RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN THEORY PRACTICE.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XII, Issue 835, 29 June 1855, Page 4

RESPONSIBLE GOVERNMENT IN THEORY PRACTICE.

Sia — In tbe commentary which you have passed j UKin tbe events which have lately occuied in jNew Zealand, you have hardly done justice either to the character of the events theinselvis or the principle involved in their consideration. It is, perhaps, impossible, whilst the echoes from Sebastopol are ringing in our ears, to expect any considerable share of publi* attention to occurrences in so distant a part of the empire as New Zealand. Yet when one reflects, that what has just occurred there, will under similar circum-s-ancos, infallibly be repeated in thuse province* o c Australia towhicb"free constitutions have been g-anted by Parliament, and that in the solution of the difficulty which has arisen at Auckland depends th* 1 harmonious working of government in all tbe great dependencies of the empire in the Pacific, it i« not possible to overrate the importance of the subject, and every essential that the true character of the contest should be understood Instituting a comparison between Canada anp New Zealand, yon endeavour to seek the caused which made the introduction ofrtsponsible government' a successful experiment in Canada, whilst in New Zealand it has been a failure. Now, I venture to say, that the very summaryof events which you have inserted in another part of your journal, and upon which, I presume, your commentary was founded together with the most cursory knowledge of what happened in Canada .after the passing of the Constitution Act for that colony, will serve to show that 'responsible government' in that sense of the tirm which was understood in Canada— in that sense of the teim which was understood and most ably expounded by Lord Metcalfe — in that sense of the term which is the only rational sense which can be given to it when practically applied to the'' working of government—has never been introduced into New Zealand, and cannot therefore be regarded as a failure Lord Metcalfe, in bis answers tn the numerous addresses presented to him during the Ministerial ciisis which happened wh'.ls-t he was Governor of I Canada, definrs the nature of the Canadian eon- ' e isutiou, and expounds his own ideas of what . 'responsible government' means. Acourding to him, 'responsible government' m ans, that ihe heads of department should form the Executive Council of the Governor, and should be chosen from Membeis of the Assembly who possess the confidence of that body as well as of the G overnor hinvelf. And it must be obvious . tp the plainest capacity, that no men can be called Ministers responsible to therejiesentatives of the . people for the acts of government, who themselves have no control over tbe officers who carry on the function of government, who can only enter the

offices of government so far m the irremoveible and irresponsible holders of office permit. Such responsibility is a farce, — nay more, it is an absurd injustice to thuse who are supposed to be responsible. What, then, was it, which caused Lord Mctcalfe's difficulties in Canada — which almost made responsible govern tnena' in Canada a lailurc ? which has 'ts origin in the Anti-Briti.sh tendencies of the French Canadian population, and which Lord Metcalfe so su< ces>sfully surmounted, reconciling the principle of 'responsible government' in the colony with the rights of the (Irown and the supremacy of the Mother-country? It was an a'tempt on the pait of his Executive Council, constituted as I have before stated to usurp all the functions of government from the hands of the Governor, to me all the patronage of Government as a party political engine, and to render the Governor himself, who must ever be respm&ible to the Crown the mere representative of the pageantry of English royalty. This Ijoicl Metcalfg resisted, whilst he resolutely abided hy the principle of 'responsible government'. Now, the summary of events which have occurred in New Zealand which your paper contains, than which nothiig ' ai be more fair, shows beyond question that no unconstitutional demands of individuals called to the Executive Council, no factious proceedings of the Assembly elected by the people, have bro-ight about the c-iisis theie existing, but bimply that the practical m: rod notion of the principle of 'responsible government' demanded by the Assembly, promised in words by the Governor, has been denied in real ty to t'.ie colony. \\ hether it was wise in the popular party to precipitate the crisis — whether it would not have been wiser to wait for those instructions from home which the circumstances in which the Governor was placed were sure to call forth, before the extreme measure of a rupture with him was resoi kd ti— l will not stop to inquire. One thing is certain. With the precedent of Canada before them, 'responsible government' will be insisted on by the colony, and must be conceded by the Government; and I cannot believe that a Govtrnmentat home of which Sir W. Molesworth is a member can hesitate lon^ on the course to be pursued I am your obedient Eervant, H Fitzgerald.

A Marvellous Discovery— is announced by one of the Paris newspapers,— nothing less than the power of propucing instantaneously copies of engra\ ings, lithographs, and printed pages, with such minute exactitude, that the most searching investigation, even by a microscope, cannot distingui&h them from the originals. 'I he modus opcrandi is not described, and is, in fact, it is stated, kept a profound secret by th» imentor, who is a M. Boyer, of Nimes ; but it seems to res.-inble the operation of lithography. As a specimen of his art, M. Boyer is represented to have produced in less than a quarter of a hour, a reproduction oj a sheet, containing ; —I. A. Page of Latin Book "published in 1C25. 2. A Design from the 'Illustrated London News' of April, 1854. 3. A Page from a recently-pripted Bioguiphy. 4. A Page of a Book printed in 1503. 5 An Engraving of the Eacade of a Palace. 6. A Specimen ot Gothic Chartei* . All those were, it is alleged, imitate with such extraordinary minuteness, that neither the eye nor the misroscope could detect the difference of a letter, a line, or a spot between them and the originals. A great number of capies can. -we are told, be struck off from the .stone employed, and the expense is illogeil to be ex- j tremely small, 50 pur cent at least for printed woiks, and more for engravings. If there be no exaggei ation in what is stated, M. Boyer's discovery will effect an extraordinary re\ olution in the Printing and Engi a\ ing professions ; with it, neither print nor book can possibly be protected from piracy. It is not denied that he has already produced facsimiles of rare old engravings and books. — Literary Gazette. "A Gen-tinman'"— At the Old Bailey, on the trial of Thurtell, a witness, in alluding to some person ccr>.c?rned, styled him a 'gentleman.' Counsel requited him to explain what he meant by a -rentlenian ?' 'Why,' said he 'he koeps a horse and gig.' Aud the mass of persons we meet with, through they would be"re.uly to question ! the conclusivenoss of this testimony of the witness, yet | do themselves habitually style certain ambulatory j ' exis ences 'gentlemen' on evidence quite as slender; for if interrogated after the manner of the Old Bailey, they could oily answer, 'Oh, he had plenty of yellow-looking metal about his person, and a very white front to his shirt.' I will not spin a yam in enumerating fiese attributes —nor will I exhibit for your inspection one of Lord j Chesterfield'i 'gentlemen,' "but I will present to you a ' 'gentleman' according to you a notion of a poor old woman, who sMnd? with an apple-stall in the srieet ; and one aiso, as described by an aged Quaker ot my , acquaiatane :-