The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1864.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXI, Issue 1229, 30 April 1864, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 1864.

The Extraordinary Session of the Provincial Council that was closed last night by prorogation has cleared the way for the ordinary business of the annual session which will be held at the end of the financial year. After two months holiday the Council will have to return again to its labours; but the Government will then be in a position to meet the representatives with their business cut and dried; the financial position of the province will be better understood; and there need be no further recurrence to personal questions which have weighed for six months on public business like a nightmare. For some time a session of the Council has been necessary for the purpose of making public the history of the transactions which had become a sort of half-smothered scandal; and we areheartilygladthat the necessary explanations are all over. If they leave everything very much as it was before, it is at any rate a consolation to believe that the public now knows all that is to be said on every side, and that there is an end of mystery and secrecy about matters affecting the public interests.

But besides the explanations which burst forth on the opening of the session in a manner somewhat unlooked for, there was other pressing business which had to be disposed of before the G6vernment could fairly undertake the ordinary work of the year. A large unvoted expenditure had been going on, for which the new G-overnment sought an indemnity before they incurred any further liabilities. It had become necessary without delay to obtain the sanction of the Council to plans for a more vigorous prosecution of the great public works of the province ; and to lay before it the evidence which induced the Government to recommend a continuance of the present system of immigration, instead of transferring the functions of our own agent in London to Her Majesty's Emigration Commissioners. The Council passed a vote of indemnity for over-expenditure in the usual meek and forgiving spirit with which it receives accounts of excesses of this nature. And it was determined, contrary to the resolutions passed last session, that the management' of immigration should remain in the hands of our own agent in London. This decision was anticipated and approved by all those who have paid attention to the evidence on the subject laid before the Council. Mr. Selfe's services were warmly acknowledged, Mr. Hall observing very truly that they were such as no salary could purchase, and no amount of money repay. The policy to be adopted with reference to the extension of public works was discussed with some acrimony, but the Government carried all their proposals by a considerable majority. The principle of 'responsible' Government is to be further acknowledged by the appointment of a secretary for public works; a change which appears to us not only benefi-

cial but absolutely necessary in the present circumstances of the province. Two-fifths of the land revenue is to be set aside annually to meet the charges arising from loans raised for great public works, with a view of increasing the value of the security offered in the eyes of foreign capitalists, and of placing that proportion of the land revenue out of the reach of improvident appropriation. When this question had been decided, the Government obtained authority to take immediate steps for raising funds for making the railway to the llakaia and the bridge across that, river, and for obtaining information as to the Kowai railway to be laid before the House next session.

These were the chief items of the premeditated business of the session. But news reached the province before the Council rose which made it a matter of congratulation that it was at that moment in session. The indignation caused all over the colony at the repudiation by the General Government of the contract entered into by Mr. Ward with the Intercolonial Steam Navigation Company for a mail service via Panama, enables us to judge of the view that will be taken by the General Assembly of the contract and of the conduct of the Government. But by the time the Assembly meets it will be too late to save the contract, however desirous we may be of doing so. Any steps that are to be taken to neutralise the repudiating policy of the present Ministry must be taken at once. The Provincial Government and Council with wise boldness determined to take'the matter in hand themselves, and to guarantee to the Company the amount of the contract. At the same time resolutions were passed offering to indemnify the General Government to the extent of the amount required over and above the £30,000 appropriated by the Act of the Assembly, and proposing that the other southern provinces should be invited to co-operate in offering this indemnity. But the great practical step which may save the contract is the proposal of Canterbury to guarantee the whole amount of the contract, without waiting to hear what the General Government may say. This proposal will go home next mail, and will we trust arriye in time to prevent any suspension of the action already taken by the contractors and to save the credit of the colony so recklessly imperilled by the General Government. The Panama resolutions and a vote of thanks to Mr. Ward were passed unanimously. This is a fitting answer to the enthusiastic public meeting held last week; and we are sure, from the news received from the neighbouring provinces, that Canterbury will receive the thanks of the colony for having stepped in to frustrate the action of the General Assembly, when there appeared no other means of thwarting a policy as disadvantageous as discreditable to New Zealand.

Among the incidental results of the session of the Council, we hail with satisfaction the vote for enabling the Government to plant and otherwise prepare the now waste Government Domain for the use of the Acclimatization Society. This is a vote which is calculated to encourage an enterprise of the utmost importance to the country. A resolution was passed approving the proposed change of the roadway in Cathedral square, a change which we have before described and advocated at some length. On the whole the session has been very satisfactory. Some good debating took place, and the conduct of business was very much improved. Now that all arrears are wiped off, and the G-overnment is firmly seated, we look forward to a more active progress than ever. "When a Government knows what it wants and defends its opinions, the public is safe. The Government can be thrown out and its measures rejected if unpalatable to the country; but if they give satisfaction, we have some guarantee that they \Vill be actively and intelligently prosecuted. We must take care that the business of the province never relapses again into the confusion out of which it has now been dragged. The Provincial Council has its own business to do, and cannot undertake that which should be done by the Executive without great public mischief.