NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4788, 27 July 1876, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH./ JULY, 1876. - gor Tiranmistivn iy York, from Wellington, on the S'Jth July, to £~e, riaSaa Jfrajicisco,.-* t : Parliament has' been in session all the •anontb,.but -very little real-business has"been done. .On July 4 the Hon. Mr. fipoTton MoTj'raXj a practical -businesslike, member from Otago, accepted a portfolio in the Ministry as Commissioner of -'Customs, on the evening-of which day the Financial Statement was delivered. The principal proposals of the. Government have since been brought" forward in the Counties Bill and Financial Arrangement Bill, but these measures have got no further than the first reading. Meanwhile, a very important notice of motion has been given by Mr. Whitaker, the object 'being to' make the land fund of all the provinces colonial revenue ; and Mr. Wakefield has given notice of motion to make half the land fund colonial revenue. ' . • The resolutions of which Mr. v\ hitaker , has given notice are important, not only on account of their nature, but because of the indirect consequences which it is possible, or probable, may arise from them. We do not attach equal importance to Mr.: ■Wakefield’s resolutions. They are much more complicated ; they appear to indicate a centralised form of government,' such as the people of the colony are. very' unlikely to submit to ; and their proposer has not the same claims upon the confid-; ence of the House, when the question is; of turning out the Government upon his resolutions, as Mr. Whitaker, a veteran statesman, and formerly Premier. There is difficulty in deciding the point of view from which to come to a conclusion concerning Mr. Whitaker’s resolutions, because, apart .from their nature, they point, as we have said, to many indirect but important consequences. One consideration that naturally arises upon, these resolutions is, as to the effect they: must have upon the position of the 'Auckland members. In that respect they may be considered by Mr. Whitaker and the Auckland members who support him, in opposition to Sir .George Grey and his followers, as a good stroke • of policy. Virtually these, resolutions entirely shelve Sir G. Grey and his party, and have the effect of rallying the Auckland members around Mr. Whitaker. They leave Sir George “ out in the cold,” or force him to fall in as a follower where it has hitherto been his pride to rank as leader. All the rumored arrangements between Auckland and Ota"o are inevitably crushed by these proposals. In short, Mr. Whitaker takes possession of Auckland members, and makes them his followers, for the achievement of ends which cannot be acceptable to the Otago members. No doubt some of the Otago men will argue that what Mr. Whitaker proposes will aid towards the new policy they have set up—that of separation; but it is hard to see, without the help of Otagan enthusiasm, how success on the part° of Auckland in carrying Mr. Whitaker’s resolutions,, and therefore in getting a share of the land fund of Otaim and Canterbury, can - be accepted as satisfactory. If the House declares that Auckland is to have a share of the Otago and Canterbury land revenues, the Otago members can hardly be so silly as to believe that the Auckland representatives will relinquish so solid a benefit for the chimerical one of separation. Auckland would smile at the notion of being bound by Sir George Grey’s separation promises. On the other hand, should Mr. Whitaker not be successful, there will be left between Auckland and Otago a gulf not to be easily bridged, especially as once being under Mr. Whitaker’s skilful leadership, the Northern representatives would be unlikely to relinquish H for the curious substitute for leadership which Sir George Grey exercises. We do not write that phrase unkindly. None can fail to have sympathy for one. who, like Sir George, occupied a distinguished position, but who has now fallen to a position which is neither distinguished nor enviable. For, in truth, putting on one side Mr. Whitaker’s resolutions and their effects, Sir George Grey may have led in the many personal attacks made upon Ministers, but he has not exercised any of the proper functions of a leader of the Opposition; and one cannot help thinking that those Auckland members who came to Wellington with the avowed intention of fighting under his banner, will not be at all displeased at the convenient opportunity Mr. Whitaker’s resolutions offer them for taking service under a new leader. From an Auckland point of view, then, Mr. Whitaker .may clearly claim credit for what he has done. . Already, if the newspaper telegrams are to be trusted, the Auckland Press looks upon the Sir George Grey regime as having ceased, and accepts Mr, Whitaker as the head of their party.' Mr. Macandrew will, have reason to think himself much deceived. He has gone very much out of his way to uphold Auckland views, as expounded by Sir George Grey, even when they clashed with Otago interests. The return he ■ meets with is, that at the first invitation his Auckland allies eagerly seize upon the opportunity of doing, that which would cause more discontent in Otago than any other conceivable action. Bjit although from a sectional point of view Mr. Whitaker’s action , may be politic, it is the very reverse in its effects upon the colony. Indeed, regarding its possible consequences upon New Zealand as a whole, we can scarcely imagine a course calculated to be more disastrous than that which Mr. Whitaker has adopted. In circumstances of great need the Assembly last session recognised it as a duty to decide that the provinces should be abolished, and in natural course this result would be attained in about, three months. The understanding upon which the decision of last session was based was, that the termination of the Provincial system would not involve confiscation of the provinces’ existing interest in the landed estate. It was also distinctly understood that abolition would not lead to a centralised Government seated in Wellington. Mr. Whitaker’s resolutions, whatever ho may have intended, evidently point to the confiscation of the land fund, and a centralised form of government. If the resolutions are adopted, .they will probably leave the abolition question not where it was at the close of last session, but very much in the position it occupied twelve months previously. If the resolutions are affirmed, each member of the House would - probably ' deem himself at liberty to adopt' such, views respecting abolition as the altered circumstances might seem to him to justify.' -And-, unfortunately, like consequences will result in proper-: tion to the strength of the support Mr.

WniTAKEß’sresolutions command. -I* they are rejected by a large 'majonty.- those, members who have dreaded the. result they:poMt tb, wbuld> bp .reassured by the Conviction that, the House w strong, -enough to resist- any attempt to brmg it abput.!: Butin proportion togie support 'the resolutionslreoeive wrll bVthe degrge of distrust of the future which will be created. At a.tima.liko..the. present,...when seppus. questions affecting the colony have to be dealt with both here and-at. Home. mo-. thing could be much more injurious than ..that!its,form. .of ~,gav.emment.,ahould-bo left undecided ; . y^ ls PJ orm^l r % bo onejof the. results of. M^.A' hitakek « 'action.. For the coming discussion ,will be—as most ,of the proceedmgs of the Opposition have been—in the nature of a: postponement of the '' great . questions; which' Parliament has to decide, instead of members devoting the utmost possible; time to the discussion and settlement of; those questions. The New Zealand Par-, liament, in its present position, may aptly be described as that of a Legislature iiT search of a . Constitution. True, a carefully-devised and well-thought-6ut. plan has been submitted by the Government; but there seems to be a desire to consider everything but that which has been elaborated by Ministers expressly for consideration. “ Who shall compose the Government 1 ” appears to us to be a question of little importance, compared, with “Shall the Government lead the House, or the House lead the Government 1 ” At present the House seems to think that it should devise a Constitution, arid that the Govefrimerit should be left to carry, it out, instead of being ready to: consider such a Constitution as . the Government may devise. Good cannot possibly result from such a line of action.; The House should, we submit, address itself to the question of what Governmeat can receive its confidence, if such a consideration is considered necessary, and it should then devote its attention ' to the form of constitution brought down by the Government. No plan 'that can be prepared as a substitute for provincialism can be free from some plausible objections on the part of honorable members., , It is of the very nature of a scheme which is fair to the different parts of the country, that it should not be calculated to be of unmixed advantage to any one part. The fact that complaint may truly be made, that a‘ scheme of government is not entirely satisfactory to representatives of particular districts, is evidence that it has been prepared with a view to the general interests of the whole, and not of parts, of the country. As far as we can see, there is now a disinclination to discuss the Government proposals because of those points which are not acceptable to individual members, and to postpone such discussion with a*view to the springing up of other plans. The result must be, that the subject will be dealt with hastily, and, therefore, not satisfactorily; or that it will he postponed, and the country be subjected to the same uncertainty as has existed during the last two years. Indeed, a settlement will be further removed by the mere fact of failure to give effect to the plan which has been submitted .by the Government, after much thought and labor in its preparation. It would be fortunate for the country if honorable members could range themselves into two parties : if there could be fair observance of the recognised forms of parliamentary government. Then, there would be a reasonable prospect of one side being left to carry on the business of the country, under that full responsibility without which, no matter what the nature of the Constitution, good government is an impossibility. If, with abolition undecided, the confiscation of the Southern land revenue is carried, chaotifi confusion will follow. Every question will be deemed open, no previous decision will be respected, and a prolonged period of distrust, uncertainty, and agitation may be relied on.