Enter-Probncial News.

Colonist, Issue 17, 18 December 1857, Page 4

Enter-Probncial News.

AUCKLAND. THE LESSON 6F THE LATE MAILS—A

■ : GENERAL DISSOLUTION. WHAT have the late mails taught? No--thhitf less than this, that we ought to have a completely fresh in Colonial as well as in Provincial "Legislation. The Six Provinces—the Hexarchy—of New Zealand, are about to enter on a new lease of constitutional administration :—the colony, j as a whole, ought to do the same. We will briefly give our reasons for the above seemingly dogmatic assertion. From one end of the colony to the other, we have had proof on proof that the Constituency have vastly changed their minds since the last General Election—proof from the intervening Provincial Elections—proof from prudent resignations of seats in the House of Representatives. At Otago there has been a Provincial Revolution. At Canterbury, the constituency are in the throes of change for better or worse— whichever Brittan or Moorhouse may turn out:—now that. Fitzgerald has gone home in search of rest and restored health. At Nelson, affairs are, evidently in a state of ■ transition ;—R. is next door to S.- in the c alphabet;,but the chief supporters of Stafford; hardly seem pleased with Robinson as his'successbr—whatever may be the verdict .•; of thei constituency as a whole; and though the Colonist arid the Uzaminer have shaken hands' before commencing their first round for * the belt' for Nelson, it is yet 'all on the cards' which party. shall rule in the northermost province of the Middle Island. At Wellington, as the details we have elsewhere quoted will show, 'the prophets' are no longer trusted; they have no moral right to speak in the name of the people; they are (politically) 'down among the dead men '—as flabby and flaccid as the empty 'leathern bottle' which our roystering royalist forbears so christened. At New Plymouth, a Superintendent who was one of the. mainstays of the two or three days ♦Fox-Hall and Brown-and-Daldy Ministry' has been replaced by a settler whose name commences with the next letter of the alphabet. At Auckland we have had another trial of strength, at which not one of the • Auckland men' or • chickens' ventured to'measure strength with the Provincial Reformers; so that here, as at Wellington, every one who supported the treacherous •compact' between Otago members and the fustian sections of the Wellington and Auckland Representatives has been forced to retire from the contest a beaten man, or to decline the challenge to measure swords. And thus, in echo to Cargills or Macandrew at Otago, to ' the three Fs' and Dudley Ward at Wellington, we have Carleton (Bay of Islands) and sundry of his onceboasted ' chickens' who are now proved to misrepresent their assumed constituents in the House of Representatives. For if men dare not contest the Provincial elections, or are beaten in the attempt, it is clear that they have no moral right, no constitutional right, to presume to represent those same constituencies in the General Assembly. But further : there is hardly a Province wherein resignations of seats in the House of. Representatives have not already taken place, or are likely to do so, if not actually threatened. Again we commence with Otago-—from whence we are likely to have three resignations. At Canterbury we have Mr: Fitzgerald going home—-Mr. Brittan gone—Mr. Sewell in England, but we'hope likely to return. At Nelson there isjless talk of change. At Wellington can *the three Fs,' or that smart youth 'Dudley,' or even the once highly popular Clifford, again come up with any grace as representatives of the people of Wellington ? From New Plymouth, Mr. Charles Brown will not come-—and we doubt if Mr. East will-. In Auckland we are even worse off. Mr. Beckham has given notice of his intention to resign—if his resignation has not already been sent in; Dr. Campbell has bid farewell to the colony ; Mr. W. Brodio is selling off; Mr. 0.. J. Taylor is—where we know not; Mr. 'Hugh Carleton is rejected by • the Ilay '-—that, is, knowing he would be rejected, he-did'riot dar,e contest his seat fotf the Provincial Council,-; and consequently does. not farely represent that district in the Assembly/ .• / Then there is.- the fact .flfethe £500,000 Loan having been guaranteed by the Imperial Parliament—a Loan" opposed by many-of the present members of the House of Representatives. The colony ought, therefore,; to have an opportunity of expressing its opinion, whether those men who-"so opposed the financial policy of the Stafford-Sewell Ministry are fit to be entrusted with the distributive appropriation of;that Loan-/ ■• ■■■ ,: v:. v' ' ■"• ■ " ■'■''':' '■""'■'-;?>.''- But above all-—far above all—-is the fact, that the Imperial Parliament have now placed it in the power of the General Assembly to revise and alter the Constitution of this i colony, subject to the exceptions contained in the resolutions agreed upon in the last session of the General Assembly. We 'have not space now to go into details. But chief and foremost among the alterations which this last Act of the Imperial Legislature empowers the Colonial Paliaraent to make in our Constitution, is the mode in which the Superintendent of the. Provinces shall be elected, or nominated, or appointed. Now, here is a distinct and a most important issue raised-—one entirely unthought of by the constituency throughput the colony, when the last election for the'- General Assembly took place. The present members for the House of Representatives may take one view of the matter —the constituency may entertain a totally different opinion. Tlie decision of the point at issue is one of vast importance to the colony— for every province is vitally interested in that decision, whatever it may fee. ' /' ■ a]l jhfcse reasons then, we hold that there qughjjio be a fresh general appeal to th^ CQ%yi j«& jp—owing to the efflux of time as# - q||ier —there has

been an appeal to the constituencies of j every one of the Provincesv^lVew'. Zealander, Nov. 25. . . Mail Service.—W& learn froni the Neiv Zealander.of November 28, that the Superintendent of the Province of Auckland has advertised for tenders for the conveyance of the mail, either between Auckland and Sydney, or between Auckland and Melbourne, as may be deemed most eligible. The following are some of the conditions specified:—The mail to be delivered in Auckland within thirteen days, of twenty-four hours each, after its being placed on board the vessel in Sydney, or sixteen days of twenty-four hours after beplaced on board in Melbourne, under a penalty of £5 for each twenty-four hours' or fraction of twenty-four hours' delay. The mail to be taken from Auckland fourteen days before the day fixed for the departure of the English' mail steamer from Sydney, or seventeen days before the day fixed for the departure of the English mail steamer from Melbourne. . Twenty-four hours to be reckoned as a day. A penalty of £25 to be paid if the mail is not delivered in Sydney or Melbourne in time for its transmission by the English, mail steamer.