THE Lyttelton TIMES. September 25, 1852.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 90, 25 September 1852, Page 6

THE Lyttelton TIMES. September 25, 1852.

We understand from authentic private information received by the Stately that Sir George Grey is about to return to England within a very short period. There is also a rumour in London that hopes are entertained of inducing Lord Lyltelton to accept the apppointment.

We have been kindly furnished with a copy of Sir John Paldngton's Bill, which arrived by the " Stately." A careful perusal of all its details greatly enhances the opinion we have already expressed t of its merits. It is a large and statesman-like measure ; nor is it possible to read its numerous clauses, dealing with such multifarious and conflicting interests, without a strong feeling of admiration for a Minister, who could in so brief a period master such complicated details, and undertake so comprehensive a piece of Legislation.

The Bill now before us differs in some very important features from the scheme which was at first announced in Parliament. One main difference is this —The members of the Upper House in the General Legislature are to hold their seats for life, not during pleasure. They may forfeit their seats by certain acts, such as, absenting themselves for two sessions without leave, becoming bankrupt, being* convicted of felony, and so on; or they may resign their seats; but, otherwise, being once nominated y they cannot be dismissed by the Governor, or even by the Crown. Now without saying that this is the best Constitution for an Upper Chamber, it is one wholly distinct in kind, and immeasurably superior to one by which the members are nominated by the Government for a limited period; Life members are not nominees, in the sense in which we have hitherto used that term, — they are wholly independent of the Governor. If they happen to be creatures of the Governor who appoints them, they will have no such relations towards, his successor ; and it is probable that, in a very few years, the consciousness of their own dignity and importance as a distinct body in the State, will operate to render them increasingly tenacious of the interference of the highest Estate. The danger still remains that a Governor may exercise the power of appointing indiscreetly, and that the Upper House may not comprise, as it ought, the wisest and ablest inhabitants of the colony; but the tenfold greater danger of a,Chamber of mere tools- and creatures; (Of a Governor is, let us be thankful, averted, It is worthy of remark, however, that the Select Committee of the Legislature, of Sydney^ who are preparing a Constitution for that colony have recommended that the Upper House shall be appointed by the Crown ; two-thirds, to consist of elective members of. the present or former Legislative Council, to be nominated for life, subject to certain necessary provisions; the remainder, during the Queen's pleasure.

The fifty-sixth and three following clauses are the most objectionable. They reserve the old and obnoxious power to the Colonial office of disallowing the laws passed by the New Zealand Parliament. We had

supposed that this was to be given up. It appears, however, not to be so. The Ordinances of the Provincial Councils are not to be referred home, but with respect to those of the General Assembly the old system is to be retained in full force. Sir John Pakington has not yet mastered the theory of the veto. It is quite right that the Governor should have the power, and should be required, to reserve for the assent or disallowance of the Home Government any laws of the Colonial Legislature upon questions relating to the Royal Prerogatives or the Imperial interests. But upon all other questions the Royal prerogative of the veto should be delegated to the Queen's representative, inthe Colony, to be exercised by him there, , as in England, through the instrumentality of advisers responsible to the local Parliament. By these clauses, however, the Colonial office may disallow any bill at any time within two years after its enactment. This blot, with some lesser ones, the advance of Colonial Reform will, no doubt, rectify in a few years.

The next obnoxious clause is that reserving the Civil List: but this is somewhat modified by the sixty-fifth clause, which empowers the Colonial Parliament to alter the Salaries of the Governor, Judges, &c, appropriated under the Civil List, reserving such alteration, however, for the assent and disallowance of.the Colonial office. It is not a very material modification ; but it is something. The latter part of the clause, however, is material. It requires the Government to lay before the Legislative Assembly and the House of Representatives, within thirty days after the commencement of the Session, accounts of the manner in which the Civil List has been expended, including the seven thousand pounds reserved for native purposes. Our readers will remember :we especially urged this as necessary, in order to prevent the application of the Native fund to electioneering or party purposes.

The next provision which attracts attention, is that contained in the sixty-eighth clause. It empowers the General Legislature " to alter from time to time any provisions of this Act," and provides that such alteration must receive the assent of the Crown in England before it can become law. Erase the proviso, and the Bill would become perfect.; But, Colonial politics in England have not advanced so far yet. Statesmen have not yet learned to recognise the Great, and to us out here, most obvious truth, that the Colony should have uncontrolled power to do what it likes, in matters which con-cern-itself-1 alone-: that it can make no conceivable difference to the people of England, if the inhabitants of New Zealand choose to have one franchise or another franchise, or to have Seven or Eight Provinces instead of Six, or to pay their Governor and Judges one salary, instead of another salary : and that no real advantage, is gained by retaining a control in England over matters about which no one in England cares two pence, or is really competent to form an opinion.

We have already noticed the enormous boon to the Colony, which gives up the management of the waste lands to the Local Parliament. This boon, however, is qualified by a' restriction which will inevitably

create endless jealousy, dispute, and struggle, between the Colony and the Mother Country. Five shillings per acre of the price of all lands sold, are to be set apart to discharge the principal and interest of the New Zealand Company's debt. We are tired of arguing this question. It is really contained in a nutshell. What does this colony owe to the New Zealand Company ? Let the bill be fairly sent in, with the items stated at length, then we shall see, and not before, what we equitably owe. Our own conviction is that we owe nothing ; and that nothing will ever be paid. But to saddle the country with this extravagant debt — not the Company's settlements only, but the whole of New Zealand—and that without consulting those most interested in the matter, is a piece of injustice so glaring, that it has only to be steadily, doggedly, and pertinaciously resisted, to be at last utterly defeated. The Company's debt is a matter between the Colonial office and the shareholders, and they will ultimately have to settle it between them.

We have room to notice but one further pomt —one, however, most deeply interesting to this settlement. The CanterburyAssociation has determined to fulfil the guarantee given by tbe minute of the 24th May—commonly called Lord Lyttelton's Minute—in which they undertook to hand over their powers to a Local Government in the Settlement, as soon as such should be constituted. A clause is introduced into the Bill, rescuing all the Canterbury block from the operation of the general provision for handing over the waste lands to the general assembly : another clause provides for enabling the Association to transfer all its powers to the Provincial Council of the Canterbury Settlement; leaving the terms of the transfer to be settled between the Association and the Provincial Government when constituted.

Thus, the work of the Canterbury Association will be at an end. And whatever our own feelings may be, who have struggled hard and, some at all events, suffered much, in planting towns and villages in this desert —who must exercise our judgments amidst many hopes disappointed, and much ardent enthusiasm cooled by the realities of an early Settler's life—yet, will there come those after us, inhabiting a cultivated rich and populous district, the seat of manufactures, the emporium of commerce, traversed by railways, and begirt by steamboats, —there will come those who will look back with something like veneration upon an Association which first laid the foundations of the Province of Canterbury.

The following extract from a letter just received in the Settlement has been kindly placed in our bauds. It comes from one of the most active Members of Parliament engaged in the work of Colonial Beform. We publish it with the more pleasure because the views expressed by the writer, as to the mode in which the new Constitution may be efficiently worked by the Colonists, entirely coincide with, those ■which we ventured to express last 'week on the same subject. The letter is written in the hurry of business to a private friend in the Colony.

" Pakington has really addressed himself in earnest to the New Zealand Bill, and thereby gains a feather to his cap, which has hitherto been only a mark to shoot jokes at. Gladstone manfully contributes all his assistance and stores of knowledge and Statesmanship to him, and the first reading passed off with unanimity except a snarl from Vernon Smith. We all object to

the Central Legislature having so much te do and such over-riding and concurrent legislation with the six Provincial Councils ; and its upper chamber being nominee. But you will carry out all your wishes through the Lower Chamber of the Central Government, which is wholly elective.

" And I think —will get Pakington to make identical his proposed Provincial Legislatures, and the [existing] Municipalities. If these are simple, cheap, efficient working bodies, you may do all you want through them. The Bill is only presented to-night, and will not be printed for two or three days to come; the second reading is to be fixed on the 20th. We have a great meeting on Saturday at Adelphi Terrace, to discuss the measure and arrange with as little delay as possible, to carry it through presto-presto, and we expect you as soon as the Bill is through to illuminate the whole Island. The Central; Legislature, is to have the waste lands, but saving Canterbury and Otago rights ; and we have drawn a clause to hand our Association bodily over to the Canterbnry Legislature. * *. * * The Governor is to give final assent to your local legislation. Your Lieutenant-Governor is to be called Superintendent, with £500 a year."