The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5248, 18 January 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) FRIDAY, JANUARY 18, 1878.

The contest between the two branches of the Legislature in Victoria will bo viewed wioh much concern by all who take an interest in the working of constitutional government in the colonies. It is not the first time the “ Lords]' and “ Commons ” in the democratic colony of Victoria have been at loggerheads. Some thirteen years ago there was a feud between the Ministry of the day and the majority in the Legislative Council; but, then, the Government did not resort to the extreme course now adopted by Mr. Graham Berry. During the first McCulloch Ministry the Upper House threw out the Appropriation Bill; but the men composing the Government were of a different stamp from Mr. Berry and his colleagues in office. They were certainly more fertile in expedients, and with the aid of the then Governor, Sir Charles Darling, succeeded by Orders in Council in tiding over monetary difficulties. Great was the howl of indignation amongst the self-styled Constitutional Party at the Ministry finding means to carry on her Majesty’s Government after the Appropriation Bill had been thrown out iu the Legislative Council. The McCulloch Ministry had for its Attor-ney-General Mr. George Higinbotiiam, one of the ablest statesmen and lawyers in the colonies, and the Government were not wanting in.legal expedients. To tide over the difficulties caused by the deadlock, recourse was had to practices sanctioned in the reign of Queen Anne, and the result was the famous Orders in Council, which gave the Government power of appropriating moneys without the assent of Parliament. The orders were decidedly novel, but they were clearly vyifchin the law, however much they were opposed to usage and the spirit of the Constitution. One of the banks, of which Sir James McCulloch was a director, advanced large sums of money to the Government. The Upper House and the Constitutional party stood aghast. It was feared that the McCul luch-H iginBOTHAM Administration would demonstrate that the ■ business of the country could bo carried on without the aid of a second Chamber. The Ministry may have kept within the four corners of the Constitution Act, but it was felt by all who were not influenced by strong motives of faction that the Constitution had been strained. The action of the Governor did not meet with the approval of the Home authorities, and Sir Charles Darling was recalled. The Ministry had the support of a vast majority in the country, and the Upper House at last gave way, and assented to the protective tariff, the origin of all the difficulty. It was thought when the present disagreement commenced, between Mr. Berry and the Upper House, recourse would be had to Orders in Council, but Sir George Bowen evidently will not run the risk of great disfavor in Downing-streot, by following the advice of his Ministers in this direction. From latest accounts it appears that an appeal will be made to the country. If the Ministry and the Council abide by the result, of course the difficulty will be at an end for the present. But it should not bo overlooked? tjiat the majority of the Legislative Council never considered themselves bound by the will of the electors for the Lower House. Under the Victorian Constitution wo do not see how the Legislative Council can be regarded as a body possessed of inferior powers to those , of the Legislative Assembly. The Council is an elected body, and consequently can reasonably claim larger powers than a nominated Chamber. As long as no limit is fixed to the number of members, the latter is virtually at the mercy of tho Crown, acting upon tho advice of Ministers. In a struggle between tho two branches of the Legislature, the Upper House in New Zealand could be swamped by the addition of new members. No such means of compelling the Council to bow to the will of the majority exists in Victoria, and tho Upper House in the past has taken full advantage of its position. A more narrow-minded, seltish, illiberal class of legislators does not exist in her Majesty’s dominions than tho members of the Legislative Council of Victoria. If their ideas had prevailed tho country would have been one vast sheepwalk. The farmer is to'thern an eyesore. It was only after persistent efforts extending over fifteen years that anything like a liberal land law was passed. Bills with

the object of settling the people on the land had passed the Legislative Assembly, but the Council was ever sure to alter them to such an extent as to render them practically inoperative, as affording the bona fide settler an opportunity of taking up any portion of the public estate. There are members of the Upper House in Victoria and their friends who have obtained from twenty to fifty thousand acres of land by evading the law. They openly employed dummies to defeat the man who desired to establish a home for himself and family. But the worst side of the case is that they gloried in their illegal acts. No public opinion could influence such men. About the year 1860 they united in a body under the name of “ The Victorian Association.” Tho sum of £50,000 was subscribed, and it was notorious that it was with the object of bribing members of the Assembly. They succeeded in getting a Land Bill passed through Parliament, which was placarded all over the country as one which would provide “ homes for the people;” but although millions of acres were alienated from the Crown under the Bill, the man who desired to till the soil could scarcely obtain an acre. It all fell into the hands of lanclsharks, and the Legislative Councillors laughed in their sleeve at the way in which they gulled the author of tho measure, Sir Charles Gavan Duffy. No 'sense of honor as public men influences the majority of the Legislative Council of Victoria. It would be an insult to the Upper House in New Zealand to compare it in any way with the Victorian Legislative Council. Well might the able and high-minded Attorney-General of the McCulloch Ministry characterise its members as belonging to the “wealthy lower orders.” Leaving the principle of payment of members on one side, it is earnestly to be desired that the outcome of the present difficulty in Victoria will be an alteration in the constitution of the Upper House.