments under their original commissions, which have never been revoked ; and as the major includes the minor, their acting, respectively as Colonial Secretary and Attorney-General of the Northern Province, does not therefore invalidate their previous and higher appointment. But this is not the first Council which has been held under the existing law. At the last session of the General Legisla- ♦ itro A t n»v vyv VA.U Akuvntuuu, YV XIIVII YY UO similarly constituted to the present one, though not so large in point of numbers, no one dreamed of raising anv objection to its legality. The laws passed by this Council have since been confirmed by the Queen, and seeing the scrupulous care which has always been manifested by the Home Government to remedy any defect or irregularity arising out of a change of circumstances in the Colony, as evidenced by the numerous additional Royal Instructions which have from time to time been issued to meet those changes, we may be sure that this point has been well considered by the highest legal authorities both in the Colony and at home, and if any alteration or additional authority were required to give validity to the Constitution of the Council, that alteration would have been made, that authority would have been supplied. We may therefore reasonably conclude as no alteration has been made that none was wanted, and however desirous we may be to admit the acumen of this critic in the interpretation of knotty points of law, however disposed, in short, we may feel to acknowledge him to be as rare a phoenix in law as m medicine, we must distrust his nostrums and defer to the superior weight of higher authority.