NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, August 18, 1852.
In our last number we published for the information of our readers the Governor-in-Chief's Proclamation, .declaring that the Legislative Council about to be assembled shall consist of 33. members, of whom 22 are to be representatives, and eleven, or one third, to be nominees. of the Crown, in accordance with the second clause of the Ordinance. After a careful consideration of the share of representation which is given by the Proclamation to each settlement in the Province of New Munster, we can come to no-other conclusion than that the distribution is most fair and just, when taken in connection with the amount of population which the respective settle-^ ments possess ; indeed we feel certain that in making the necessary-calculations the Executive have bestowed much care on the subject, and acted with the desire of protecting to the utmost the interests" of the Province generally. The total we take , to be about 15,851 souls, this number is to be represented in Council by 22 members.
The Wellington Settlement contains a population of >6,5 15 to be represented by eight members. , , . „ Ne15pn..........\.4,287,— by six members. Canterbury....3,273, — by five members. Otago 1,776, — by three members. Assuming our amounts to be correct, any one who will, take the trouble to work out the calculation by a simple arithmetical process will find how fair is the proportion of the representation accorded to the several settlements. Again, a reference to the Proclamation will shew that care has been' taken not to give in favour of any particular interest an overwhelming preponderance, but that due regard has been had for the three great interests of the country, commercial, agricultural, and pastoral, so that each will receive^an equal amount of^protection., There is now one more step for the Government to take, namely, to issue writs for the return of, Members. This has already been done at Auckland,' and before long we shall hear of the Representative Council being in full operation there. The Northern Province only possesses a population of between 11,000 and 12,000 to be represented by 12 Members;, taking the difference between the population of the two provinces, New Ulster has certainly less representation in proportion to its population, than we have in the South. This we believe may be accounted for by the fact that in the North there is more concentration ; there are no vast districts, as in the South, inhabited by ascattered population whose pursuits and interests differ from those who live in . clusters. _ , We must confess that, bur Northern neighbours seem to possess an energy, a determination to make the best use of circumstances, which we in the South are certainly somewhat deficient in. The citizens of the Northern capital were the first to build a steamer, to form a, whaling company, they have shewn a strong disposition to extend iheir trade with the neighbouring- colonies, and in every way seem resolved to go ahead. With regard to the Provincial Councils Ordinance they acted with determination, and lost no time in electioneering business, while in the South there was nothing but uncertainty of purpose. The Wellington Independent, the organ of the Faction, at one moments called upon the settlers not to qualify themselves, and at another as strongly urged them to register. The Lyttelton Times was for the non registering plan, and had the presumption .to imagine that the settlers generally throughout the whole of New Zealand would be guided by the opinions expressed thrpugh its columns. The dii minores gentium, the " little Gods of the Canterbury press" must have been surprised and sadly disappointed when they found their "thunder" roll unheeded by ihe multitude, when they discovered their opinions were totally disregarded. At Nelson the desire seems to be to have the Council, and by the Examiners received by the Persia from that Settlement, we find 'that much disappointment was experienced from the delay on the part of the Government in issuing the necessary writs ; pending' their arrival we believe the Nelson settlers have made all arrangements for election contests. The opponents of Government who fight for the mere sake of opposition, without really caring or knowing any thing about a principle, have raised several objections against the practical introduction of the Provincial Councils Ordinance, but not one of which is of the slightest weight. Let them prove that they can by interest at home substitute for it a more liberal one. It has been urged that the Governor had exhausted the power with which he was invested -by the suspending Act of Parliament, in creating the Provincial Councils Ordinance of 1848. If this .objection were avalid one, we ask would Earl Grey, in his despatch acknowledging the receipt of the draft of the Bill, have omitted to point out this "fact? " We .find-that he did not raise any such objection, but went fully into the merits of the~measure. Again it is said that' Earl Grey '.disapproved of the Bill, and this is put,forward in such a way as to convey the impression to those who are not likely to give the matter much thought, that thisdisapproval had ' reference to the entire principle 1 on which the Ordinance -was^ framed ; whereas, in fact, it is confined merely to two points. With regard' to
the first} it appears that Sir George Grey enlarged the liberality of the measure toy not reserving to the Government the power of having the initiation of money votes, which reservation Earl Grey stated should be made. Again as to the second point, the power of confirming and disallowing the Ordinances passed by the Provincial Councils is invested in the Governor-in-Chief, instead of, as it should be, in 1 the Queen.- On these two points only does Earl Grey express his disapproval, about which so much nonsense has been talked;, as to the rest of the Ordinance he gives it his full assent, in the following terms — " the general principles of the measure are in full accordance with the instructions and suggestions which I have already given you on the subject." In the absence of the requisite instructions from. home Sir George Grey has, we imagine, no other alternative than to assemble under the Ordinance a kind of General Council for the Province of New ■Munster, which division of New Zealand it was intended should be again^ divided into two or more Provinces, each of which should have a representative Legislative Council of its own ; but the power of creating Provinces is not invested in the Governor-in-Chief, and up to the present time, so far as we are aware, her Majesty has not ordered a further division, so that until such order is received the Governor cannot give representative Councils to the several settlements. . • It has been said that the Provincial Councils Ordinance offers so many restrictions in reference to legislation, in in • fact confers so small an amount of power as to render it a measure of very little utility to the settlers. With this view of the question we should cordially agree, if it were intended to make each Province a distinct colony, as much separated from the other as Victoria is from New South Wales. But it is not to be so, there will still be the one great .and flourishing colony of New Zealand, which colony is to be divided into provinces, each province possessing for the management and control of its own local affairs a Representative Legislative Council ; the Province to be also divided into districts subject to a lower order of municipal control. The subjects on which the Provincial Council cannot legislate are those only which have reference to the entire colony, and affect the interests of the population scattered throughout its "whole extent. In fact to give up any one of those subjects to the control of the Provincial Council would at once destroy the colony as a unity. We might perhaps except from the list the erection and maintenance of •Beacons and Lighthouses, but this expense we apprehend a Provincial Council would decline to authorise on the grounds that it was one which should be defrayed out of the general revenue of the Colony, each Province contributing its share. ' All kinds of objections have also been made against the reservation of a civil list ; this is not created by the Ordinance in question which is in no way identified with it;* for the Ordinance only applies to a Province, the Civil List to the General Government, towards the support of which each Province should be compelled^ to. contribute. The reservation it should be remembered was long since made, not by an arbitrary act of the Governor's, but by the Imperial Parliament, in 1846.
Mr. Duncan will deliver his second lecture on " Hungary and the Hungarians," to-morrow evening at' the Mechanics' Institute, when we hope the weather will prove more favourable than on the occasion of his former interesting lecture.
By the Nelson Examiners we find a bonus has been offered by the Government for the fortnightly conveyance of mails by sailing packets between Wellington and Nelson. A long correspondence is published between Mr. J. S. Tytler and. different members of the late Administration on the subject of the Nelson Trust Funds which, it would appear, still continue in abeyance, to the great disappointment of the settlers and injury of that settlement. A valuable importation. of horses from Sydney, consisting mostly ofr thorough- bred stock, had arrived in the Spray in very good condition. The Examiner states that much disappointment was felt in not receiving the writs at Nelson for the election of members -for the Provincial Council ; the registration of electors appears to have been very general.
«> By the Lucy James we- have received Auckland papers to the 6th inst. The Southern Cross of that date contains English news via Sydney to the 14th April, which will be found in our present issue. From these extracts it will be seen that the New Zealand Bill was to be brought into Parliament early after Easter, so that it is not improbable it may be received by the first Australian Steamer. .
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New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 735, 18 August 1852, Page 2
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1,690NEW ZEALAND SPECTATOR AND Cook's Strait Guardian. Wednesday, August 18, 1852. New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume VIII, Issue 735, 18 August 1852, Page 2
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