CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume I, Issue 28, 19 July 1851, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lyttelton Times,

Sir, —Owing to a sojourn at Otago, and a subsequent voyage to Wellington, it was not till a few weeks ago that I saw your paper of the 26th April. The letters in that paper, from Messrs. Tancrecl and Cholmondeley, together with your article on the 12th of April, on the subject of the General Legislative Council now sitting at Wellington, have induced me to address you on the same subject. And this is the first opportunity which I have had of communicating with you. A few clays after my arrival at Wellington, in the end of May, His Excellency the Grovernor-in-Chief told me, that if I had been at Canterbury when he issued his summonses to two Justices of the Peace resident there, I should have been invited to attend the Council, as standing second in order on the Commission among the uusalaried Justices residing in this settlement; and he pointed out that, owing to my absence in another part of the Province, the unsalaried Justice next before me, Mr. Deans, and the one next after me, Mr. Tancred, were the two that had been summoned.

If I had been so invited, I have no hesitation in saying that I should have declined to avail myself of His Excellency's invitation ; and I hope your readers will not think it impertinent in me to state the reason which would have actuated me.

There are, it appears to me, three characters which may be borne by a nominee of the Gover-

nor in any Legislative Council under the present system. First, he may be a mere puppet to assist in recording the Governor's laws ; and in that case he is a representative of His Excellency's views. Secondly, he may ask questions, make speeches, and vote, in the hope of opposing or amending those laws, according to his individual opinions and ideas; and in that case he is the representative of his own views. Thirdly, he may be supposed to consult his fel-low-colonists on the matters to be legislated foi-j and thus to be a kind of indirect representative of the views of the settlement from which he is summoned.

I need hardly say, that I should have refused to sit in either of the two former characters. But, in my own particular case, the very fact of making my invitation conditional on actual residence at Canterbury, appeared to imply the wish to consider me as a kind of representative of the Canterbury colonists. I should, however, have been still more unwilling to take advantage of my casual position on the Commission of the Peace for the Province of New Munster, in order to appear as the representative of my fellow-colonists at Canterbury, without actually being- so.

It would be impossible for any man to occupy that position in truth, without having consulted them on the quantity and quality of legislation which they might desire; and without having convinced both them and himself, by a mutual interchange of political ideas, and experience of public character that he could and would conscientiously and cordially advocate their views. As I sincerely believe that the position of a real representative of the Canterbury colonists on such terms would be a proud and honourable one, so do I strongly feel how false and degrading a position woula be held by any one, who should assume the character, or allow it to be assumed for him, under a shallow pretence. He would indeed resemble the jackass, clothed in the lion's skin.

At the same time, I am perfectly willing to believe that the four gentlemen who have actually appeared as Nominees in the Council, are acting conscientiously. It is difficult to determine whether they consider themselves as representing their own individual views, or those of His Excellency. At any rate, since they have not even had the opportunity of consulting the inhabitants of the settlements from which they come, they can hardly believe themselves to represent the views of any portion of their fellowcolonists.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,

E. Jerningham Wakefield Lyttelton, July 11,1851.