The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1877.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5210, 3 December 1877, Page 2

The New Zealand Times. (PUBLISHED DAILY.) MONDAY, DECEMBER 3, 1877.

As the session draws to a close several Bills are of necessity being rushed through both Houses of the Legislature with rather more haste than their importance properly demands. Notably amongst them is the Miners Bill, which has nearly accomplished its passage through the Upper House. The best feature of this Bill is that it codifies a number of Goldfields Acts, fourteen in all, some of which were somewhat contradictory and confusing ; but otherwise it betrays in its construction a good deal of scissors and paste work, as well as an absence of the practical knowledge which a legal draftsman experienced in goldfields law and usages would have displayed. The several Goldfields Acts now sought to be repealed were enacted to suit the circumstances of the different provinces in which the goldfields were situate; and necessarily at the time, —more than nineteen years since, —the Superintendents of these provinces were entrusted with the delegated powers of the Governor, with certain reservations, for carrying out the provisions of the Act in question. Now, however, that provincial institutions have been abolished, and that there are such postal and telegraphic facilities between the seat of Government and the remotest parts of the goldfields, we are strongly of opinion that there is no necessity for the following clause, No. 100, in the new Act : “100. It shall be lawful for the Governor, under his hand and the public seal of the colony, from time to time to delegate to such person or persons as the Governor may deem fit all or any of the powers vested in the Governor by this Act, except the powers conferred by sections C, 8,9, 45, 99, and 101, subject or not to any limitations or restrictions as he may think fit, and in like manner to" alter or revoke any such delegation.” If, as stated in the Council on Saturday, it was the intention of the Government to confer the powers in question on the chairmen of counties in which goldfields were situate, such an idea must have been hastily conceived, and without due consideration of what would bo the effects of such a course. It was all very well, as the Hon. Sir Dillon Bell properly contended, when such powers were delegated to tried and experienced men who had been chosen to be Superintendents of their respective provinces for their administrative capacity, but to hand over the same powers to »uch untried men as wo know the general run of chairmen of counties on our goldfields to be, would be a serious mistake, if not mischievous. Moreover, our respective goldfields districts are each spread over several counties, and in tho event of such a delegation there would be everlasting clashing and confusion in an administration so circumstanced. If the powers in question are to be delegated to any body, experience and common sense would suggest that they should be given to tho Waste Lands Boards of the respective districts which contain goldfields, as such Boards possess relative functions and the proper knowledge and machinery for such administration, and lot it be so fixed in tho new Act, but otherwise let the clause be expunged.