The Evening Star. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JAN. 6, 1866.

Evening Star, Volume III, Issue 833, 6 January 1866, Page 2

The Evening Star. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, JAN. 6, 1866.

The Provincial Council has closed, and its twenty-first session has come to an end under circumstances -which neither reflect credit upon the members as a body, nor upon the Superintendent who so hastily prorogued it. We have already had to remark that the Council was rapidly degenerating, and should be dissolved ; ancl if on general grounds we were right in advocating this opinion, our views have been strengthened by the conduct of the members during the past fortnight. We do not intend, however, to dwell upon their conduct, but simply dismiss the subject with this remark that all consideration of the interests of the public were forgotten, in the eagerness of the scramble for office. What we desire is, that the public should keep prominently before them the conduct of his Honor the Superintendent, who, if left unchecked, will undoubtedly prevent a dissolution of the Council. The message from his Honor, read last night in the Council, is, we think, one of the flimsiest productions that we have ever read, and throws but . a thin veil of reason over the predetermined intention of not dissolving the Council. To take the so-called reasons as they are set forth in the Message, we find that his Honor lays stress upon the small number of members present, and the fact that a similar resolution was negatived in a full House. Now, as regards the first statement, it may be observed that a House with twenty-three * members in it, is more than an average one, and if a reference is made to the division lists of the session, it will be found that the most important divisions have taken place when a smaller number were present. The second reason is altogether unworthy of ■his Honor, for none knows better than himself that there was no discussion on Mr Grant’s motion, and that it was negatived simply because that member proposed it. The feeling amongst the large majority of the members was at that time, we are informed, decidedly in favor of a dissolution; and how it can be unfair to absent members, seeing that the notice has been on the paper for weeks, we are at a loss to imagine. If the absent members, as his Honor would have us believe, were anxious to vote against the resolution for a dissolution, they would have remained, but as they chose to leave before the close of the session, we must conclude that they , were favorable to its being carried. So much for the reasons of his Honor, if, indeed, we may dignify the few trifling apologies which he makes for carrying out foregone conclusion by calling them

reasons. What, however, has his Honor to say to the country, who will not he satisfied with such pretences as thin houses and the presence of a small number of members of the Council. Will the 4000 electors, who, as pointed out by Mr Brodie, are practically disfranchised—will they remain satisfied for some 15 months longer, to be represented by men in whom they have no confidence ? Will his Honor say that the conduct of some of the members since they were elected has not been such, as to cause them to lose the confidence of the electors? These constituencies are, however, to suit the personal convenience of the Superintendent, to be left practically unrepresented —if not misrepresented. We do not think that we ever heard of a Province or a Colony where over 70 per cent, of the electors upon the roll? have for years been deprived of the right of exercising their franchise, and it is therefore high time that so glaring an anomaly should be remedied. The electors of Dunedin must hold meetings protesting against the view taken by the Superintendent in not agreeing to recommend the dissolution of a Council •which neither represents the people, nor commands their confidence. We trust that meetings of the same kind will be held all over the country, and that petitions to his Excellency the Governor, praying for a dissolution of the Council, will also be got up and numerously signed. We believe that if this is done at once, many of the members of the Council who are now in town, but who must leave for the country, would sign such petitions, and gave the movement their hearty support.