THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDAY, MARCH 9, 1574

Grey River Argus, Volume XIV, Issue 1745, 9 March 1874, Page 2

THE Grey River Argus PUBLISHED DAILY. MONDA Y, MARCH 9, 1574

The debate upon the Administrative Bill is to be resumed in the Provincial Council this evening, when a number of amendments will be proposed, according to notice, by Mr A. R. Guinne3s, which have the object of entirely changing the principle of the Bill introduced by the Superintendent, and providing for the establishment of an Executive Council. The notice of motion, as it stands on the Order Paper, reads as follows : — Mr A. R. Guinness to move, in Committee on the Province Administrative Bill, in the place of clauses 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, and 15, the following new clauses : — The adminiscration of the Government of the Province of Westland shall be vested in the Superintendent, acting by and with the advice of an Executive Council, to be appointed as is hereinafter provided. The Executive Council shall consist of not more than four, nor less than two persons, who shall be appointed by the uperintendent, and shall hold othce until a vote of want of confidence shall have been passed by the Provincial Council ; and all such persons, except as hereinafter provided, must be members of the Provincial Council for the time being : Provided that in the event of the dissolution of any Provincial Council by efHuxion of time or otherwise, the then members of the Executive Council shall hold office until a new Superintendent and Provincial Council shall be elected : Provided I also that any merabeis of the Executive may, by writing uuder his hand, resign his seat in the same : And provided also that any vacancy caused by such resignation shall be filled up by the Superintendent. There shall be the following officers of Government in the Province of Westland, that is to say :— (1 ) A Provincial Secretary, for assisting the Superintendent in the general management and carrying on of the government of the Province. J (2) A Provincial Treasurer, for re> eiving, taking charge of, and disbursing the public revenue of the Province. (3). A Provincial Solicitor, for advising the Provincial Government in all matters of law, who mayor may not be a member of the Provincial Council. The Superintendent shall, with the advice and consent of the Executive Counoil,

ip oint fit persons to hold the aforesaid offices : Provided always that any two of the abovp.-named offices may be held by thp same person, if the Superintendent shall at any time think fit. It shall not be lawful for the Superintendent to make or enter into any contracts •n- engagements whereby the revenue of the Province may become cnargeahle with tbi payment of any money unless such contra'-t> or engagements shall have l>een p-evinusl-submitted to and approved of by the Execu tive Council : Provided always that no suci contract or engagement shall be entered into unless the Provincial Council shall have previously appropriated a sum or sums of money for the carrying out of the works or matters the subject of such contract : But nothing herein contained shall be deemed, taken, or construed to deprive the Superintendent of his right to issue warrants for the payment of any sum or sums of money in accordance with and subject to the provisions of " The Provincial Audit Act, 1866." No public money shall be paid by the Provincial Treasurer except under a writtei warrant signed by the Superintendent, and all cheques issued shall be countersigned by the Provincial Auditor. The Superintendent may from time to time with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, but not otherwise, appoint subordinate officers for carrying out the business of the several depaitments of the Government, and may with the advice, and consent of the Executive Council, but .not otherwise, remove such officers, and appoint others in their stead. It shall be lawful for the Superintendent, with the advice and consent of the Executive Council, from time to time to make regulations for the convenient management and carrying on of the business of the Executive Council and of the offices of Government, and from time to time with such advice as aforesaid to alter or rescind such regulations or any of them, and to make other 3in their stead, and all such regulalations being published in the Provincial Government Gazelle shall thereupon become binding on all persons whom they may concern. No member of the Provincial Council, except members of the Executive Council, shall hold any office of emolument under the Provincial Government.nor shall any member of the- Provincial Council hold any contract under the Provincial Government : Provided that nothing herein contained shall extend or apply to any agreement or contract entered into by any company, partnership, or association, consisting of more than ten persons, when such contract or agreement shall be entered into for tho general benefit of such company, partnership, or association, or to any security for the payment of money. This Ordinance shall come into operation from and after the day of the passing hereof. The short title of this Ordinance shall be " The Executive Government Ordinance, 1874 " We presume that the foregoing proposals are the outcome of the consultations that are stated to have been held amongst the majority which, we understand, have agreed to oppose the original Bill. Whilst we quite agree with the general principle of the amendments, we must point out what we think to be faults in them. The framers, in their desire to . secure to the Council thorough control of the busi ness of the Province, have gone rather too far. It appears to be forgotten that in any case the Superintendent is the chief Executive officer of the Council, as hi 3 title imports ; for some of the proposed new clauses read as if the Superintendent were regarded as some one inimical to the proper administration of affairs, and whose powers should be pared down to the utmost possible limit. Thi3 is not a proper spirit to animate legislation of this kind ; it is one thing to secure a proper amount of control by the Council over the conduct of public business, and another to adopt machinery for that purpose which is to be superior to and likely to act antagonistic to the Superintendent. It is trui! that number two of the proposed new clauses says that the members of the Executive Council are to be appointed by the Superintendent, but it gives him no power to dismiss them — a power which he ought clearly to have ; nor does it provide for making him c.o officio Chairman of the Executive Council, with an original and casting vote, — a position and power that are enjoyed by all Superintendents. According to the proposed new clause, once an Executive is appointed its members cannot be ousted from office except by a vote of no-confi-dence passed by the Council, thus leaving it possible that an inefficient, incapable Executive would have a whole twelve months in which to mismanage affairs. We most decidedly and strongly object to this condition of holding office. As we said a short time ago in regard to a Bill of a similar character introduced by Mr F. Guinness in the Nelson Council, these motions of " no-confidence " in Provincial Councils are absurd and unnecessary, and lead to endless " crises " and unprofitable consumption of the public time. The Council has plenty of means for upsetting an Executive in which it has no confidence by stopping supplies, refusing to vote official salaries, or by petitioning the Governor for a dissolution of the Council. We hope that the Council will give the Superintendent the power to dismiss his Executive at pleasure, and strike out of the clause all the rubbish about votes of want of confidence. We see no objection to the proposed maximum and minimum number of members of the Executive, but in all common sense that part of the third new clause which provides that the Provincial Solicitor may be someone not a member of the Council and yet be a member of the Executive should be at once dismissed from consideration. A few queer things have been done by the Council, but let us hope that they will not commit so flagrant an absurdity as to give political power to someone outside the Council. The clause might be so worded that there might be a Provincial Solicitor, but there is no real necessity for one as a political officer. The Council can always get its legal business done by the profession, and it would be as well to allow this matter to stand over, and fix the present number of the Executive at two — viz. , Secretary, and Treasurer, leaviug the choice of a Solicitor for doing the ordinary business of the Province to the Superintendent, as occasions render necessary. With regard to the rest of the details of the amendments we observe that no power is given to the Superintendent to suspend subordinate officers — this should ne looked to, and it would be as well to add after the words "The Provincial Audit Act, 1866," the words "or any Act of the General Assembly altering or amending the same."