The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume IX, Issue 581, 29 May 1858, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, May .29. It is with deep regret that we observe the adoption by the. present New;. Zealand Government of the principle of secret yotingintheir proposed amendments of the electoral ■law';'.;*N.b.;prbpositiohs;that have been yet. niade in the House of Representatives are sb un-English, so unsuited to the straightforward genius o£ British institutions as those of nomination in writing and Vote by ballot. In England a motion for vote by is made yearly and thrown out yearly. The idea does not appear to gain favour in the eyes of Englishmen, notwithstanding the plausible1 grounds which might be adduced in the old country for such a system. There, indeed it has been urged that the power of landlords over tenants, and of masters over manufacturing 'hands' is so great as to influence votes very considerably; and that, consequently the employed classes want protection as against their employers in order to secure full independence in voting. But notwithstanding the plausibility of these arguments in England, there is something so revolting to an Englishman in the idea of secret voting that no large body of the population wish to see the system introduced.. In a new colony like this, the idea of undue influence is preposterous. If ever men were independent they are so here; and it will Scarcely be argued that employers have the means of intimidating the employed in a country where labour is so valuable and so scarce. A mail whose position is such in this country as to make him afraid of giving his vote according to his conscience can be worth very little. The ..only end that could be gained by the voter under a system of vote by ballot would be a power of secretly giving a vote through private enmity which he would be ashamed of giving openly before the world. Surely ours is not a political system such as those of Continental Europe, where a-man dare not express his political convictions. Ballot or no ballot, Englishmen and men born of English stock will express their political opinions pretty freely. ' Will the system of nomination in writing and vote by ballot secure the promised advantages ? Are the elections in the States, where theory has been reduced to practice, celebrated for freedom and purity t It is not very long agothat one of the most influential of the Ameri-

can daily papers lamented the contrast be tween the secret system and tijie manly and open English system, notwit%tandineall the faults and abuses of the\ latter Every system will become corruptvjf not carefully watched and guarded. \ The way to secure the greatest chance qfi fair play is by letting in the light of day \md not by excluding it. Have our readers not often heard of 'stuffed' ballot-boxis of flagrant intimidation, and of wholesale falsification of votes in the boasted land oT secret voting ? Do we at the present dayl hear of anything half so disgraceful at an\ English election ? ' \

We feel confident/ however, that we need not argue the question. Canterbury settlers have sufficiently English feeling to require that the candidate for their votes^should appear before his constituents on an k open hustings,—that he should there make openly a clean breast of his political C * n^ that/ n °PP°rt^ity should be afforded thein-of openly recording their opinions upon it. ; If, as we ; understand is the case, corruption has reached such & height" at Auckland that the Government are at their wits' end, to find a panacea for its cure, this is no reason why we, wellbehaved voters, should be obliged to swallow every nostrum proposed as a remedy for the North. The idea of secret votingis certainly not in unison with the general views and feelings of the Southern" •■•settlements of New Zealand.

In His Excellency's speech, on opening' the session.of the General Assembly, there * was a sentence which,—so far as-can be gathered from the vague expressions generally made use of in an address of that" nature,—conveyed an- intimation that the Government would apply to ', the House' of Representatives for a vote to ' render theinland portions of the country-accessible by thoroughfares,', in order to facilitate postal communication. Heretofore, as a general rule, the Central Government has abstained from public works j the expenditure ori; and direction of such works being very properly left.to.the; provinces. General Revemie cannot be fairly devoted to public works in any one province. We have heard of late from time to time of a I certain ■ ' thoroughfare' road which the y N General Government have initiated to connect the Hawke's Bay District with Auckland. This is,we liave no doubt; an.exceedingly useful public work, but as it only affects the Province of Auckland and a pdrtioh of the- Province - of Wellington, why should not such a road be made at the expense of . those provinces ? Why should the contributions of Nelson and Canterbury and Otago and Taranaki to the Government go towards the public works of Auckland or Wellington ? The General Government cannot expend any portion of the revenue upon road-making without injustice to some provinces. Is it likely that they will spend any revenue in Canterbury ? 'We are prepared to make | our own roads and have done a great deal already to make communication easy from north to south of our province. Let other provinces develop their own resources with their own money. Overland posts are very useful, but chiefly so to the districts through which they pass. Steamers plying along the coast will be the means of affording a reliable postal communica- | tion between the provinces. To establish such communication is the work of the colony at large. But to open up the country by means of thoroughfares is the business of the provinces which willbenefit by them.