MR. WEBB ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4383, 7 April 1875, Page 3

MR. WEBB ON CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGES.

Mr. H. R. Webb addressed the electors of Lyttelton at length on .the evening of the 31st of March. His speech was mainly a recapitulation of - the history of last session. He, however, made the following remarks: — ' .

The Bill to be introduced next session was one which would give the people a' greater interest in their respective districts. The outlying districts in Canterbury were pretty well satisfied with: things as they now stood, but in the North Island the outlying districts were all, dissatisfied. They complained that the revenue was expended around the large centres of population, and the district of Rangitikei was loud in its complaints over this matter. There were also districts in Otago which were complaining that they did not receive a fair proportion of the expenditure. He did not know what the exact form of the new Bill would be, but he presumed At would be something after the style of the Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works Bill. In the sister colonies provincial institutions did not exist, and yet they gob on very well. It was said that those colonies had not so many ports, but this was not the case. There were a great many important ports in the colony of New South Wales, for instance, and in the harbor of Sydney itself there was nearly as much trade done in one day as there was at all the ports of New Zealand in a month. Therefore this argument against the establishment of a central form of government for New Zealand did not hold good. The Provincial Council of Canterbury had already taken into consideration the question of simplifying the form of Provincial Government, and the following resolutions on the subject were brought forward by the Hon. Hr. Buckley in session 1872, and carried :—l. “That the Superintendent should be elected by the vote of an absolute majority of the Provincial Council, either from among the member's or the electors of the province,” 2. “The Superintendent so elected shall be a member of the Council ex officio , and removable by vote of an absolute majority of the said Council.” 3. “That the powers of veto on the Ordinances of the Provincial Council now held by the Superintendent, shall be vested in his Excellency the Governor,” 4. “ That there should be au Executive Council of five members of the Provincial Council besides the Superintendent, who should be appointed and removable by the vote of the Provincial Council; the Superintendent should be chairman of the Executive Council when present, and three should form a quorum.” 5. “ That the Provincial Council should meet at least twice in each year.” 6. “ That the General Government be requested to bring in a Bill during the next session of the General Assembly, to authorise the alteration in the Constitution Act named in the above resolutions.” 7. “ That the Speaker be requested to forward a copy of the above resolutions to the Colonial Secretary, his Honor the Superintendent, and the members of the* General Assembly,” These resolutions were forwarded to the General Assembly, but did not receive the support of the hon. member for Avon (Hr. Rolleston), and did not come before the House,. The question of surveys had also come under the consideration of the Provincial Council, and it was clear to him that it would be much better to have the surveys conducted from a centre. The police, too, would also be better managed from a centre instead of their being, as now, under the control of the provincial authorities. So far as he was concerned, he would only vote for a BUI which would be in accordance with the resolution passed during the last session of the General Assembly, but at the same time he would hold himself perfectly free to vote for the application of the measure to all parts of the colony, if'he saw that all parts of the colony would derive a benefit from such a kind of legislation. He would opose it, however, if the land fund of Canterbury were interfered with, or if they did not obtain control over their own local affairs. He wished it to be clearly understood that he would oppose . ny attempt that might be made to take the land fund from Canterbury. (Hear, hear, and cheers.)