THE SUPERINTENDENTS SALARY.

Press, Volume XII, Issue 1577, 26 November 1867, Page 2

THE SUPERINTENDENTS SALARY.

Tho following is our report of tho epOflCU made by Mr Cracroft Wilson in bringing forward a resolution for the reduction of "19 salary of the Superintendent:—- , Mr Cbicboft Wilson—lα rising to more this evening the resolution which etande i» my name I trust I shall bo pardoned i- * entreat the Council to approach the subject 9S fur ac possible with unbiassed minds. lnj> subject is not one affecting this district or thaS municipality, this road board or that inuii tial section of the community, but it affect* the whole province, every man, woman, & n( * child in Canterbury. It involves this ff**\ question: Will tho Provincial Council oi vW terbury, in the face of diminished land saw an empty exchequer, a depresaed ffl market, debentures unsaleable save *ta B**"*

bublTo"wbfke of imtnense magnifiVd'e undertaken immediately, a gold field, % Oliver Twi>t, clamorous for more and '!5» c -« . 50 per cent, pf the ouUmv m<B (<", *«"% 1,,01< ttf whi.-ii ** ebout to environ thr province, and coinBre nr e vftih t" p liiiihfst-calnried official in the mi 'rinre nnd siy refo»m sliiill commerice at fhe toP t,f *!'• tre * 0 '" If this momentous »uhj.-ot - heuW not he n PP roa(,}ie(i tll,s e v; '»ina will) H and party feelings laid itsicie. T trm<h f<"& r t,iat not only will t,ie K r »»'i flueetion, as above, detniled, be lost sight of, *j rjaidby a heap of extraneous matter Sbich "« B rfßll - T no connei-tion wit 'i if, but I mv motive in placing the resolution upon Hip er paper "ill be so misrepresented ns to Afford epecious arguments for negativing the motion altogether. My 'motive for the fijarte which I have adopted this evening is trarelrand pimply this: to repair the grent mistake which this Council made. j n it ß legislition in 1863, uninfluenced by party feeling. "«nd regardle?B of the insinuation* which may be levelled n?iin*st mc I can picture before hand what thos* insinuations may be. It may L iaid the Government now in office i* opposed to Mr Moorhouse, and that thi* taction lias been brought forward by mc at the g »pgtion of, and in collusion wit i, Hie Government, with a view to render the office of j Superintendent not worth Mr MoorhouW* acceptance. jjr Templek objected to the name of any individual outside the House being introduced iato the debate. The Speakeb overruled the objection. Mr C Wjlson —There are three candidates in the field, and it is my intention with \our permi-sion, sir, to namo them all. If any Member of this Council should give expression to the opinion I have allude.l to, or should entertain it in hie breast, I say to that, mernfcer thflbugh'you'Mr Speaker, that he grossly vro'nge mc. The Government has nothing to ] do with the matter. In the words of the - latin poet —" Mc, mc adsum gui fed, in mc J eontertite tela." I cannot forget that the ( present Government was once defeated on this } subject, and I ana well aware that it would be < highly indiscreet in a Government to tempt , ea attack from an opposition by introducing ( ary measure, either directly or indirectly, ( which they were not certain of carrying. I ( wto assure the Council that this resolution j &oe« not emanate directly or indirectly from t {he Government; r'y, more, that lam not J lureon which side the Government will vote, j and I have not the slightest expectation that the members of the Government will vote ac a Government should the matter come • eventually to a division. Of course I can call, • md I do call, upon those two members of the Government who were in office when a similar proposal emanated from th'j Government to j eupport the resolution, but Idoso on < he scorn ( ofeoneistency, and not because they hold office * at the present moment. If any member should 'j venture to use the above a r gument, arid be i heboid enough to state that the object of this H resolution is to make the Superintendency not worth Mr Mborhouse'e acceptance, my reply to that member is, may Heaven defend him from euch friends, for I can conceive n nothing more derogatory to Mr Moorhouse than the assertion, that in Mr Moor- r house's eyes the honour of the position goes for nothing ; it must be the £1500 sterling per annum or nothing. For my part 0 Ido nob believe that Mr Moorhouse would • eanction the use of such an argument; nay, more, that he will discountenance it to a uch • an extent as to vote for the resolution if any o each unworthy argument is brought forward f Again, it may. be said that tlu> resolution has £ been brought forward at the suggestion of and incollu-iion witli who have been wittily designated as "Mr Lance's playfellows." To those who urge such an argument, if I may so £ prostitute the nohle word argument, I reply that lam not one of Mr Lance's playfellows ; j ( fiia* lam ignorant as to the light in which a they view this resolution, and I trust that. I may be permitted to add that I am equally g indifferent on the point. The praise and y blame of Mr Lance'e playfellows will fall on _ my ear alike. Agajn, I assert that I trust no rote on this question will be swayed by any eucb specious reasoning. Thero are at the present moment three candidates for the office in the field. The friends of candidate No. 1 make no scruple in averting that he is sure to be appointed, v The friends of No. 2 are equally positive that t he will be returned by a vast majority. No. 3 | rays himself that though candidates Nos. 1 . and 2 make a greater noise than he makes, . his friends are men of action, and that they 1 will assuredly place him at the top of the \ poll. Who amongst us shall venture positively t to etate that No. 1 will succeed, or that No. 2 j willj or that No. 3 will fail of success ? This . resolution is no respecter of persons, and is aimed at no particular individual ; and J although it is a matter of some importance who £ the future ohief magistrate of the province will j be, still if this Council does its duty the amount of harm which any Superintendent can do to the province is reduced almost to a minimum. I beg to call the attention of the Council to t the faot that this resolution, so far from being ] inopportune, could not have been brought ( forward at a more opportune period. Three candidates, aa I said before, are in the field. , If this resolution is passed this evening all * three candidates will know that the salary is i filed at £1000, and no disappointment can c occur; but if the introduction of this resolution j had been postponed till the election had taken t piece, then the charge might fairJy be brought that the resolution was aimed at the successful candidate. And now let mc trace the biography, C if .1 may use the term, or history of the salary a of the Superintendents of this province. First c tfie turn was £400" It was t hen gradually raised to.jEBQO; and, after ten years, an endeavour was made/ in 1863 to the salary to £2000 a pfe* annum ; that attempt was defeated in this I Council, and a compromise was effected by g which the salary was finally settled at £1500. { Subsequently the present Government brought / itt: a Bill fixing the salary at £1000. That Bill was thrown out on the ground, as I \ believe, that, it was not. seemly to alter again 1 after so short a period the salary of .the chief | magistrate of the province. More than two { yeara have elapsed, and public opinion has Had time to make itself heard on the subject. ByjHiblio opinion I do not mean the sentiBaents;contained in leading articles in the ne«s- < papers of the province, I allude to those 1 murmuringe which find utterance when men , «pe»k to one another on the subject of the j roge, earns which this province is now paying to its. officers; and in those utterances this ( ecntiment pervades, that in addition to the < Eonour, £1000 salary is quite sufficient. What- . may be the fate of the division on this t resolution this nipht, outside the Council ( walls three-fourths of the educated portion— . bjl rhat term 1 mean those who can read their- Bibles and sign their own names, not < tht)ge who have been carefully nurtured in j t{(e classical walls of ahna mater, —in the j fewasts of three-fourths of the educated por- f tion of the people of Canterbury this resolution will find an echo which sooner or later !

will make itself heard, even though this Coun--<s|should reject it. And now let mc turn to -the authors of the Actof Parliament by which the Constitution of New Zealand was granted You are aware, sir, that the Act, as originally %mcd, provided that there should be a notniB&t«d Superintendent in each province, with a??alary guaranteed by the British Parliament OPJBoOOper annum. No member of the House <rf Commons opposed more strongly that por%a of the Act which administered th« o|fmination by the Governor of Jfew Zealand oj. Superintendents of provinces, and their salaries of £500 per annum, than did that •tftteeuian, " that philosopher in action," to quote the language of Edmund Burke, Mr Giadetona. With your leave, sir, and that of the Counfiil r I will read a few " eeateacee|from that noble speech to which Oβ gate utterance upon the debate on fhe second reading of the Bill. He cays :— "The right hon. gentleman has thought *t fit, following the traditions of his department i Q thjj p ar tj cu l ar instance, that the settlers in New Zealand, composed of Engliahinen and Natives as intelligent aa ourselves, except in co fur as they may have lost their intelligence by having lived bo long under what Jauet in strictness be called arbitrary governright hon. gentlemen hie thought « fit that each one of hi* six district* should

be "governed by a Superintendent, who is not to be elected, but who is to be nominated by the Governor of New Zeulaml ; and Hint this fiinefi >nnry, fo relieve him from the ri*k of starvation, eiioulii hure provide! for him by our parental care a s»tary of JEoOO per annum I would respectfully eiisni'M. sir, it we C"uld get rid of both of the nomination nnd of the salary it would be :<. great iinproTement in M»ie Bill. From what sonrcn »■» it that political appointments derive their attractiveness and honour ? I have tha dis tiiii'tion of sitting in un ass'inhlj of six hundred gentlemen who give their laborious services to the country without, fee or reward ; we have, Mgtin, in the service of the State » great miiltn.iide of salaried offietw ; yet noman can siy that thes«» salaried ofii.-es, ninny of them bringing distinction as well as einolu-

menf, are coveted more than a se it in this House. Why 13 such a seat, with the heavy burden of duties attaching to it, so coveted ? because every seat in it is a mark of the confident** of a portion of our fellow-countrymen. That confidence stands instead of money, ati-1 if does the work of money better than money i'Sf-lf con do. If you would allow three com munitiee to choose out from amoi g themselves those whom they believe to be the besr men, you would find, without undevtakintr Itj provide them wilh £500 a year for their labours, that the office would become the oi'jeet of honourable competition, and it would be in addition I venture to predict the means of making the colony attractive in a decree far beyond your present experience; of drawing from England to that colony men of a different olmss, men of a higher class than you can ever get to go in numbers to any of your colonies until you stamp them \iifh the same broad, and deep, and indelible character of freedom which has been marked uiion all your institutions at home." We of • 'iinterbury boast, and not- without reason, that we possess more education and more refinement than any other province of New Zealand ; and shall it be said of us with, a sneer by the other provinces ?—" Oh, yes ; of Canterbury's boasted intellect and boasted refinement neither will bear inspection." Other provinces believe in the noble sentiment uttered by Mr Gladstone on May 21,1852. "The confidence of a portion of our fellow countrymen stands in etead of money, and it does the work of money better than money itself can do ; snd accordingly they give their Superintendents salaries varying from £400 to £800 per annum. But in Canterbury honour and confidence go for nothing. They cannot take the place of money. They cannot do the work of money. In that benighted province they are obliged to give their Superintendents £1500 per annum, because honour and confidence possess there no appr.c-able val ie." The resolution which I have the

.honour this nigMt. to submit *o the verdict o; the Council is :in humble attempt, to put >\ stop to such scenes by removing the of tho-n. The Premier of New Zealand, taken away from his home, and compelled to neglect his private affaire during the whole period of his office, receives a salary of £1000 per annum ; and shall the people of Canterbury grant a larger salary to their Superintendent, who can remain at his home a7id attend to his private affairs out of office hours, than the people of New Zealand grant to their harassed and over tasked Premier? I beg to move the resolution standing in my mmc : —'* That in tl c opinion of this Council it is expedient that the ' Superintendent Salary Ordinance, 1863,' shoult be repealed, and that the Provincial Secretary be instructed to bring in a Bill effecting that object, and limiting the emoluments of all future Superintendents of this province to sterling per annum." On the question being put the House divided, and the motion vvus lost. The numbers were :—Ayes, 4: Cowlialiaw, Hall, Tancred, and J. C. Wilson. Noes, 25: Allington, Aynsley, Barff, Buckley, Clark, Dixon, Duncan, G-osling, Hargreaves, ilawkes, Hay hurst, Liornbrook, Maude, Peacock, Prosser, B.owe, Shand, Stewart, Stoddart, Templer, Westenra, White, Wilkin, Williams, and W. Wilson.