The Consolidation of Government in Zealand.

Bruce Herald, Volume IX, Issue 859, 1 December 1876, Page 6

The Consolidation of Government in Zealand.

(' Sydney Mail.') The Parliament of New Zealand was prorogued last week, and the prorogation carried with it the extinction of the Provincial governments and Legislatures. The Act for the abolition of the Provincial system was passed by the last Parliament ; but by way of concession to the Provincial party, and in order that the people generally might have full opportunity of pronouncing judgment upon the proposed new policy, a clause was inserted postponing the operation of the Actnintil the close of the first Session or' the new Parliament then about to be elected. The battle of Provincialism against consolidation was fought at the general election, .and^again in the first Session of the Parliament ; and the Provincial party having been defeated, the Session has closed, so that the Aci has come into force, and, there ,

iB now only one Legislature and one Government for the whole of New Zealand. If the Provincial party had been the stronger in the country, and therefore in the new Parliament, it would have been able to procure the repeal of the Abolition Act during the late Session. The fact that it failed to do so shows that it was the weaker party, or, in other worda, the minority ; and as, under representative institutions, the majority must rule, it is a pity that any of the prominent public men of the Colony shoiild have damaged their reputations by setting themselves to struggle against the inevitable. Sir George Grey, the late Superintendent of Auckland, and Mv Macandrew, the late Superintendent of Otagn, have distinguished themselves, or extinguished themselves, in this way. They telegraphed to the Secretary of State for the Colonies, urging that the opinion of the Crown law officers should be taken on the question whether the Abolition Act was not ultra vires, and urging its disallowance, on the grouud that the will of the majority in Auckland and Otago was against it. Mr Macandrew had previously intimated to the Governor that any attempt to enforce it in Otago might provoke disturbances ; and Sir George Grey went so far as to tell the Secretary of State that disturbances would iv such an event be imminent, and that threats had been used to. employ her Majesty's ships to enforce the Act by bombarding Auckland. Lord Carnarvon, it will be remembered, replied that the Act would not be disallowed, that he hoped ther^-sas aij. fear of disturbances, and that he had full; confidence in the Governor's judgment. Of course the Governor had sent to the Secretary of State a despatch dealing with Sir George Grey's extraordinary statements ; and, as it dealt with them as sharply as they deserved, the production of the despatch produced some sensation in the Colony. Sir George Grey, in fact, gave notice of a motion declaring it to be a breach of privilege to make any charges to her Majesty the Queen against any member of that House without informing such member thereof and affording him an opportunity to reply, although it is said that Sir George Grey had contrived to get one of his letters to the Secretary of State into the mail-bag at so late a moment that the Governor, though furnished with a copy at the same time, was obliged to postpone his comments upon it to the nest mail. As to Mr Macandrew; the last we heard of his proceedings before the prorogation, was that he had been sending round to the Otago members a requisition for support in re>isting the Abolition Act and in possessing himself of the' Government property in Otago ; but that the paper smelt too strongly of rebellion to be looked at. If Mr Macandrew has been meditating upon the career of Mr Jefferson Davis, the idea of a war of secession seems to have been repugnant to others ; and although it is too soon to assume that the new regime has been introduced without anything in the nature of a disturbance, it ia not too much to anticipate that the decision of the .Legislature will receive a peaceful assent from the mass of the people in all parts of the Colony. Here it may be well to remark that the action taken by New Zealand in abolishing Provincial Government may be quoted in illustration of the wisdom of a consoliiating policy, but does not supply an argument in support of the federation of the Australian colonies. New Zealand, with its chief Parliament and Provincial legislatures, was an example of the federal system ; but the federal system had clearly broken down in New Zealand, and centralisation had to be substituted for it. The existence of the Provincial Governments and Legislatures vitiated the action of the general governing body. So far as we may dr&s^S." "** lesson from New Zealand in this matter, that lesson would rather be against the establishment of a confederation here than in favor of it.