The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1862.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XVII, Issue 977, 22 March 1862, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, MARCH 22, 1862.

Many of our readers must have read with great regret the farewell address of Mr. C. W. Richmond to his constituents at Taranaki, which we published on Wednesday last. In any country, the retirement from public life of a man of marked ability and high character is a serious loss : in a young- country, like New Zealand, it is one which we cannot estimate too highly. Out of the limited number of men adapted by education, ability, and other qualifications to fill the highest offices in the colony, there are very few who are prepared to sacrifice their private affairs to their interest in political questions. And as these few retire, one by one, after holding office, weary and heart-sore, there is more and more danger every day of the open field being filled by men who are not qualified for the positions they aspire to. We cannot let the retirement of such a man as Mr. Richmond pass unnoticed. It is true that he has been but a very short time in public life, having been first elected a member of the House of Representatives in 1855. Since that time, however, he has taken rank with the men who have been most useful, and done most credit to the young1 state, both in office and in the House of Representatives. Even those who differed from him will join in giving Mr. Richmond credit for unwearied assiduity, great ability, and an honest endeavour to serve the colony in the departments successively confided to his care. It is not to be wondered at that the labour of disentangling and re-arranging the confused finances of the country, followed by the harrassing and responsible duties of Secretary lor Native Affairs, should have proved too much for a man whose health was not naturally strong. We are sincerely sorry to lose his services at this moment; but it is a satisfaction for the colony as well as Mr. Richmond to know that, when the war question had attracted the deepest interest in England, the papers and speeches of our Native Secretary commanded the respectful attention of those best qualified at home to form an opinion on the subject. In the addrsss before us, Mr. Richmond gives the deliberate opinion he has arrived at on the question of the management of native affairs, as between the Imperial government and the colonial legislature. He re-asserts his formerly stated opinion in favour of the maintenance of the Imperial control over native affairs, on thei"ground that the colony is not prepared to take, the charges of war entirely on itself; he declares that the opposition to Governor Browne's policy in the House of Representatives was most pernicious in its effect on the minds of the natives; and he deprecates opposition to the policy of the Governor, whoever that Governor may be. It is with diffidence that we venture to question the opinion arrived at after an experience so dearly purchased as that of the late Native Secretary; and we must admit the present position of the native question to be extremely anomalous. But there are two ways out of this anomalous position, and it appears to us that the one Mr. Richmond suggests is not the most clear of difficulties.

The experience of the late waf lias certainly proved, if proof were necessary, the evils of the present system. It cannot be said that Governor Browne was solely responsible for the policy adopted ; far less can the responsibility be cast entirely on the so-called responsible Government. No one, whether he holds the conduct of the Government to be right or wrong", can draw the line as to where the "advice" which the Government is authorised to give began or ended. Of course, as long as, even nominally, the control of native affairs is in the hands of the Governor, so long ought the Imperial Government to assume almost the whole of the war burdens. England is dissatisfied, and naturalty dissatisfied, at this arrangement. She sees very well that though, under the present system, the Governor is technically responsible he must practically be very much influenced, if not controlled by the men who, in every other question, have virtually in their hands the government of the country. Holding, as we do, that the war was forced upon Governor Browne, and that he acted throughout the part of an upright and patriotic man in the face of great difficulties, we still cannot give him the sole credit for all that was judiciously done, more than we can cast upon him the blame of the errors that were committed by him in the policy pursued; and it is hard to> see how the General Assembly can give up. what control they have, so long, at any irsutro^ as the}' are called upon to vote one penny for native purposes in time of peace, or for the expenses of a campaign in time of war. The Imperial Government cannot boast that, by keeping the control in its own hands, it has avoided quarrels with the Maories : it is evident that their policy must in this way be a good deal at the mercy of the Governor for the time being; and if this policy must be worked every now and then by 9. Dem eax

machind, in the shape of a specially-instructed Governor, sent at a moment's notice from the other side of the world, it cannot be regarded as even partially successful.

The real difficulty of handing over the control of native affairs to the ordinary government of the colony in the question of war expenses. That the colony was not in a position, without almost irremediable loss, to enter unassisted on a contest with the natives is true; and that England owes some protection to her settlers is also evident. Of course, as a matter of business, the old country should stipulate, in handing over powers of control, that, in the event of a war between the races, a just and fixed proportion of the expenses should fall on the colony, such a proportion as should obviate any rashness in entailing a heavy burden on the community, without serious cause. New Zealand would not wish that ground should be left for such a taunt as that she would rather have her battles fought with English tax-payers' money. We have not the data here to enter on the question of how such proportion should be adjusted, but we are convinced that it might be settled to the great advantage both of the Imperial government and the colony. The just halance of power would be re-established on this, as on. other questions, between the crown and the people; and when.native questions are publicly sifted and debated there will be less danger of war than when decisions are come to in the dark, and are proclaimed to the astonishment of both races.

It is natural that Mr. Richmond should have felt bitterly the evil side of parliamentary opposition during war ; so, on a much greater scale did Mr. Pitt, when he was maintaining a life and death struggle against Europe in arms ; and as to the evil effect on the mind of. the enemy, none could be worse than that produced on the mind of the French Government of that time, when Napoleon fancied that Fox was prepared to assassinate his great rivalParliamentary opposition in time of war is one of the conditions of free government j and when we consider the price paid by nations living under military despotisms for the advantages of an unfettered Executive in time of war, we may be we'll satisfied though Anglo-Saxon Governments should be compelled to face the enemy with the clamour of the hustings, and the taunts of the opposition ringing in their ears,

'Till the war-drum throbs no longer, and the battle-flag is furled In the Parliament of man, —the Federalist of the world.'

It is much to be regretted at this.important crisis, when there is a prospect of the relations of the two races being placed on a new footing, that the experience of Mr. Richmond should be wanting in the House of Representatives. His advice, assistance, and if he thought necessary, his opposition, would be a guarantee to the public that so important a question would be examined from every point of view, and that no theory of an individual or of a party should outweigh the well-weighed opinions and the varied experiences of the colony at large.