THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1737, 27 February 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 27, 1874.

Tjbe speech of His Honor the Superintendent in opening the first session of the first Provincial Council of the new Province of Westland was remarkable chiefly for its length and' its patronising and sermonising air. The length may be excused, for it was almost incumbent upon the Superintendent to say what he had to say in as many words as possible ; but exception may be very properly taken to the assumption tone of superiority which runs through the speech. Himself an elected officer, and by no means endowed with qualities superior to the average of his fellows, it was rather an impertinence for His Honor to ask the pardon of the Council for reminding its members "of the grave responsibilities" which now attached to their " deliberations," a responsibility "shared in" by himself, "and one the full weight and importance of which" was deeply impressed upon his | own mind. It is a fair supposition that every member present was quite aa well awaro as the Hon. J. A. Bonar of the responsibilities of his position, and it was a gratuitous slight upon the Council to hint that the members required to be reminded of their duties. It was, however, merely a characteristic ! blunder, probably not intentional in the full, extent,, but still intended to draw a strong line of demarcation between the Superintendent and the Council. The premonitory lecture was followed by a somewhat vague disquisition upon the necessity of keeping " the legislative and executive functions . . . distinct and separate." What in the world His Honor means by this few of the readers of his speech will be able to comprehend. Legislative and administrative functions always are and mast inevitably be "distinct and separate." Even under the Municipal form of the late government of Westland tbese two branches were kept distinct, if | not entirely, at any rate with regard to the most important matters. We presume, however, that- His Honor meant to say that he should alone exercise the full control of the administration of the various departments without the interference of the Council. We acjree with him so far that the various departments should be absolutely under the control of the executive head of the Province, but we .s object most strongly , to the .spirit which appears to have' dictated His Honor's remarks upon this Subject. They

were quite unnecessary in the first place, and can only be interpreted to mean tha' the Superintendent considers himselt superior to the Council, and that, the Government his upon his shoulders. A more untenable or.,ridiculous assumption could not be made. The Council has powers superior to those of the Superintendent, and it is absurd for the latter to attempt to fix the limits of its functions. It may bs expedient in a general way that the Council should interfere as little as possible in the details of administra- ! tion, but. we fancy few bodies woulcaccept such a principle as the Super intendent appears to be disposed to establish. The plan of adminis tration which has since been pre sented to the Council in the form of » Bill contains in its text no objectionable provisions, and may very well be passed j hy the Council almost without discussion It is tbe spirit which appears to rui. through the Superintendent's openinv address which gives to the first section of this Ordinance a significance which h might not otherwise have. This section reads thus : — "The Superintendent shali conduct the administration of the Province." Taken by itself it simply asserts a trvmm, for without any Provincial legislation of any kind the Superintendent already possesses all the powers necessary to the administration of the Province ; but read by the light thrown upon it by the Snperin tendent's speech, it means that the Superintendent will permit as little inter ference as possible in the administration of the affairs of the Province. Now, if the Superintendent were a nominated oificer — one whose whole time was required to be devoted to the performance nf his official duties, the position assumed by Mr Bonar would have some foundation; or even if he were so situated as to be able to sacrifice his time to his duties ; but when it is remembered that the Superintendent is an elected officer, and largely engaged in commercial pursuits, the doubt must aris« of his ability to " conduct the affairs of the Province" without some sort of assistance, which will at the same time have iv it the element of responsibility to the Council. There are great objections to the sort of personal government which the Superintendent appears desirous to establish. He is practically entirely irresponsible to the Council, and may if he think fit even decline to take part in its proceedings ; he is thus removed from those influences which usually control the action of an Administration under representative government. And we en tirely object to government by bureau or by unauthorised persons on the back stairs — a system which has more or less prevailed in Westland in the past, and under existing circumstances may be expected to continue if the Superintendent's idea »f administration is to be carried out. It matters little what it be called — an Executive, or a Board of Advice, or anything else — but we assert that the Council will commit a mistake if they do m>t insist upon a much larger amount of control over the administration than His Honor appears to be disposed t" grant. We confess to a feeling of disappointment that whilst His Honor was so prolix upon much less important subjects, he gave so little notice to the financial condition of the Province. Whilst he wa* about it he might have gone a little b«yond a bare statement that the receipts of the revenue during the last half-year had exceeded the estimate. It would have been more to the purpose to have, shown the relation hetween the receipt^ and expenditure, interesting as the fact of an increase upon the estimated receipts may be. As combining in himself all the departments of Government, the Superintendent might have been more explicit on this and several other points. His Honor's remarks upon the scant justice done to WesHand in respect of expenditure under "The Immigration and Public Works Act, 1870," were quite to the purpose as far as public works were concerned, and it is to be hoped that both himself and another member of the Council will remember that it is not always wise to allow political partisanship to interfere with the obvioas interests of the Province. Both Mr Bonar and Mr White have in the past opposed the Government which initiated the policy, the benefits are now desired to be shared in, and probably they will now find it advisable to put their crotchets into their pockets and endeavor to benefit their constituents in some practical manner. But why did His Honor omit all reference to immigration in his speech, except with regard to the highly speculative scheme of special settlements. If Mr Bonar can understand the signs of the times he must see that fanciful experiments for the location of new population, whilst the people already in the Province are leaving it in large numbers, is about as profitable an operation as attempting to fill a cullender. The immigration chiefly and most urgently required in Westlmd is female immigration, and nothing would tend more to settle the mining population than to afford them opportunities of obtaining wives and founding families. With the proposed borrowing policy we thoroughly agree, and it is gratifying to see that the Superintendent o? Westland holds opinions different to those previously held and expressed by the Hon. J. A. Bonar. We have no doubt what- | ever that Westland will receive a full measure of justice at the hands of tha General Assembly in this respect, more especially if, as His Honor advises, the Council should be unanimous in its application. His Honor is wise in postponing the full consideration of this and other important matters until the next session of the Council, and confining the business at present to the consideration of a few measures that are of urgent necessity. On the whole, the Superintendent's speech indicates a strong desire to further the j interests of the Province as a whole, and it is satisfactory that His Honor regards the improvement of the Grey river and harbor with "great irterest," and recognises the "energy and public spirit displayed by the inhabitants" in obtaining the services nf Mr Moriarty. We presume from this that he would not object to join with the Superintendent of Nelson in contributing to the expenses incurred.