RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 314, 23 October 1860, Page 3

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT.

The third point which Chief Justice Arncy lays down is one which materially affects our future resources— That the Ministry having advised the. Governor to commence the war, have made themselves responsible. " Undoubtebly Ministers are responsible for the advice given by them to the Governor of this Colony; and that advice is clearly and emphatically expressed in tho printed 'extracts fiom minutes of the Executive Council held on Wednesday, 25th January' last, where it appears that the Governor submits to the Council the question of tho completion of the purchase from the native chief Te Teira of a certain block of land at Tara--naki, and (as the minute announces) the Council, after a full consideration of the circumstances of the case, advise (whereupon follow the four heads of their advice), including the survey of the Mock, the protection of the survey party hy military force, the power to proclaim martial law, and the instructions for the officer commanding to keep possession of the block, if necessary, by force.'1 The consequences of this responsibility which ministers have assumed, are shown by the late Attorney-General, Mr. Swainson. The Home Government hold the Governor responsible for Native Affairs, and had he brought about this war by his own acts the Home Government would be equitably bound to pay the cost of carrying out their servant's act; but as ministers have unconstitutionally and unnecessarily advised the Governor relative to his dealings with the Taranaki natives —"seeing that it was the ministers who advised that the survey should be proceeded with and the land should be occupied by military force, I hold (said Mr. Swainson) that the Ministers are both morally and constitutionally responsible not only for the Taranaki war, but for burdening the Colony with the expenses of the war." For, also says Mr. Swainson, "If the ministers can do an act or advise an act to be done which shall cause the ruin of the European population of the whole province without being responsible, then I maintain that responsible government in New Zealand is nothing but a mockery, a delusion, and a snare." To our cost we shall find the Home Government saying the same. And yet these are the ministers, for seeking to enquire into whose conduct with regard to the war, our members have been found fault with by some of the constituency. We say have been, for already are those who found fault becoming earnest in their approval; and now that they find the Chief Justice expressing doubts as to whether the Governor, Ministry, and troops, are not possibly " armed trespassers," and especially when they learn that both the Chief Justice and the late Attorney General declare that the responsibility of the war rests not on the Governor but on the Ministry, and that in consequence the expenses will have to be paid by the Colony, they will become thoroughly convinced that the opposition of our members is based on the most solid grounds.— Wellington Independent. 'Without wishing to impute corrupt motives to the senators of this colony in particular, it is necessary to bear in mind that general weakness and want of principle which seems inherent in modern politicians jthat we may bt enabled to understand and explain the reason which induces the party in opposition to the ministry to adopt and maintain a line of argument and course of action as regards the war question opposed to the common sense view of the case adopted by the general opinion of the people of the colony. Viewed by this light, we can in some measure understand the exquisite satisfaction with which the members of the Opposition descant at length upon the hidden mysteries of ' mana,' and indulge in vague discussions upon tribal rights of tenure and those held in severalty, till they have succeeded in involving themselves and their hearers in hopeless bewilderment, and done their utmost to shroud a very plain matter into difficulty and darkness, in order to arrive at a foregone conclusion —that the war is an unjust and unholy one There is a case, however, in which this medium is still more necessary for the right perception of its merits. It appears that Chief Justice Arney and the late Attorney-General, Mr. Swainson, have been discussing in the Legislative Council the question of the lesponsibility of the Ministry, and through them of the colony, and have laid down the law in this wise: that the Ministry, having advised the Governor to commence the war, have made themselves responsible, to which Mr. Swainson adds, that they have thus burdened the Colony with the expenses of the war. The authority of Chief Justice Arney and the lute Attorney-General will as a matter of course carry great weight with most people, and it is a matter sincerely to be regretted that gentlemen so eminent in position should have suffered their feelings to interfere with their judgment in a matter of such grave importance; for no other elucidation can be found to explain the course they have taken. As regards the responsibility of the ministry, it is really a nominal affair; when additional powers were granted to his Excellency on the condition that they should be exercised by the " Governor in Council,'1 the Assembly willingly agreed to reserve to the Governor those powers on native questions which had before been held by him, the chief of which was to veto any proposition not agreeable to his views. It is but reasonable to infer then, that he acted upon the advice of his ministers on this occasion because it was in accordance with his own views, and therefore helped to strengthen his position and relieve his mind from some portion of the anxiety necessarily attending snch an important act. Had the advice of his ministers been contraryjto his own opinion, does any one suppose for an instant that he would have plunged the Home Government into a war? If so, then what becomes of the responsibility of the ministers ? and where is the case for shifting the expenses of the war upou the shoulders of the colonists? It is satisfactory to think that the Colonial Office has enough to do to fight its own batdes in Parliament, not to trouble itself about our little party questions. Thanks to the opposition at home, if there were any desire shown to lay hold of any quibble about the responsibility of our ministers in giving advice to the Governor, and so saddle us with the expenses of a war that the colonists have done nothing to provoke, it is quite certain that the whole matter would be thoroughly sifted, and meet with that fair and just treatment which generally distinguishes the conduct of the House of Commons. From the tone of the Duke of Newcastle's speech which we published in our last, there is no sign that the alarming secret discovered by the late Attorney-General of New Zealand, of the colony having become responsible for the expenses of the war, had been so much as suspected at the Colonial Office.— Lyttclton Times.