NEW PROVINCES ACT.

Colonist, Volume IV, Issue 365, 23 April 1861, Page 3

NEW PROVINCES ACT.

(From the New Zealander.) The last heroic operation which will be possible under the authority of this Act has been attempted, if not accomplished. The Province of Otago is, for the moment at least, dismembered by Proclamation. A new Province, called Southland, with Invercargill as its capital, has been cut out of it; this has been done at the instance of a fraction of the whole population, heedless of the protest and remonstrance of the local Government, and in direct and violent opposition, as we believe, to the will of the great majority of the people of Otago. In a moment.of financial tribulation, as well, as of official confusion, this crushing blow J has fallen, and, unless the General Assembly interfere in its behalf, the progress of Otago in the work of colonization and settlement must be grievously impeded—if, indeed, it be not wholly interrupted. The conduct of the Responsible Ministers in this matter will not escape the severest condemnation. The circumstances of the case are peculiar. Doubts' have been thrown, officially, upon the sufficiency of the electoral qualifications of the petitioners for separation ; the limits of the new Province are said to be uncertain and its area excessive, and the Government of Otago, as well as the majority of the people of the Province, are known to be greatly adverse to the scheme of Murihiku. Yet all these difficulties appear to have been got rid of with great rapidity. It will no doubt be urged that, the conditions specified by the "New Provinces' Act" being complied with, the Executive have no option but to accede to the prayer of the petitioners, and " with all convenient speed to establish such Province accordingly." Unquestionably there has been no symptom of hesitation on the part of Ministers, or of any disposition to modify a policy which has been condemned almost unanimously by the constituencies of the colony at the late elections, and which, in two months from this time, will be summarily reversed by the General Assembly. It is notorious that the country has condemned the policy of the present ministers in seeking to dismember the Provinces, but it may fairly be said the New Provinces Act being on the statute book, its provisions must be carried out. The law is there certainly ; it was brought in and passed by the; present ministers ior a specific purpose,, which practically it has effected. But there, are grave doubts that the New Provinces Act is itself invalid, that is in fact a constitutional blunder, and that the Provinces purported to be constituted have not been legally constituted. This question having been raised in the House of Representatives, a Select Committee was appointed to prepare a case for the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown in England, and as the points of dispute can be ascertained from the Report of the Committee, we reprint it entire froni the Journal of the House. NEW PROVINCES ACT, 1858. Mr. Sewell from the Select Committee appointed on the 24th ultimo to prepare a case for the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown in England, upon the question. Whether the '.' New Provinces Act, 1858," is consistent with the power of the General Assembly, and whether the same is now in operation and whether the Provinces of Marlborough and Hawke's Bay (fulfilment of the necessary conditions being admitted) have been duly constituted ai Provinces under the constitution Act—brought up a Report, and the same was read as. followeth: — Your Committee have prepared the following Case which they Bubmit for the approval of the House, and they have the honor to suggest that the same should be transmitted by the Government to the Secretary of State for^the Colonies, to be submitted to the Law Officers of the Crown. Case. . The attention of the Law Officers of the Crown is requested to the following sections of the New Zealand Constitution Act, 15 & 16 Vie, cap., 72, viz.:—• The Sections from 2 to 31 inclusive, and especially to the 2nd, 3rd, and 18th, and blso to Section 69. In pursuance of the powers vested in the Governor by Section 2, Sir George Grey, the then Governor of the Colony issued a Proclamation dated 28th February, 1853, fixing the boundaries of the six Provinces named in, and established by the 2nd Section of the Constitution Act. And under the powers of Section 5 by another Proclamation of the sth March, 1853, ho constituted Electoral Districts, &c, for those Provinces,

Copies of such Froations arc herewith. A n outline map of the colony is also herewith, showing in a general way the Provincial divisions with the respective Electoral Distiicts as fixed by Sir George Grey's Proclamations. It will appear from such map, thafcSir George Grey's Provincial Divisions exhausted the two principal Islands, the Northern and Middle Hands, leaving i Stewart's Island, the smallest, without any Provincial Constitution. The attention of the Law Officers of the Crown is further requested to the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act, 20 and 21 Vie, cap. 53. By the first Section of that Act, Section 69 of the Constitution Act is repealed. By the second clause, power is given to the General Assembly by any Act or Acts from time to time to alter, repeal, or suspend any of the provisions of the Constitution Act, except certain specified provisions, including Sections 3 and 18 in particular. On the 2lst August, 1858, an Act was passed by the General Assembly of New Zealand, intituled, ' An Act to provide for the establishment of New Provinces in New Zealand," it wss duly transmitted to the Imperial Government for allowance, and has been left to its operation. A copy of the Act is herewith. In pursuance of such last mentioned Act, two New Provinces, viz., Marlborough (within the original limits of Nelson), and Hawke's Bay (within the original limits of the Province of Wellington), have been established by the Governor, upon the petition of the requisite number of Electors, &c, according to the conditions prescribed by the Act. Copies of the Order in Council establishing such New Provinces, and also establishing the Electoral Districts for the same are also herewith. An outline map of the Colony is herewith—shewing the alterations so effected in the boundaries of Pro- - vinces and of Provincial Electoral Districts. The original Provinces with their respective ■ boundaries and Electoral Districts having been fixed by the 2nd section of the Constitution Act, and Sir George Grey's Proclamation of the 28th February, and the sth March; and the 69th section of the Constitution Act having: been repealed previous to the Constitution of any new Province?, the power to constitute new Provinces and new Electoral Districts, and to alter the boundaries of the original Provinces, and of the original Electoral Districts, rests either on some inherent power in the Legislature, or on the'power given by the Constitution Amendment Act, to repeal, alter and suspend the provisions of the Constitution Act, and the questions are: — Ist. Has the General Assembly of New Zealand any inherent power to create new Provinces, Provincial Legislatures and Electoral Districts, or is the power of the General Assembly so to create, merely a power delegated to them by the Constitution Act, and only to be exercised in conformity with the terms of that Act of the Imperial Legislature ? 2ndly. Does the repeal of Section 69 of the ConstU tution Act by the Constitution Amendment Act, take away the power originally conferred hy Section 69 on the General Assembly, of creating New Provinces, and if not, on what grounds ? 3rdly. If, notwithstanding the repeal of Section 69 of the Constitution Act, the General Assembly has still the power of creating new Provinces and new Provincial Legislatures, can they, by an Act of Assemmbly, vest that power, either unconditionally or subject to the fulfilment of certain conditions, in the Governor or any other person ? 4thly. Does the power given by Section 2 of the Constitution Amendment Act, to repeal, alter and suspend the provisions of the Constitution Act. (Section 69 of the Constitution Act having been repealed by Clause 1 of the Constitution Amendment Act) empower the General Assembly to create New Provinces ? sthly. Can the powers given by the Constitution Amendment Act, of repeal alteration, aud suspension of the provisions of the Constitution Act be exercised inferentially by passing over-riding Acts, or must that power be exercised directly and expressly as an alteration, suspension, or repeal of certain specified provisions of the Constitution Act, and has the New Provinces Act in fact repealed, altered and suspended the Constitution Act, as regards the original Provinces and their boundaries and Electoral Districts ? 6thly. Was the passing of the New Provinces Act 1858 generally consistent with the powers conferred on the. General Assembly by the Constitution aud Constitution Amendment Acts ? 7thly. Adverting to the 3rd and 18th Sections of the Constitution Act, which are excepted from the operation of. the Constitution Amendment Act) the question arises whether the repeal of the 69th Section of the Act has or has not taken away from the Legislature itself the power of constituting New Provinces '? Bthly. Adverting to the 3rd and 18th Sections by which it is made essential without power of alteration that there shall be a Superintendent and a Provincial Council consisting of not less than 9 members,' aud that the Superintendent shall make laws, &c, with the advice, &c., of Ms Provincial Council. And also having reference to the 9th, 10th, llth, and. 12th Sections of the Constitution Act, and generally to the scope and intention of that Act. A further question arises—whether the llth Section of the New Provinces Act, by which the Superintendent is made eligible as a member of the Council and a speaker thereof, is copsistant with the Constitution Act and whether the functions of the two offices of Superintendent and member of a Provincial Council are or are not incompatible ? 9thly. Generally, the opinion of the Law Officers of the Crown is requested as to whether (the conditions of the New Provinces Act, 1858, being assumed as complied with in the cases of Hawke's Bay and Marlborough) these Provinces are lawfully constituted ?

Wesleyan Missionaries.—-By the ship Liberator, which came into port on Tuesday, March 19, the following seven missionaries —the Revs. J. Calvert, J. White, J. Nittleton, F. Tait, G. Gibson, J. F. llorsley, and F. Firth, with their devoted wives^on their way to the South Sea Islands, have arrived in this city, where they will remain for two or three weeks, when the missionary brig John Wesley will be ready to convey them to their destination. They are all for Fiji, except the Rev. Mr. Firth, who is to proceed on to Tonga, in the Friendly Isles group. They are all-young ministers except the. Rev. Mr. Oalvert, who had been many years with great success in those savage lands. His return with this band of fellow-laborers, further strengthaned by the accession of the Rev. Mr. Clifton, who has been for some time in training for the ministry at Horton College, Tasmania, will be a timely reinforcement to the staff of missionaries already there, but which has been considerably weakened by sickness and death. The acquisition of Miss Tookey, who has. also come with them to take the oversight of the native female seminary in Fiji, will also prove of essential service to that important branch of the mission work.. The Rev. Walter J. Davis, of Kiama, with his familjv returns to his former field of apostolic labor in the Friendly Islands in the same vessel, which is expected to sail with her truly valuable and important freight about the second week in April.— Sydney Empire. The Warrior, the first iron-cased frigate buil in England, was launched at Blackwall. about three weeks ago. It is a vessel of terrific strength, arid is 1500 tons larger than the largest vessel in the world excepting the Great Eastern. The English Government" have determined upon building more of these iron-cased ships. The one which v/as commenced at the same time as the Warrior is nearly finished. The Undaunted, one of the new screw-frigates, was launched on the Ist of January, The decay or efilorescerie of the stonework of the Hous&s of Parliament, is not^ it would .appear, confined to the exterior; of the building, but is showing itself in the roof and stonework ornamentatibu'of St. Stepheu's-hall, arising, it is belie Veil, from the destructive influence of the gas.