The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1885.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVI, Issue 124, 3 June 1885, Page 2

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 1885.

For the oaniß that lacks aisietanoe, For the wrong that ntedt reiiitanos. For tht future in tie -itanca, And the cool that we cv -»■

Tin. objections of the New Zealand Government to the Federal Council Enabling Bill are likely to be met by the concessions of the Secretary of State and the Governments of the neighbouring colonies. The Bill as finally brought down by Earl Derby contains two new clauses, inserted for the purpose of satisfying the scruples of New South Wales and New Zealand. One of these clauses permits any federated colony to withdraw at its own discretion from the agreement, and the other permits its Legislature to override, so far as it is concerned, the past decisions of the Federal Council. Victoria objects to the insertion of these clauses, while New Zealand thinks they do not go far enough, our Government demanding, in addition, that no legislation of the Council shall be effective until afterwards adopted separately by the Legislature of each colony. Some correspondence has taken place with Mr Griffiths, Premier of Queensland, on the last-named proposal. That gentleman suggested, subject to the approval of Victoria, that the Bill might be so framed that any colony joining (if it joined on the condition of Federal Council legislation being final) would only be bound subsequently so far as its Legislature had approved of and adopted each separate Act of the Council. The Government of New Zealand have now signified that this proposal would be acceptable to them. It appoars to us a much better way of avoiding any dangerous interference with the perfect self-government of the colonies than that which is offered by Earl Derby's clause confer 'ing power to withdraw from the Council and annul federal laws within a colony. That proposal is, indeed, utterly impracticable, because it wov'd be fatal to forming a federal fleet or raising a federal loan, or any federal undertaking involving the expenditure of money on joint account. Any colony could diminish the security for the debt or withdraw part of tho moans voted to pay the fleet.

Any colony whose Legislature adopted a federal measure committing it to an annual payment for any federal purpose would remain bound by that undertaking, and the Very fact of being so committed would tend to extinguish the desire for withdrawal. At the same time, the fact that no law passed by the Council will have any force in a colony until it has been re-enacted by the colonial Legislature, is all the security we can possibly obtain for the integrity of our local autonomy, In many things—as for example mail contracts —the Lcgis lature of the day commits its successors to a continuous expenditure, and inability lo repeal, therefore, although it should produce caution in accepting a law, cannot be urged as a*fatal objection to its adoption when the Parliament of a colony has fully satisfied itself that the measure would be advantageous to the country. The insertion of these clauses in tho Federal Council Enabling Bill will not finally commit New Zealand to federation, because the Imperial Bill contains a provision that the law is only to have force in any colony after adoption by the local legislature. But the Cabinet's approval of the Bill,subject to modifications made upon its own suggestion, would, we presume, imply that the Ministry are prepared to recommend the union of New Zealand with Australia in setting up the Council under the amended conditions.