Page 5 Advertisements Column 1

Lyttelton Times, Volume II, Issue 98, 20 November 1852, Page 5

time has convinced me, that those parts of this colony in which there is a dense native population should not, as yet, be included in the Provinces subject to British law. Those parts should be constituted exceptional districts, in which Magistrates should reside, with power to control the straggling white population. It should be necessary to obtain a passport from the Government to reside or even to travel in those districts. The natives should be encouraged, if possible, to prize English institutions, and to desire English law. On their own request, and - on ceding the possession of the waste lands, excepting such reserves as may be necessary for their own immediate maintenance, they should be admitted within the pale, as new Provinces. The skeleton frame of a defensive armament should be at once organized throughout the colony. A Militia list should be formed, and the staff organized, in every settlement. The formation of select corps, such as Riflemen and Yeomanry, should be encouraged. The foundation of native levies should "be laid, by the training young natives in the police force, and by the granting of honorable as well as pecuniary rewards for long and good service. Instead of maintaining the present expensive and inefficient Government brig, a bonus should be offered for the establishment of regular steam communication between the settlements. Branch post offices should be established wherever needed; and overland routes should be opened and rendered easy, by means of houses of refuge, ferries, and bridges, along the main lines of communication in both islands. Full and accurate Statistics should be collected, and published as often as possible. I am in favour of the encouragement of private banking: and opposed to the maintenance of the existing Government monopoly of issue, which inflicts a heavy burden on the public expenditure without any countervailing benefit to the colony. The present Tariff and Customs'regulations urgently require revision, with a view both to the simplification of duties, and to their collection in a modemore convenientto the public than the present one. I confess, indeed, to a predilection for direct, rather than indirect taxes; both because direct taxes are less expensive to collect, and because their collection impresses the tax payer more vividly, and therefore induces him to seek more energetically for a due equivalent, in the shape of vigorous and popular legislation. I would urge the importance of providing, in the early stage of colonization, for the Health of Towns. If good sanitary arrangements can be made before the towns are populous and extensive, and before vested interests have arisen to interfere with improvement, .we shall avoid most of the obstacles which have so long obstructed the purification of the crowded and unhealthy cities of civilized Europe. I totally disagree with the opinion which has been put forth by one of the candidates for the office of Superintendent, that the holder of that office should attend the General Assembly. If that officer has any duties to perform, they are surely to be performed on the spot. The following are the duties entrusted to him by the Act. He is to receive the written resignations of members of the Provincial Council wishing to resign: to refer questions of vacancy to that Council: to issue writs for the election of new members in case of vacancies : to convene and prorogue the Council: to make, with the advice and consent of the Provincial Council, laws for the peace, order, and good government of the Province : to approve of standing orders for the despatch of business in the Council: to recommend the appropriation of money by the .Council : to transmit drafts of laws for "their consideration : and to give or withhold his assent to the bills passed by them. If any of these things are to be clone, it would be exceedingly inconvenient that they should be done by correspondence with Wellington ; there might as well, indeed, be no Superintendent at all. The case is not parallel to that of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland sitting occasionally in the House of Peers, or the Mayor of an English borough in the House of Commons. Those officers could return within a day or two to the proper scene of their duties; and they could communicate with it by letter within a few hours; moreover, the principal duties of the Lord-Lieutenant at least are performed in such cases by the Secretary for Ireland, or some regularly appointed deputy who remains on the spot, while there is no provision for such a delegation of duties by the Superintendent.