THE SUPERINTENDENTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 224, 21 September 1929, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE SUPERINTENDENTS.

DAYS OF THE PROVINCES. GREY AND SELF-GOVERNMENT THE FIRST ELECTIONS. We publish to-dny ihe first of a series of articles on the Auckland provincial •period by Dr. G. EI. Scholefield, D.Sc., F.R.Hist.S., Parliamentarian Librarian Tnese articles will cover the main features of the province's history down to the abolition of the provincial system in the 'seventies. I. From the time when the establishment of a British colony in New Zealand became an accomplished fact, the New Zealand Company, under the influence of Edward Gibbon Wakefield, divided its energies between the foundation of settlements at different parts of New Zealand and fighting the Colonial Office for the grant of self-governing rights to the people who went oversea under its auspices.- That the Crown colony government of New Zealand continued until 1852 was due rather to obstacles raised on the spot by Sir George Grey than to any unwillingness on the part of the British Government or Parliament to allow the white New Zealanders to manage their own affairs. Fitzroy and Grey were unanimous in telling the Colonial Office that 110 finer body of men had ever gone oversea to the founded- of a British colony than those who •were now settled around our coasts. When the Act of 1840 was passed, and Grey received his urgent and imperative instructions to put it into operation at once, he had the courage—his critics called it the audacity—to suspend indefinitely the portion which granted' the dearest wish of the colonists, on the oTound that it would enable the few whites living in Auckland —then less than 4000—to legislate for and govern practically the whole Maori population of New Zealand, which certainly was not then under 100,000, and had by no means abdicated its. dominion to the , pakeha. Grey's best friends admit that he had no desire to surrender the prerogative ' which he then' enjoyed of governing the native race with responsibility to the Queen alone. His personal courage, shrewd common sense and sympathetic understanding of the Maori gave him an influence over them which was of the greatest value to the interests of the colony, and which he frankly enjoyed exercising. Consequently ho found reason again and again for putting off the evil day when he should ; hand over his powers to an elective v parliament, or share them with a responsible government. New Ulster Province. Though he suspended the provisions ' of the Act for giving self-government, Grey sugared the pill by gradually evolving a constitution of his own unde 1 * the authority of previous instructions from the Colonial Office. Under this scheme , Auckland with Taranaki became the province of New Ulster, and the rest of New Zealand, in which at that time there .were, only the two white settlements of Nelson and Wellington, became •the province'of New 1 Munster. Each' had a lieutenant-governor, with Grey as. Governdr-}n-Chief. He lived in Auckland and kept the government there largely in his ov.;h hands. They could do Jlothing of which lie disapproved! While these schemes were gradually developing in New Zealand, the plan of government for the colony was slowly reaching finality in Great Britain, where :n 'turn Lord Grey, Stanley and Gladstone each played their part as Secretary of State. All parties were by now agreed that as the white settlements were so far apart as to be practically separate lolonies, with no intercommunication more close than that between England and New York, they should, be provided for as distinct provinces ' and given governing ' bodies which would provides-for their purely local Leeds first. The general assembly to care for" the interests of the whole country could 'come la' There were now six provinces, fo~ Canterbury and Otago were both well established in the unoccupied parts of the South' Island. It had been intended to the tiny settlement of TaranaH attached to Auckland, .but Fox, with his long experience as. resident agent for the New Zealand Company in- Nelson and Wellington, persuaded the ramers of the - .ct to give it a separate government. Canterbury 'was just saved from being'an appendage* of Nelson. Each of the six provinces was. gh a a Provincial Council (consisting in the case of Auckland of twenty-four. members) ; and each had a superintendent, who, as a concession to the persistence of Edward Gibbon. Wakefield, was elected by the constituency which chose the councils,. i.e.", almost every adult man who had certain property qualifica- . tions. ./'■ . _ - : The Firs f Elections. The elections of these provincial councils in 1853 were practically the first popular elections held' in New Zealand. Only in the province of Auckland had the people had an earlier opportunity of returning their own members. 111 1852 (when the new constitution was already law) the peQple of New Ulster elected the twelve members whom Grey had decided to admit to the hitherto nominated Legislative Council of the province. Of the ten ~'ho came from Auckland province, one (George Clarke) represented the Bay of Islands, and the , others were all elected by the people living in and close around the city, namely: William Brown, John Salmon and Frederick Whitaker (Citj of Auckland); John Logan Campbell (Suburbs); Patrick Dignan (Pensioner Settle--•ments); Thomas S. Forsaith and Allan O'Neill (Northern Division); James ; Macky and William Field Porter (Southern Division). This council never met, because the news of the passing of the new Constitution Act reached New Zealand i efore it was convened. The first step in bringing the new constitution into operation was the election of the raperintendents and the provinciwl councils in the latter end of 1853. Grey left to the last moment permitted by the Act the duty of ordering ■ these elections, thus once more giving . colour to the suspicion, wl/ysh eveu his friendly critics entertained, that he was reluctant to inaugurate constitutional government at all. He scarcely saw the new councils function, for he left the colony at the; end of 1853, and did not return; so that it was left to his successor as Acting-Administrator (Colonel Wynyard) to convene the General Assembly and do his share in the solution of the various knotty questions that immediately arose.