The Press. MAY 15, 1874.

Press, Volume XXII, Issue 2736, 15 May 1874, Page 2

The Press. MAY 15, 1874.

So the Provincial Council is to meet after all. It had been reported, apparently on good authority, that the usual autumn session would not be held this year. The Government, it was said, had no business to bring down, and nothing had occurred, or was likely to occur, on which they wished to consult the Council. They therefore saw no reason for calling the House together until the ordinary period at the close of the financial year, after the session of the General Assembly. So the rumour went a week ago. But if Government had any such intention they have thought better of it. They have decided that the session shall be held • and on their advice his Honor the Superintendent, in a " Gazette " issued yesterday, lias summoned the Council to meet for the despatch of business on the 29th j inst. We see no particular use in these autumn sessions. Began in the first place to suit special circumstances, they have been continued as a matter of form. Six weeks once a year should be amply time enough for the transaction of all the necessary public business of the province. But in the present case the Government were to some extent pledged to convene the Council in this or the following month. One of the last acts of the late Council was to pass a resolution —if we remember rightly, on the motion of Mr Montgomery —praying that the Council might be dissolved, and the general elections held as soon after the prorogation as practicable, in order that the new House might have the opportunity of meeting in May or June. The dissolution and the elections took place accordingly; and the Government, we suppose, think themselves bound to give effect to the remainder of the resolution. What the business may be which the Council ia invited to despatch ib hard to say. We are not aware of I any worth speaking of. No legislation I is needed, except the amendment of the Executive Council Ordinance ; which [is certainly not a very pressing affair. Nor can it be said that supplies are wanted. The Council has already voted three times as much as can be spent. The last appropriation Ordinance was a meal enough to satisfy the cravings of the moat ravenous administrators for at least a twelvemonth. A Provincial Executive must have an ostrich like appetite if it can digest £1,000,000 in one year. Nor, again, is there any question which needs an expression of the Council's opinion, or any public work for which it has to "petition the Colonial Parliament. Nor, lastly, does the province want a loan. Anywhere else the object of the session would be evident enough. In every other province, north and South we see the Provincial Councils assembling in hot haste, in view of the approaching session of the Assembly, to pass Loan Bills. But Canterbury, singular among them all, does not need or wish to borrow. Yet this total absence of business will not interfere with the session. Members are sure to find something to amuse themselves with. It is characteristic of these bodies that haying nothing to do never impairs their activity; as a rule indeed, such are just the circumstances under which they are most busy. If the Executive produce no Ordinances, anyone can propose a resolution. If provincial affairs supply no theme for discussion, there are the affairs of the colony, or of the empire. The House can resolve itself into a debating club. Hon. members who have theories to ventilate and a turn for oratory can expatiate at pleasure de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis, secure in the consciousness that their speeches and motions will have no practical result, and will involve them in no sort of responsibility. One thing we sincerely hope—that nothing will want to be enquired into. If we are to have a session, let it be without Select Committees. The £3000, or so, per annum which the late Government used to expend on Commissions, whose reports were invariably so much waste paper, can be applied to better purpose. We do not know of anything likely to call for investigation. The Departments are, we believe in good order, and the relations between the Superintendent and his advisers are no longer subjects of standing appeal to the Provincial Council. We have, also, in office an Executive who will not need to be assisted in their duties by a Committee of the House, nor will seek to devolve on it functions which belong exclusively to themselves. On all grounds therefore we trust that the system of Committees of Enquiry has come to an end, and that the silly exhibitions of former sessions, with the waste of time and money they entailed, will not be repeated.