The Lyttelton Times. Saturday November,4, 1854.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IV, Issue 210, 4 November 1854, Page 5

The Lyttelton Times. Saturday November,4, 1854.

The address of His Honor the Superintendent, which we published last Wednesday, opens up more matter for deliberation than can be considered briefly or«at once. There is a novelty in it of a very peculiar character. For the first part of the Address His Honor himself is solely responsible, for the latter the Executive Council take their stfare of the responsibility. Indeed this distinction is marked curiously enough. The first part of the Address alludes in terms of disapprobation to the course of conduct by which those gentlemen, who now appear in the Provincial Council as the responsible exponents of the latter part, threw out the old Executive, and took office in their stead. The extraordinary freak indulged in by the lion. Members who carried the suspension of the Standing Orders has thrown our affairs generally into such an anomalous state, that it will be some time before a mere looker-on will be able to understand the course of our Provincial politics. Two of the gentlemen who compose the present Executive shared in the exploit of defeating the old one on the " Provincial Council's Extension Ordinance," and of occasioning its resignation by the hasty and tyrannical manner in which the measure was pressed, and the uncourteous anticipation of the avowed principles of the existing1 Government. Messrs. Hall and Bealey now come down to the House, and support not only His Honor's amendments to their hasty Bill, but also a new one founded on the principles of the old Executive government, —such a one as it was probably maturing. Mr. Hamilton", one of the former Executive, opposes the amendments, with a view, we can only presume, of allowing the Bill to go up to His Excellency in all its native deformity. To understand all this is next to impossible. How are we to make out the policjr of any party in the Council, or even to define what parties exist. We give up such entangled questions, and must leave them to the rapid penetration of senators who can make laws in a day. In such a state of things we are glad to find that the new Executive did not stake their existence upon the fate of the amended Extension Bill; they must get clear of this perplexed question before we can see what merit they can claim on their own account. They have begun very well by a tacit acknowledgment of their former error, and we sincerely hope, for the sake of the Province, that if their measures are good they will receive a hearty support from the House, and that the differences of the past may be forgotten. We have not altered our opinion of the late crisi.*, but we have always given trie supporters of the Extension Bill credit for a good intention although we regretted their error of judgment. Of course, in these remarks we do not include Messrs. GottLAifD and Gressoic. The former, although a member of the late Executive, could take no part in these proceeding?, not being a member of the Provincial Council ; he, however, expressed his opinion on the subject by resigning- along with his colleagues. Mr. Gresson is still a comparative stranger to our politics, and his adhesion to the

present Executive, cannot be looked upon as an approval of the policy which occasioned their appointment.

Whilst we are on the subject of the Extension Ordinance we may observe that if the Superintendent is at any time to make use of the powers entrusted to him by the Constitution Act, such an instance as the present is the very one to call for an exercise of that power. The haste and carelessness with which the Bill was passed, the dissatisfaction of a large portion of the public, the vast importance of the measure itself, all called upon His Honor to exercise that discretionary power, the responsibility of which he assumed upon the "election to his Superintendency.

One of the measures proposed in the address, and one for the proposal of which the presant Executive is responsible, is the appointment, fox- the future, of the Provincial Secretary from the members of the Provincial Council, the tenure of his office to be dependent upon the ability to command the support of the Legislature. If the principle of Responsible Government is to be adopted in all its integrity, the chief officer of the Responsible Executive Council should have the real control of the offices of Government whilst he is in power. If this is not the case the responsibility of the Executive will be a mere sham. And the appointment of the Secretary upon these terms may obviate the expense and cumbrousness of a machinery of various departments with two heads : —the one a political head, and the other the permanent head of the office—of necessity, the real working chief. The consideration of this subject opens up questions of great importance to the future good Government of the Province. The advisability of a Responsible Executive in a small Province is a very debateable point. The great object of its institution would be, of course, to prevent collision between the Legislative and Executive powers. Is the danger of such collision more to be dreaded than the expense and cumbrousness of Responsible Government? Would it be better to leave the undivided Responsibility of the Government in the hands of the Superintendent for the short time that he holds office ? In America they prefer the danger of collision to the certainty of expense. Whether ivisely or not it is difficult to say. The case of a Governor is very different from that of a Superintendent. The former represents and is responsible to the Crown alone, the latter represents and is responsible to the people. According to the present Constitution the Superintendent is to a great degree the tribune of the people, standing between the people and the Crown. Let us look carefully to what we are doing in the establishment of Responsible Government in the Province, and to what it will lead us to ; for it must lead to many changes in the Constitution,and in the choice of men to fill the office of Superintendent. It is probably the best thing we cm do ; and if Bo ; it mus'. be done well. But great difficulties will attend it. Half measures satisfy nobody, and are generally totally unworkable. One thing we cannot understand, and that is, how the Superintendent, who remains in office through different policies, and his Executive, which may change every six months, can be both responsible to the people of the Province. Of course the amount of influence exercised by thb Superintendent over his Executive Council will depend vety much upon his abilities; but we cannot weigh or estimate the extent of responsibility be takes upon himself. The fact is, that an elective Superintendent liable at any time to be removed, without the power of dissolving the Council.and working with a Responsible Executive, is an anomaly not provided for by the Constitution Act. The question is, shall we attempt to obtain an alteration in the Constitution or

j shall we give up the idea of Responsible Government, as the expression is generally understood ? We must do one thing or the other. If there had been a strong central government, we should have preferred the simplest and cheapest mode of Government, that of a Superintendent personally responsible for his policy;—as it is there seems to be no alternative but Responsible Government. Now that the Provincial Governments have taken such a prominent position, a position which does not seem to have been contemplated by the framers of the Constitution Act, grievous holes begin to shew themselves in it, and it will be the task of our Legislature to suggest the means of repairing them with the least possible delay.