NOMINATED SUPERINTENDENTS.

West Coast Times, Issue 652, 26 October 1867, Page 2

NOMINATED SUPERINTENDENTS.

TO THE EDITOE OF THE LYTTELTOK TIMES. Sir — I will premise my letter by saying that I was one of those who, seduced by the arguments in favor of the system, believed in Nominated Superin-^ tendents ; but circumstances which, hav^fc recently transpired have caused me to modify the views which. I had previously held. I have endeavored to devote some deep consideration to the subject, and have found myself considerably puzzled. I have placed the whole question in various positions in review before me^and now appear to be impressed with the "opinion which leads me to the following conclusion :—: — Nominated Superintendents must "carry out the views of the Government in power ; and though, that Government may in reality be in a minority, yet any Superintendent thus nominated dares not in his actions oppose its views. This certainly is open to grave objections, among which is, that if the members of the Government took a dislike to any particular province, and wanted their views in regard to that province carried out, they could issue instructions to their Nominated Superintendent to act accordingly ; and self-interest would compel him to use his influence in this or that direction, and to deal out instructions to his subordinates, so that the will of certain members of that Government would be carried out in opposition to the voice of the electors, and possibly to the detriment of the province generally. Say, for instance, that there was a general election ; the Government, wishing to remain in power, and knowing those who, if elected, would support and keep them in, would give a gentle hint to the Superintendent, and he would convey the same to those below him, who would be afraid to oppose him; and thus voters would be coerced into giving their support to men whose principles might be quite antagonistic to their own. It is, I believe, only those who are seeking office who have been instrumental in causing a secession of Westland and Timaru, and though the arrangement which has been made with regard to Westland may, if carried out in its integrity, be beneficial in the highest degree to Canterbury; yet, that in respect to Timaru must be viewed by most of us as the first push of the thin end of the wedge which is to destroy the principle of our institutions. And you will find, sooner or later, that those who did the dirty work were not left penniless for the trouble they took. I refer to those who crept into the Secretary's office, and were all along running with the hounds "and holding with the fox at the same time, who, helping to frame, and proposing to move certain resolutions, turned round at last, and exhibited themselves as the traitors to the good cause. It may be that poverty justified such men — that, being " all things to all men," there are men who will one day canvass for a man of certain principles, and to-morrow for another whose principles are diametrically opposite. These are the sort of people who do harm to every Superintendent. They promise all sorts of things in his name, without his concurrence, until at last these promises are fathered on to the Superintendent directly, and he is made to bear the burden of them. In the excitement of the last election,/ many wild things were said which, whei^ m we calmly consider the matter, should not have been heeded ; and we should not call any Superintendent strictly to account for the whole letter of his promises made during the election time. In the present instance, very many things have arisen which none of us could foresee, and the present Government are blamed only because the Treasury has not been full of money ; but in justice to them, we should not forget that they had to start with a heavy overdraft at their bankers — that they had to provide means to carry out the contracts of their predecessors, and all this with a falling revenue apd the land sales reduced to almost a cipher. I remember the lasb election, and each candidate promised many things which could not have been enmed out as things are now. At the present time, we would undoubtedly have been at a dead-lock, had it not been for the im. mense advantages which the Bank of New Zealand got through the passing of'the Consolidation of Loans Bill, and which made it dole out its resources to those who supported its head to carry the bill through, so that if we had a Nominated Superintendent, opposed by those in power who probably are shareholders in it, or in some way interested or influenced, he would really be at the beck and call of that bank, and would have to do all that he could to help it to get all sorts of advantage for the sake of the share of the plunder which comes to him. While, for reasons, some of which I stated, I do not believe in Nominated Superintendents, I do not altogether put faith inpopularly-elected Superintendents, and I havo been conning over in my brain what system would, in ' lny opinion, answer instead. I would suggest that the province should be divided into wards or districts; that ratepayers in each should elect a Board, and that such Board should appoint its chairman by ballot ; that the chairman thus appointed should form our Provincial Council, and that the Council should elect its Superintendent by ballot. I say by ballot in each case of chairman and of superintendent, because there would then be an end to all party strife and animosity which are always engendered at all elections : and then no improper use could be made of position to coerce a man into giving a vote in opposition to his own wishes. I think we would then get a good class of men to represent us in the fioad Boards, as it would be possible for a man under such a system to rise to a higher position I on the Board, and leave it open for him 1 indeed to become Superintendent. The best men probably would be elected to •the Boards, the best of them to the office of chairman, and the best of them again would stand eligible for Superintendencics. I have been reading the letter of your correspondent " Overdraft" with some interest, and though I do hot agree with him in some tilings, I do most certainly go the whole hog with him in his opinion that the Government Account should not be kept at the Bank of New Zealand, and for the very good reason which he has given in his letters. ~& If you will give me space, I hope to write you again on these matters. Your obedient servant, Coo-ee.