The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5340, 9 May 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MAY 9, 1878.

We have reprinted in another place in our issue to-day a letter which appeared in.; the Melbourne Argus, on the 22ud April last, giving ah impartial and judicial re-, view of ; the 'events of 1 the ; late ..politicalcrisis in Victoria, and of the conduct of -principal official-actors therein con- . ii!' . As ..thepeople of .this colony are now engaged in tho work of founding a great nation, no part of the experience of our neighbors, who . are engaged upon a similar Work, should be lost upon us. It may afford .either a lesson or a warning; an example which upon occasion we may follow with advantage, or indications of a danger which we may with prudence avoid. It ia in tho latter light, we think, recent events in Victoria must be regarded by us. Proceedings which, oh the part of the responsible , Government,’ cannot ibe said to he less than revolutionary, have ended, practically, in a return to the status quo, ante helium Wrecked reputations of public men, ineradicable bitterness, nurtured by a deep sense of . personal injuries and wrong to the civil servants, upon : whom the carrying : out' of the practical everyday work of the Government devolves, irreconcilable antagonism between the Legislative Council and the Assembly, and faith shaken to its very basis in the suitability of that form of constitutionalism known as party Government for a purely democratic community such as that of Victoria, are to us the apparent. results of the reckless conflict.

It, does not lessen.the regret which all lovers of liberty and true constitutional' freedom must feel; that the immediate cause of this conflict can, and not without sbme showlof reason, be assigned by those wild' incline to a different rule to the personal cupidity of the majority of the more popular representatives, and to their determination* to -help themselves to an annual salary out of the public purse in despitejof the. other branch of the Legislature; the Council, elected also like themselves, but upon different qualifications arid by a more restricted constituency. Nothings that can now be said or written will, we fear,.suffice to wipe out’ this initial stain. ,

We may get another useful lesson from the experience of our neighbors as to the care which’ should be given to the drafting of clauses of Acts which are intended to guide or govern the .action of colonial Governments‘in matters of finance. This is" not. the first lesson of that kind, for which we are under obligations to Victoria, as the last is.not the only occasion on which there has been a deadlock between the Houses about money matters. The occurrence of what is known as the “ Darling scandal” is not so distant-in time as to have dropped out of the memory of oiir readers,' There having been then fora long while no Appropriation Act, a way was discovered for making current payments by means, of a provision of the Crown Remedies.and Liability Act, 1865, then operative. This Act enabled the Governor, upon a certificate from the Supreme Court, to satisfy out of the Consolidated Revermeanyjudgments obtained against the Crown in the-way both of damages and costs; Civil servants; contractors, and all other . persons having claims upon the Government during the deadlock were forced ’ to seek. and. obtain judgment for their respective, claims in the Supreme Court ; that being done they, got .payment at the Treasury on the Governor’s order. In the Crown-Redress Act on the New Zealand Statute ißook, which is copied mainly, from the Victoria law, the danger, of recourse to * such a proceeding, was obviated by enacting that money , provision for judgments against the Crown must be made by appropriation of Parliament in the usual course. The recent example of-abuse of the provisions of a statute was in the proposed application of the 45th clause of the Victorian Constitution Act, which rims as follows: The Consolidated Revenue of Victoria shall bo per-; manently chawed with all the costa, charges, and ox-, penses incident to the collection, management, and receipt thereof, such coats, charges, and expenses being subject nevertheless to bo reviewed and;audited in such manner as shall bo directed by any Act of the Legislature.‘ . ‘ V, - ~ It was held that this clause enabled the Government' to pay all charges incident to the collection of tho. public revenue, 1 without appropriation or authority ~ of : Parliament. . Tho history of this clause,-which appears - to, have been carelessly imported into tho constitutional statute, as;,given by the correspondent ;,sof the Argus, -Vis- very curious. The use proposed to be made of the clabse’itself was an 'abandonment, for the purposes of party, by a majority, of the representatives, of that control over the public revenue which Is claimed as an inalienable constitutional right of the people. It is impossible not to feel that the conduct,of. her Majesty’s .representative, throughout the late crisis, has not. been marked-'by; that , rigid impartiality or indifference to personal (considerations which is.the very essence of the duty of a Governor in*a colofty .enjoying represen-tative-institutions and what is culled constitutional, that is,, party, government. Sir Georoe Bowen’s love of approbation, and popularity is great; so also are his lo ve ‘ for the strongest and noisiest - side, and his faith in big battalions. He has

been unfortunately unable to see, that which was patent enough to impartial lookers on at the recent game, that there have been faults on both, sides, and that a minority may occasionally be right.