NEWTON LITERARY ASSOCIATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume IV, Issue 1126, 24 June 1867, Page 6

NEWTON LITERARY ASSOCIATION.

A. of the members of the Discussion Class of tliis Institute was held on Fridjiy cve~ ning, for the purpose of debating on the subject of "Responsible Government—is it expedient ?"■ Colonel fiartleman. in the chair. Dr. Kidd opened the subject. He said he MMcnsDtpised to see the notice in the papers of that morning as he did not expect to brinf it forward for another fortnight. He had been ■ very busy all day, and was not prepared to state -.deimitivolytLo facte wliicli would be pertinent •to the discussion. It would naturally be inquired what sort of ■ thing this responsible -government m the Province would be found to 'be. If any one in Auckland could give that "information he would perhaps stand alone. Ho , had spoken to several gentlemen who were likely " to be well informed on the subject, and they all seemed to be equally iu the dark as to the shape . that the thing would, take. Responsible governso called, was of course the opposite of irresponsible government or absolute power. All free Governments were responsible. The General Government of this Colony was in some degree responsible. .Ine members of the Provincial' Council were responsible to their constituencies. The memo i ? xecutive '"'ere formerly responsible . to the Superintendent alone, but now what was t> W - aS - tC t into responsibility to - e ~^ rovln ?' a l Council. Parliamentary corern-ment-as it ought to have been called-was T?A r f, LerS ° £ J he Executive are in the position of holding office conditionally on pos. sessrng tue confidence of the Legislature The went on to compare the Government; of -Auckland with the Government of Great Britain -and other limited monarchies. The head of the -governing power in England was hereditary. 4.he Superintendent was elected by the people . for a term of years. .Whatever .laws were passed by the Superintendent and Council were ■ a< EMbla id' be set aMde by the Colonial"G-overa-°%ent : or by the Colonial Parliament. It -fras

I in the' power of tlie Executive of Britain at any time to dissolve the Parliament, but Ms Honor tlie Superintendent, liad no such, power with regard to the Provincial Council. The Government of America presented another and distinct form of constitution, and it was considered to be a wise organization for the security of liberty and order. There was no such thing there as Parliamentary government. The President was clectcd for four years ; his Executive were chosen by himself, and responsible to him alone. Each State had also its own Governor, and its own two chambers. The constitution of New Zealand was copied very much after the American model. There was the General Assembly, analagous, in some measure, to that of Congress; and there were the Provinces answering to the several States. The power of the Provinces had been very much diminished, just as in America there had lately been a dwarfing of the States, and a proportionate amplification of the power of the Washington Government. Here, in his opinion, lay the great danger to the stability of American freedom. There was Responsible Government in all the British Colonies, wherever they found a Governor appointed by the Crown and two houses of Parliament; and it was in the power of such Governor to dissolve that Parliament. A member of the Auckland Executive was reported to have said lately, that he would vote for Eesponsible Government, but it must not be a sham. Now Eesponsible Government, as it existed, even in the Colonial Parliament, was partially a sham. A gentleman might be placed in the Legislature by his constituency, and on being taken into the Executive he might vote in a way directly opposite to the wishes of that constituency, without the slightest check being capable of being applied. He would hope to see that whoever was appointed to any paid office by his Honor the Superintendent, should thereupon resign his seat, and go back to his constituents. They were accustomed to Representative Government, but yet it was a comparatively new thing in the world. There were free republics in ancient Greece, and Home, and elsewhere during the middle ages, but .Representative Government had not then been developed. The Amphictyonic Council of Greece faintly resembled it. This was a kind of federation of the smaller States of Greece at a very early period. The Christian Church got in to the way of sending delegates to Provincial Synods and General Synods; and this conduced to giving legitimate play to the outspeaking of the public voice. He would lite to know to how the system of government by the Provincial Council alone worked in Canterbury and Otago. In Wellington he believed that the Provincial Government, though nominally what is called responsible, was in reality pretty much the government of Dr. Featherstone. In Canterbury and Otago tlie system was said by some to succeed, and by many others to be a failure. An elected chief magistrate was inconsistent with Parliamentary government. Seeing that the Provincial power is limited, and that we cannot afford to have many men to be heads of departments, and seeing that we can have an able and business-like man who will honestly give himself to his work, lie thought the wise plan would be to make the most of such a Superintendent, and so long as he goes on doing his utmost to effect what is right, the more we allow our provincial affairs to be managed economically by a few good hands, the better. Mr. O. Lewis said he looked upon the present change with a great deal of dread to the public. Formerly anything that was agreed to by the Council had to be referred to the Superintendent, who acted as a kind of check. A standing order was then brought in to prevent any individual member from initiating any money vote. Within the last few days he had seen the first-fruits of that Eesponsible Government. They found now that a quorum of the House_ could meet and pass resolutions, and the Superintendent reduced to a nonentity. JJ c is bound to ratify those resolutions. He was bound to bow to the decisions of that House. As an example it might be mentioned, the City Board Amendment Act was brought in one day, and the next it was read a second time and passed. If the Superintendent had not accepted Eesponsible Government, he might say he would not sanction the measure, but having assented to that form of Government, he was bound to accept the decision of tlie majority. Where they had an upper chamber they had an opportunity of checking any hastily passed measure of the lower chamber. But in this case, a law had been passed in 48 hours ; which was most important in its results. There was great danger in such a kind of Eesponsible Government. Mr.Page complained that licneverbeforc knew what Responsible Government was before he was enlightened by Dr. Kidd. He argued, from the premises laid down by Mr. Lewis, that there was far more danger from the Superintendent having the power to veto the votes of the majority, than having him responsible to that majority. Mr. HoLDsmr spoke in favour of the old state of things. On the motion of Mr. Lewis the debate was then adjourned, till next Friday at 8 o'o'clock. After a vote of thanks to the Chairman the meeting separated.