The Invercargill Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24,1864.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 47, 24 February 1864, Page 2

The Invercargill Times. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1864.

The present Session of the Provincial Council is not calculated to exalt that institution in the eyes of the people. The way in which the proceedings are conducted, to say the least of it, is singular, and by no means conveys the impression of dignity. At one time we have an honorable member informing the House that he is a Roman citizen, enforcing the annoimcemnt by vehement action on . the table, utterly regardless of destruction to furniture, assuring his unfortunate colleagues tliat the Aj^ostle Paul was also a Soman citizen, and winding nj) a rambling tirade with, tlie novel assertion that Britons never would be slaves. At another we see this Southern Garibaldi twisting and turning in his endeavors to extricate himself from the meshes of honor and consistency which his signiture to " the Note " has imposed. We see another gentleman bemoaning the threatened collapse ' of the Province, anticipating public ruin and bankruptcy, because, forsooth, we had a liability of £100,000 hanging over our heads*, a sum which many a linen draper can borrow with no better security than " bags " to offer. A private individual with three millions of acres as security would find, we fane} r , no great difficulty in raising £100,000 ; and would have no hesitation in doing so to improve and render useful his estate. This gentleman was grandly pathetic over Southland in distress. Marius amidst the ruins of Carthage— Macaulay's New Zealander perched on London Bridge, surveying the doomed city, the honorable member in the Provincial Council, mourning over our prospects, would form a neat thing in cartoons, which might be executed at the public cost, and placed in our future Council Hall as a warning to posterity. In all, there is an absence of information on the subjects under discussion, which to a stranger must seem peculiar, and a vacillation of purpose calculated to destroy all confidence, weaken all hope that they are the men for the occasion. At Saturday morning's sitting Mn. Calder at first proposed three resolutions in reply to His Honor's demand for a specific charge, which embraced the whole subject. As they did not appear on the order paper — two of them being subsequently withdrawn — we will give them in full : — " 1. That this Council demands that the expenditure of all monies appropriated by it to the public service, and the exercise of all powers derived from the Provincial Council, shall be conducted by members of its own body, and responsible to it. 2. " This Council recognizes the right of the Superintendent to exercise independently powers delegated to him by the Grovernor, or special legislation of the Imperial aud Colonial Legislatures. " 3. It appears to this Council that the maintenance of the confidence of the public requires that all powers affecting public interests should be exercised by the Superintendent as far as possible in concurrence with his Executive Council." J Here was a definite expression of j the line of policy to be pursued by | the Council. This cut the Gordian knot, and stopped all further argument on the old question. His Honor could i be referred to this expression of opinion, were he to inquire any further as to what the Council wanted; what view they took of the relative positions of Superintendent and Executive, so. dimly, defined by the Provincial G-overnment Ordinance. But, alas, theseYresolutions'were too clear ; were they passed, all further discussion must cease. No mOre messages, no more replies. The Boman citizen would probably have no further occasion to air- his vocabulary ; as the song says — . .:■:'*•■■ ■" "Never more his mellow voice Make melody." No more time would be wasted in this matter. So Mit. Caldeb, withdraws his resolutions ; for the first of which, 'is passed a rambling - one of Mb. Cowa>~'s, which, after singing the old song, winds up by a request to' His Honor to govern in "accordance with the Provincial G-overnment Ordinance. "With what? With that winch His Honor reads one way, the Council'

same feeling,- mixes it up with the eternal Eoads Engineer. The Council has thus cleverly fallen into the trap laid for it hy the Superintendent. A speciflo charge haa been made, and the publio attention diverted from the general principle, His Honor hss at; last won.. ..Of, imm* there ai'G ciroumstanoes • connected with this s appointment ; which will admit of ■ some sort of explanation. His Honor "was under the impression, &Q.," he: ' * conceived so-and-so." The real question, whether His Honor will govern --constitutionally''"^* not for the future, is lost sight of. After twelve days' discussion ; the : Council has Must got i into the same position from which they started, or, rather, a worse one. They have demonstrated 'to a nicety another, and which every member who has. spoken on the subject laments is not sufficiently a definite. The two other resolutions of Ma. Caldeb being superseded' by one of Mb. .Chalmeb's, which, while expressing somewhat the that they are ; not fit for the occasion. At* the ! '.last ; Session of -the General Assembly'; Sir. ' G-eo'bge V^bet was; somewhat .'.in the same position with the G-eneral Assembly as His Honoris with- the Council, and; pursxied; a similar policy. The Assembly; however, was not to be caught in the same trap. It passed a series of resolutions clear and definite. YSh ; (jEOB&E asked for a specific (charge, the Assembly by referring him to the resolutions; Sir G-eobge had to sudcuinb. 1 In a conflict such as this, one man is sure to beat eight or nine. His 1 mind is made up on all the points at issue ; theirs are svire.to be divided on technicalities, though on the general principle they' may be unanimous. The Council ought to have refused entertaining the Engineer question*, and carried Me. Calder' s resolutions. ; The first could be disposed of by passing an^ Engineer's Consolidation Act, abolishing the offices of Engineer of Public "Works and Engineer of Roads and bringing them back, as at first, under one head — the Chief Surveyor's Department, whicbrwould be more in accordance with our present requirements. Next to vacillation, ignorance of tlie subjects under consideration is the most jarominent feature of the present Council. Everyone expects everyone else to tell him something, and thus much time is lost in trying to get information, which could be easily obtained were the members to devote some of their leisure hours to gleaning it for themselves from the Acts of the Greneral Legislature bearing on the subject, reports submitted at former Sessions, and statistics wliich could always be obtained by inquiry at the various G-overnment offices. One member the other day was horrified at a further loan for the Bluff and Invercargill Eailway, declaring he hacl been misled by Mr. Heales' report. Had he taken the trouble to read the report on tbe subject, lying on the table of the Hotise, have hunted up the evidence taken before the Committee of the Council when the Bill was jmssed, he would have probably hesitated before casting an imputation on the professional reputation of the ablest officer jin the G-overnment service. So far from misinforming, Mb Heale's estimates were singularly correct. Mb. Heale, in his report of date 14th ult., explains how the difference arose. " The lump sum set down by me for ship wharveshadbeenlargely exceeded," and the additional works which in a former report Mr. Heale had pointed out would be ultimately required, have, owing to the unexpected development of the Province, been at once undertaken. Further, in the evidence given before the Committee of tbe Council at the second reading of tlie Bluff and Invercargill Eailway Bill, 1863, Mr. Heale, in answer to the question, " Do you think the estimate of the cost you have furnished us sufficient ?" states — " I think those estimates, as far as they go, are quite trustworthy, though certainly as low as the work can be done for. There are some other wor/cs lohich icill be reqytired that are not included. " Mr. Heale was not asked what those works were, and consequently did not obtrude his opinion ; and yet some of the members are under the impression \ that they have been misled by Mb. Heale ; that they never anticipated, being required to vote a further loan. They were distinctly told by the Chief Surveyor that a further sum of money would be required; they had the opportunity of ascertaining why it would be required, and yet they are surprised that it is required. Verily we have Soloes amongst us. The figures appended to the Chief Surveyor's report of the 14th ult. show that Mb. Heale estimated the expenditure for designed works at £10*1,967. Eor undesigned works no estimate can be made, so Me. Heale suggests the cost, which suggestion has been found singularly . corre«t, except in the instance of the Mokomoko Jetty, the excess in the expenditure of which he did not recommend. The works were at that time out of his hands. If he was consulted, it was purely, on the design, not as to the advisability, of. executing that design.