The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1872.

Southland Times, Issue 1646, 11 October 1872, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11, 1872.

Messes Fitzherbert, Gillies, Curtis, and Eeid must feel very glad that they did not resign their Provincial appointments before the close of the session. The suggestion, made by their enemies, that they should do so, was treated by these gentlemen with a quiet disdain which does credit to their intelligence. It would have been rather hard for them, after the recent vote of the House, to hare found that they had deprived the Colony of their invaluable services as administrators, by over-estimating the appreciation of their 'merits which they doubtless felt entitled to expect from the Assembly. The "party of prudence," as the Otaffo Daily Times was in the habit of styling the late administration and their supporters, ' have certainly justified their claim to that respectable appellation. It must be consoling to these gentlemen and their friends to know, that whatever changes may yet take place in the personnel of the Colonial Executive, the various Provinces whose affairs they are willing — For a consideration — to manage, may still continue to enjoy the advantages of their . local knowledge and experience. It is one of the results of the political system o£ New Zealand that the representative assembly contains a large number of paid officials, whose salaries are derived from the revenue which it is a chief part of their duty to provide, by taxation, or in whatever way may seem most expedient for the time being. That they are " all honorable men" may perhaps be taken for granted ; and that each and every one of them is influenced purely by considerations of a public kind, could no doubt be established on the evidence which of all others oughfc to be the most satisfactory — that, namely, of the gentle- : men themselves, who must necessarily be better informed than anyone else on the subject. Still, it Beems hardly fair, even to honorable men, to insist on placing them in a position where their motives are so likely to be misconstrued by the general public, which is prone, as everyone knows, to judge merely by appearances and results. • The disqualification laws of other countries which, like New Zealand, are blessed with parliamentary government, are generally framed with a view to provide specially against such misconceptions, and it is usually understood that the precaution is a wise one. Here we have nothing of the sort ; perhaps the necessary provision was not inserted in the Constitution Act because it was thought that in New Zealand it would not be needed, or perhaps because it was forgotten. But it cannot be affirmed that the result has been altogether happy. New Zealand may not have been very much worse governed than other countries, still the present position of public affairs leads most impartial spectators to conclude that there is something rotten in the State. The Assembly has now been in session long enough to have done the legislative and financial business of the country twice over, and the only conclusion at which it has yet arrived appears to be that no one has any confidence in anyone else. The Fox Ministry have been unseated on a charge of mal-administration, and their successors, who have not yet had time to do much in that way, but who have been unfortunate enough to have had to declare how and where they meant to spend the public money for the current year, have been turned out on the ground that they do not enjoy the confidence of the House. When one considers who the men are who have to decide upon such questions, ib is sonaewbat startling to find that something like one-third of the House of Representatives is composed of officials in the receipt of salaries from the public funds, and others who, by their connection with Provincial politics, are directly interested in the expenditure of public money in particular localities. The personal character of the struggle, which for the last three months has disgusted and wearied the public, becomes more intelligible when viewed in this light. The decision of His Excellency to refuse a dissolution at the present juncture may be justified on the ground that however bad or inefficient the present House may be, there is no prospect that under our present system the new elections would have produced anything better. The scramble for money would still go on, and no one can tell what neiv form it might assume. It is not impossible, indeed, that the ultima ratio ot a dissolution may yet be found the only means of escape from the difficulty which exists ; but if it is adopted to decide the personal question of this or that set of leaders, the result is likely to be as unsatisfactory as ever. The coustitutional question on which alone an appeal to the country could be fairly made, in the present state of our affairs, the simplification, namely, of our political machinery, has already been brought forward on two occasions ; and as might have been expected from the composition of the House, in both cases adroitly shelved. It is not likely that the question will be raised again |

this year. The time which we can reasonably expect our representatives to devote to the work of legislation is now nearly exhausted, and there is no reason to suppose .that they are legs tired of the performance than the public are by this time of reading: the reports.- The result will probably be that seme combination, under the name of a coalition, will be formed, to carry on the business of the country for another year, until the people and the collective wisdom of fcheir choice are sufficiently recruited- to look into the public affairs ag.iin. But in the meantime, a great step in advance will have been gained if the electors of the country as a whole arrive at a clear perception of the cumbrous and unworkable character of the present constitution of the Colony. The experience of the session of 1872, unsatisfactory as it has been, when read aright may yet prove of the greatest value if it leads the public to understand that each Island has quite enough to do to attend to its own business, and that it will never be done as it should be until the disturbing influence of Provincial officialism no longer exists in the legislative assembly.