The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1873.

Southland Times, Issue 1737, 6 May 1873, Page 2

The Southland Times. TUESDAY, MAY 6, 1873.

To-day the Provincial Council commences the arduous labors of the session, and the next month or six weeks will probably be devoted by its members to what one of themselves — not the least experienced politician of the number, Sir Francis Dillon Bell— last year called "thefarceofplayingat responsible government." By that time the Assembly will probably be in session, and as several of the members of the Provincial Council are members of the Assembly also, it will then most likely be discovered that the " grave constitutional questions " involved in ihe changes in the Executive, which took place during the recess, have been sufficiently discussed and satisfactorily settled, and that the Council had better devote a day or two to what the uninitiated are apt to regard as its most important duty, the distribution of the Pruvincial revenue. It is to be hoped that the patience of the Southland members will not by that time have been ex hausted, especially as on this occasiou there is really something to divide. The constitutional question, or in other words, the question of who is to divide this " something," will, however, be sure to take precedence of all others. VV^e have already expressed our opinion that Bis Honob, in making the Executive changes which Mr Donald Keid's eventful political career last winter necessitated, acted in the strictest sense constitutionally — that is to say, within the fair meaning of the provisions of the Constitution Act, and in accordance with its spirit. To app y the more refined principles which govern English constitutional practice to the circumstances of the Provincial Government at that conjuncture was not only absurd, but impossible. The Superintendent, as we then pointed out, is neither King nor Viceroy. ' He ia the elect of the people, as much as any one or all of the Provincial Councillors. His constituency is the Province, and, as the chief of the Executive, he represents the deliberate choice of the voters who returned the Provincial Council itself. It is idle, therefore, to treat an official so chosen as if the part he may fairly play in the Government of the Province were merely one of form and routine. It may be questioned whether this particular position ia the very best in which the Chief Executive Officer of the Provincial Government could be placed. But it is obvious that such a question, however interesting as an abstract political study, has no practical bearing on the matter at issue. We are the more careful to call attention to this practical aspect of the case, as there is an obvious tendency ,on the part of several members oi the

Provincial Council to resent nny independent action on the part of the Supeei:ntendent as an autocratic interference \vith the free action of representative institutions. These worthy sentiemeu forget — or choose to forget — that the Supeuintexdent, as an elected officer, has not only formal and routine work to do, but active and responsible functions to perform. The largest and most important of these is to see that the Executive Government of the Province is maintained in a state of efficiency. When Mr Donald Reid accepted office as a Minister of the Crown, under Mr Stafford, last session of Assembly, it was obviously inconsistent that he should retain his position as Provincial Secretary of Otago. The Superintendents in the same Ministry announced their intention to resign the Superintendencies — at the close of the session. By that time the necessity for doing so had I passed away. Tbe Supebintebtdent of Otago, being in opposition, naturally applied the same rule to his Proviwciaj, SECBETAET.with the difference of insisting on an answer at once, instead of waiting for the end of the session. The result, as every one knows, was that Mr Reid fell between the two stools, being too much hurt to accept the very frank offer of a restoration to the smaller, or Provincial, stool, made to him by His j Honor when it was found that the Colonial stool had passed definitively out lof his reach. The Superintendent, then, as in duty bound, proceeded to reconstruct the Provincial Executive, choosing, we must suppose, the best available men for that purpose. That choice will now have either to be ratified or to be reversed by the Provincial Council, and that body has the undoubted right and power to adopt either 1 course. Should the Council see fit to transfer the management of the Provincial affairs to a new Executive, no one will have any right to complain, from a constitutional point of view. But it should be clearly understood that, in the j event of such a change being made, it ought to be based on the personal or political unfitness of the present occupants, of tbe Government benches, and not upon any doctrinaire objections to the manner in which they were appointed. That, as we have shown, is as constitutional as the method by which it 1 may be sought to eject them. If they have done wrong, or if the policy they announce is not in accord with the views of the Council, they ought not to refuse, politically, to die. In every other respect their position is unassailable. We have dwelt longer on this than the intrinsic importance of the question warrants, were it not for the well-known fact that a plausible pretext, such as this quasi-constitutional question affords, is always eagerly seized by a certain class of politicians, in the struggle to obtain for themselves or for their party tbe possession of executive power. The true and practically important work of the Council will be, atter this delicate matter has been settled, and the private crotchets of members duly aired, to apportion tbe< Provincial revenue available for the current year to the construction of such public works as are most urgently required. This duty is all the more itn- J portant as there happens to be, this year, something really worth dividing. It is to be hoped that the Southland representatives will not lose sight of the fact that the Southland district, during last financial year, ending 31st March, 1873, contributed a sum of £90,000 to the Provincial exchequer, in the shape of j land revenue alone, £75,000 of this amount being from the old Province of i | Southland, and the balance from the extended district. In addition to this large I sum, there was received during the month of April, just ended, the sum of £33,000, for land revenue in the Southland district, making altogether about £123,000 during the past thirteen months. The public works in the district are, in all fairness, entitled to a corresponding recognition, but whether our representatives will succeed in obtaining it remains to be seen. They will now have an excellent opportunity of testing the bona fides of the promises on the strength of which reunion was obtained. A determination to secure fair treatment for the district, and a clear perception of its requirements and its just claims, will be mere appreciated by their constituencies, and will in the end do more for the cause of good government, than the most elaborate analysis of " the constitutional question."