The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 94, 23 October 1852, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times.

October 23, 1552. The " Duke of Portland" brings us intelligence of the passing of the New Zealand Constitutional Act, and Copies of the Bill with the final amendments which it underwent in the House of Commons. The most important of these consists in the Election by the people, instead of the Appointment by the Crown, of the Superiritendants of the Six Provinces .into which . New Zealand is divided. By the next'opportunity, therefore, we shall receive the Act itself, and, probably, within six months the new Legislative machinery will be at work amongst us. As no alterations were introduced in the House of Lords, we shall print the Bill as it stood on passing the Commons, in our next number. It is obvious, then, that no time is to be lost in fixing upon those to whose hands the future Government of the country is to be entrusted. In the first place, the Superintendant will have to be elected. A careful perusal of the bill leaves great doubt on our minds as to what are intended to be the powers, or what is to be the position of this,

functionary. His Salary is unfixed : that is to be settled by the Local Legislature. The only duty assigned to him by the Act, is to...take part in the Legislation of the Province. There is nothing which points him out as the Chief Executive Officer of Government.. Indeed, all the principal departments of Government being beyond the controul of the Provincial Legislature, the Customs, the Land Department, the Supreme Court, the Post' Office, &c, it seems necessary that the officials in those departments should be under the controul of the central Government only ; and there is nothing to prevent them being wholly beyond the* j,u^isdi^iio^ri ; the Provincial Governmentfe™The're:; is:, nothing; ?in fine, which places the Superintendant in the posi-tion-of the chief officer of Government ; or, which would prevent the Governor from entirely passing him by, treating him as a cypher, and communicating immediately with the heads of Departments in the Province. As far as we can see, the Superintendant is nothing more than an elected Upper Chamber ; but, as he is bound to obey the Governor's instructions, in reference to allowing or disallowing of bills by the Council, he is an Upper Chamber merely echoing the voice of the Executive. It would seem, therefore, to be one of the first tasks of the General Assembly to define clearly the position and duties of the Superintendant's. There will be extreme difficulty in fixing upon a proper person to elect to this office ; not only arising from the great caution' which it is incumbent on the Electors to exercise in selecting an individual who is to possess such extensive legislative power for four years ; but, we apprehend a' difficulty in finding any one who will accept a position, the duties, responsibilities, and emoluments of which are a matter of so much doubt and uncertainty. Secondly, we shall have to elect at least six members to sit in the House of Representatives, in the General Assembly of New Zealand. There will be great difficulty, too, in selecting them ; because, it is well known that the very persons who are the most fit and proper to represent the interests of the Settlement —men of Stake in the country —men of business and of property —are those who are most disinclined to leave their employments for an indefinite time to attend the Session at Wellington. It would be easy enough to find men who are, so to speak, hangers-on in the settlement, who would be only too glad to wile away an idle time at Wellington in the dignity of a Representative,.,.. ..But ; real Settlers, men who are 'actively "and earnestly engaged in the k , settler's life, who have varied and practical acquaintance with the wants of the Settlement, who have extended connections, and large interests at stake —these are the men it will be the most difficult to persuade, and whom it is the most important to select. The election of Representatives for the General Assembly is by far the most important of all; for upon the Acts of the first Assembly will mainly depend the working of the system of Government for some time to come. Most earnestly, therefore, we hope that those who may be put in nomination by the people will not allow any sense of private or personal interest to interfere

with the public duty they owe to their adopted country. At so important a crisis in the affairs of the Colony, the sacrifice of a few weeks of their time may reasonably be expected from any one upon whom the choice of the public shall fall, to protect the the int-.erests'of the Settlement in the General Assembly. Lastly, we shall have to elect our own Provincial Council —a task of far less importance than the last, and far less difficult to accomplish satisfactorily. For all these various duties we must be stirring. Our readers will find in another part of this journal an address from Major Q'Connell, who recently purchased the Mount Grey Station, and has settled with his wife and family on his run. With the principles briefly enunciated in the address it would be hard to find fault; but, until all the Candidates are in the field, it would be premature to offer any opinion upon the claims of a particular Candidate. It is probable that the Electors will be determined more by the character which the Candidates have established in their private relations with their fellow colonists, than by any public professions of policy, which will probably differ very little from one another. At all events, we hope others will follow Major O'Connell in coming forward.