The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1864.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1190, 30 January 1864, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, JANUARY 30, 1864.

In" his speech at the recent election for the Heatheote District, Mr. Ollivier gave it as his opinion that the notion of responsible Government was all a mistake, as applied to our Provincial affairs.

Mr. Ollivier is not the only person who has taken up this cry. A good cry is a capital thing, especially for those who lack either the ability or the perseverance to examine patiently, and to judge soundly, in difficult questions. We believe that a cry has been taken up against the idea of responsible Government, in the management of Provincial affairs, by many persons who have a very imperfect conception what responsible Government is, and under what circumstances it is practicable to bring its peculiar machinery into efficient action.

It is not our present purpose to enter on a discussion of the abstract principles which lie at the root of all responsible Government. But we think there are various circumstances in our short Provincial history, and some of recent occurrence, which may, when properly studied, save us from being led by an empty cry, and shew us what we really ought to aim at in our future course.

Responsible Government is ail adjunct of free institutions. It cannot co-exist with absolute despotism, or the unrestrained exercise of autocratic power. It may be defined to be the combined executive power of the chief governor of a State, and of certain other persona chosen to represent the opinions and will of the mass of those who are to be governed. These other persons form what is called a responsible ministry. Their number is of course variable. But, their duty being to sketch out a policy which shall be accepted by the people iu their constitutional assemblies, it may be assumed that the larger their number is, the more likely is their line of policy to be acceptable to the great mass of the governed. If at any time their policy is opposed to the will of the governed, or of the chief governor, or of both, their duty is to resign and let others whose views are more consonant with public opinion, take their place. This is a.change of ministry. At first sight, and without going much more deeply into the subject than we can do at present, it seems difficult to comprehend how this system should work satisfactorily for any length of time, without being brought to a dead lock by the unbending antagonism of its component parts. For the present we must be contented to acknowledge that practically it is a system which answers well, and that serious interruptions to its working are of rare occurrence. However incomplete the foregoing statement may be, it will serve to bring out some particulars connected with the working of responsible Government and bearing on our own Provincial experience. It is obvious that this machine of responsible Government is one of considerable size and complexity. Some conditions must be satisfied before it can with propriety be brought into operation. In the first place it requires a certain and a considerable amount of population out of which it is to be elaborated. The population must be sufficient to form a constituency. The constituency must be large enough to elect a sufficiently numerous Provincial Council. The Council must be large enough to furnish a change of ministers when wanted. The whole interests of the community—its trade, manufactures, commerce, its social regulation and wellbeing,—must be on such sufficient scale as will justify large outlay on Government expenses. The public affairs must be of such importance as to furnish a just claim on the services of members of Council. If all or most of these requisites be not iu some measure satisfied, it is obvious that a system of responsible Government will not work well. The truth of this is plain enough when wo take an extreme case. Try to furnish a system of responsible Government lor a population of twenty souls. In such a case you are taking a thousand horse-power steam engine to move a wheelbarrow. In respect of the interests to be guarded, and the number of persons to be governed, it is a clear case of " much ado about nothing," or of "taking an axe to break an egg." Leaving this extreme case, it is very easy to see that as the population increases the absurdity will diminish, and that it will disappear altogether when the sufficient population is rpached. What that minimum population may be with which any com-

in unity may venture on the experiment ol independent responsible government it is impossible to say. Populations of equtil amount may be so differently circumstanced, and may be mixed up with social and commercial interests of such unequal importance, as to make it impossible to lay down any rule applicable to all cases. This much, how - ever, we may safely say in all cases, that just in proportion as population increases the experiment of responsible Government will become more feasible and successful.

Now let us turn to our own province. We suppose no one will be bold enough to say at what precise date Canterbury attained the minimum population which made constitutional responsible Government a safe experiment. This we may safely say, however, that the lower limit of population, so to speak, has been passed long ago, and that for years back the province has been advancing so rapidly both in population and commercial importance as to make responsible Government both practicable and

essentially necessary,

Possibly Mr. Ollivier and some of his friends may deny that Canterbury has ever been fit for responsible Government. If this be Mr. Ollivier's opinion, we differ-from him toto ccelo, and would endeavour to point out the cause of the mistake into which he has fallen.

There was, doubtless, a time when the action of responsible Government in Canterbury was not very smooth or satisfactory. The institution seemed almost too large for the place. It was then that those who do not understand the law of progress connected with responsible Government came to the conclusion it would not do. And they stereotyped their conclusion. It became with them a fixed idea, on which they acted as opportunity served, and so helped to delay the development of a system of responsible Government which they chose to consider impracticable.

The effect of this has been sufficiently apparent in the action of our own Provincial Government. The difficulty of getting men to form a ministry, with a right appreciation of their position and of the duties attached to it, has been very great, and among those who took office there has been a considerable tendency to fall in with the habit of ridiculing the idea of responsible Government in provincial affairs. So far has this been carried, that the duty of a ministry to propose a definite scheme from session to session, for the conduct of public affairs, has been almost lost sight of. We cite Mr. Maude as a case in point. Mr. Maude, it is true, never appeared before the Council without making his financial statement. But when that statement, and the policy connected with it (if indeed any policy ever could be said to be connected with it), came on for discussion, it immediately became apparent that the Government really had. no policy at all, and so individual members tried their hands at patching and tinkering the work which the Government never cared to claim or defend as their own. At such tinkering there was no cleverer hand than Mr. Ollivier's, whose performances during recent sessions of the Provincial Council fully illustrate his opinion, that responsible Government is to be given up as impracticable.

JS ovv looking at the whole question from an opposite point of view, we maintain that the materials for the support of bona Jidc responsible Government have been of late years gradually accumulatiug. They have increased in quantity and improved in quality. The population has rapidly increased. The Council has been enlarged. The private circumstances of those who might, from their education and ability, be expected to undertake the cares and responsibilities of Government, have become easier. There are more men of education iu the place, and more of them at liberty to devote themselves to the public service. In fact, nothing but want of space• compels us, at present, to forbear following out at much greater length our argument, that the materials for responsible Government now possessed by the Province of Canterbury are both abundant and good.

However difficult it might be in 185-1, to organise an effective responsible Government, the case is changed altogether in 1864.