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Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 111, 19 February 1853, Page 8

Ship " Minerva,"; Port Ltttelton, loth February, 1853. Gentlemen, —I have had the honor to receive your letters of similar tenor, which convey from public meetings held at Lyttelton and Christchurch an expression of thanks for exertions made by me in England with regard to the new Constitution of this colony. I beg of you to assure the public of this Settlement that I enjoy a high gratification in receiving this mark of the good will of a community, with which 1 am connected by the strongest sympathies of patriotism, and of personal intimacies and friendships without end. These powerful and affecting sympathies would not have been less deep, but they might have been very painful, if I had found on arriving here any evidence of adversity, whether arising1 from the physical nature of the country or from deficiency of self-reliance and energy in the colonists. I have beheld, on the contrary, a magnificent territory which surpasses my most sanguine expectations, and an amount of progress in the work of settlement, combined with an uninterrupted enjoyment of the comforts and refinements of civilized life, which are really astonishing-. *It happens, accordingly, that every hour of my short stay here is passed in a state of pleasurable excitement \ and I cannot help looking forward with almost intense interest to the future of the Province of Canterbury. _ This feeling impels me to seize the opportunity, afforded by your letters, of mentioning certain impressions which have been made upon me with regard to the state of public opinion here on two or three matters of importance. In the first place, there seems to be a real obligation upon me to declare, what I can state with the best possible knowledge of the facts, that the exertions of friends of New Zealand at home, by means of which Sir John Pakington was enabled to accomplish his constitutional measure notwithstanding very formidable obstacles, were not confined to those whom the Canterbury public has thanked by name, but that Mr. Henry Sewell took a most active and efficient part in those labours ; so much so that, as the rest of us were well persuaded at the time, our endeavours would certainly have been far less successful, and probably quite fruitless, but for the aid of his earnest diligence, his prudence, and his rare familiarity with constitutional la\v. This assurance is due to him, as well as to the other persons whose names appear in the Resolutions transmitted to me, and who, I am sure, would cordially join in it if they had the opportunity. I make it without his knowledge. Secondly. I find prevailing here amongst all, more or less, who have conversed with me on public matters, a number of totally erroneous impressions with regard to the policy and conduct of the Canterbury Association in their relations with the Settlement. It is not my business to explain the truth on this subject; but knowing it exactly, and how contrary it is to common belief and suspicion in the settlement, I wish to say deliberately and publicly, that there is a truth to be told, which, if the colonists can extract it from Mr. Sewell, must at once correct the false impressions to which I have alluded. This statement also is made by me entirely without Mr. Sewell's consent or knowledge. Thirdly. There appears to be much cause for regretting that Mr. I'ox's letter to the Constitutional Association of Wellington, which explains with some particularity the main provisions of the new Constitution, should not have been published here; for it is manifest to me that the common estimate which has been formed

here of the importance and value of that measure, falls very far short indeed of its appreciation by the statesmen at home whose support of it carried it through Parliament. Unwilling, for many reasons, to enter now into the subject at any length, I will confine myself to a single example of what may be called depreciation of the Act in this colony. The common opinion here seems to be, that the duties of the Superintendent of each Province have relation solely to what the Act enjoins him to do with regard to the Sessions of the Provincial Council. The Act specifically imposes these duties upon him, and some more of great moment; but, as certainly, it gives authority to the Provincial Council to bestow upon him whatever other functions they may please, within the limits of the provision which empowers them to "make and ordain all such laws and ordinances as may be required for the peace, order, and good government" of the Province. They may, if they please, confine him to the business of convening- and proroguing them, confirming or rejecting the election of their Speaker, proposing the Budget to them, proposing Bills to them, and rejecting Bills passed by them—all of which powers he enjoys by the Constitutional Act; but also, if they please, they may constitute him the head of the Executive Government of the Province, and confide to him, under whatever checks and responsibilities they may see fit to devise, the whole administration of the Provincial laws. If they please, and subject always to the exceptions from legislative power which the Constitutional Act ordains, his position and functions will be made to resemble either those of the Governor of an American State, or of the Governor of a British Colony, or indeed of the Crown in the British Empire. If they should mean to have good government, or any government, with regard to the infinite variety of subjects on which the Constitutional Act says nothing specific, and thereby leaves them free to exercise the general powers which it bestows upon them, they must add, in a degree which is at present incalculable, to those powers and functions of the Superintendent which the Constitutional Act specifically creates. Authority to do so is specifically given to them by the Constitution ; and the exerciseof.it will be local self-government in the Province. Under the Provincial Constitution, the Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury will be its Governor, just in the same way as, under the Constitution of New Zealand, we have a Governor-in-Chief of the islands, or as our Queeu is the Sovereign head of the British Empire, to whom we all joyfully pay the -duties of implicit allegiance, though her authority is limited and defined by the glorious British Constitution. It is this decentralization or localization of authority, which constitutes the chief merit of the New Zealand Constitutional Act, in the opinion of its most zealous supporters at home: and the effect of it, if the Provincial Legislatures of New Zealand should so please, will be to bestow on their Superintendents a position of great dignity, power, and importance. I purposely confine myself to this one example of the manner in which, as it has struck me, the new Constitution is undervalued here; but I am tempted to add that the person who, more than.anybody else without exception, possesses an exact and familiar knowledge of the Constitutional Act in all its bearings, is now amongst you. I allude, of course to Mr. Sewell. Lastly. With regard to the establishment of a general Government for New Zealand under the Constitutional law which has been recently proclaimed, accident has given to me at this place some opportunity of learning- what is the state of opinion and feeling in some of the other Settlements, which, like Canterbury, will soon be Provinces, and will have to elect members of the House of Bepresentatives: and it is with much regret that I find prevailing, among persons of observation and reflection, an impression that the harmonious establishment and operation of the new Constitution are likely to be endangered by feelings of mutual distrust between the present Executive authorities and those leaders of party who have hitherto acted in opposition to the Government. If these feelings really exist on both sides, and if they cannot b;: altered by mutual endeavours to that end, we must say good bye, for a long while perhaps, to the great benefits which it lias been hoped that responsible government umiera free Constitution would bestow upon New Zealand. If I am not misinformed, this is a fearful crisis in the destinies of New Zealand. With mutual confidence between the Governor and the

people, there is a world of practical good to be accomplished for the colony : without it, there cannot be that much-needed legislation on subjects of vast importance, which each of us ''I would feel beneficially in his home and his pursuits, and .which would make New Zealand the most popular of colonies at home, from whence alone we can receive that continual accession of numbers and wealth which is the life-blood of colonial prosperity: but instead thereof we shall have squabbling and quarreling here, with stagnation in all our interests; and there will be sharp disappointment to the statesmen and public in England, to whom we owe the largest measure of free government that has been bestowed upon a British colony in our time, and to whom we must look for such, t amendments of the Constitutional law as it- 1 self invites us to propose to them. I hear with almost dismay that nothing has yet been done on either side to allay suspicion and distrust. The danger appears the greater to me, that I once witnessed on the spot a precisely similar crisis of public affairs in Canada, when, happily, moderation and good sense on both sides prevailed over fears and animosities which had grown out of the past, and the Government as well as the people was spared the disgrace and calamity of fighting over a new Constitution instead of using it for the advantage of the colony and the Empire. That there may be peace and useful work, not war, and trouble, and suffering, and discredit for all concerned, whatever else may be the issue, is therefore my most earnest prayer. And to this object, lam willing to help in giving effect, so far as a newcomer may presume to hope for any weight in the matter, by declaring, as one on the popular side, who has for years opposed and thwarted the irresponsible Government of New Zealand by all the means in his power, that I afc this moment desire nothing more than to see the past set entirely aside, in favor of confiding and harmonious action between the Governor and the popular party in the task of bringing the new constitution into useful and creditable operation. Begging you to accept my excuses for this long intrusion, which at all events I hope may be considered as not inappropriate to the subject of your letters, I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, Your obedient, humble servant, E. G. Wakefield. John Robert Godley, Esq., and the Rev. Octavius Maihias.