THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1875.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XII, Issue 4270, 21 July 1875, Page 2

THE New Zealand Herald. SPECTEMUR AGENDO. WEDNESDAY, JULY 21, 1875.

The Governor's speech at the opening of Parliament is before our readers to-day, and contains in its few paragraphs the weightiest matters dealt with by the Assembly for many years. They will stnko everyone at a glance as far too grave to be treated detinitely in a short session of a dying Parliament. The Ministry have done well to open up these questions, and to exhibit them in concrete form with a view to the approaching general elections. If they ko beyond that, and attempt by party tactics to force them upon the country they will be guilty of little short of treason to the people whose destinies are so deeply involved. The first in order of importance are I tho measures "for the abolition of the \

Provincial form of Government, and for the establishment of a moro thorougfi.

form of local government in the So* 1 ™ Island." This is to be done " in i»f^ rd " ance with the resolutions ll « 4 session" ; but Ministership" invite the Assembly "to decide >»iether, taking' the circumstances of **"> colony into consideration, as woll «a tne present financial condition «,nd future prospects of some of tbo Provin(sfal Governments in the Middlo Island, the operation of these measures may not at once with general advantage be so oxtended as to include the whole of the provinces." At the best this must bo pronounced a half-hearted course. A measure is to be thrown down on the floor of the House. Tlio Government which is supposed to have the time, the information, and the will to thoroughly mature this measure, invites members, elected for quite other purposes, to dispute over it and to take into their own hands the control and moulding of Constitutional changes. No such spectacle was ever witnessed in the free Parliament of a free country and we do not for a moment believe that any definite result will bo obtained in the direction of abolition throughout the colony at which the Ministry evidently aim. It is needless to repeat here what we have so often held that the Assembly lias not the power to " decide" on such measures. Lord Carnarvon himself merely holds that they can " discuss" them. We have no idea that there will be anything beyond " discussion" and treat them accordingly. Tho partial abolition of the North Island provinces would be so direct a violation of the rights and privileges of the people of this Island that tho mere attempt to carry it into effect would be an insult as well as an injury of the most grievous kind. In aiming, as they say, to abolish provincial distinctions, Ministers would but succeed in creating tho deeper and more permanent distinction of two separate Islands. They admit that there are provinces in the Middlo Island as impeciuiious, through the absorption of their Customs revenue, as tho provinces of tho North. Nelson, Marlborough, and Westland are in this category. If the abolition is a consolidating measure, as is pretended by its supporters, why exclude them from its action ? Why draw a lino of degrading division between tho settlements on this side of Cook's Straits and those on tho other ? It is useless however to argue the matter moro fully until wo know the details of the plan proposed. We must learn how the land revenue is to be dealt with and what is to be tho nature of tho " substantial endowments" which the resolutions of the House of Representatives proposed to bestow permanently on the local bodies by which Provincial Governments are to bo superseded. We must learn also why, if these " substantial endowments" are so easily available, the Provincial Governments have been deprived of them and reduced to a condition in which they are powerless to fulfil the duties imposed upon them by tho Constitution. Wo must learn also what will bo the nature of tho new local bodios and what tho suffrage of their olectors is to be. Next in order there is the ro-adjustment of representation. " Tho qualification of electors" is to bo amended, but no indication is given of tho principle on which this is to be done. At present tho representation is haphazard. It rests neither on population nor property, while disfigured by exceptional suffrages like the miners' right and Maori votes. Tho arrangement of districts is of the same haphazard character. Tho wholo representation, iis now fixed, is delusiro and a disgrace to the political intelligence of the colony. All our principal men have long felt this, and all in turn have openly expressed this view, but no one has faced the difficulty. Whether the present Ministry will put the representation on some rational and just basis wo must wait a few days longer to see. The " allocation of loan liability" is conspicuous by absence, although the queer attempts at its extra parliamentary regulation have been one of the most sore points between the General Government and our own and other Provincial Governments during the recess. The consolidation and amendment of the Stamp Duties and of the Insolvency Laws are mere tit-bits in the bill of faro before us. The Governor congratulates us on tho happy progress of native affairs and on the growing inclination of the natives to take advantage of the schools for teaching in the English tonguo provided for them. His Excellency observes "with tho utmost satisfaction the progress being made in tho construction of tho groat public works undertaken by authority of the Assembly." Those in our own province are not especially named, but we can only hope His Excellency lias been more correctly informed about works in the other provinces. The returns received from tho railways already opened "arc most encouraging" which we, for many reasons and with an eye to our capitation allowance, are glad to hear. The now mail contract and the telegraph contract are referred to and the papers connected with them are to bo laid upon the table. Nothing is said of the education bill we have been led so often to expect. Tho loan of four million has been " successfully negotiated" and papers relating to it will bo laid upon the table without delay. Finally we have the very satisfactory intelligence that "tho public revenue continues to increase and that the actual receipts for tho past financial year have been considerably in excess of the official estimate." By the interest and sinking fund on tho four million loan, two hundred and twenty thousand pounds have been added to our annual liabilities during the year. In view of this the increasing revenue is a matter for congratulation, but whether the increaso is to be available for other purposes than the payment of this interest, must largely depend on the directly remunerative character of the works in which the money is expended. We should be glad to hear that an enquiry into this important branch of our finance wero instituted through a select committee during the present session. It is the real pivot on which our finance must turn for many years, and the more light thrown upon it before the elections, tho better ■will the constituencies be able'to judge the prospect before them. Immigration is not mentioned, nor is any allusion made to the stoppago of the free system during the last few months. The speech throughout is of tho most vague character. It deals in generalities as such a speech should, yet it abounds in " burning questions." We may rely on hot debates in which the conduct and votes of members will be eagerly scanned by aroused constituencies. The Ministry in office is a new one appointed during the recess, and the Ministerial explanation usual in such cases will probably afford further matter for discussion when it is made. — « The rumour that Sir Julius Vogel and Dr. Featherston, acting as Agent-General, were not on the most amiable terms, is fully confirmed by the correspondence which has passed between them, and which has been furnianed to our columns by our special correspondent at Wellington. Sir Julius (then Mr.) Vogel severely criticises the conduct of Dr. Featherston for so indiscriminately granting land certificates under the Immigrants Land Act. The Premier refers with special emphasis to a land certificate being

to a passenger coining out under engagement to act as an engineer to the colony j But who had voluntarily abandoned the certificate on its being pointed out to him howforeign it was to the intention of the Act that he should receive the land. The engineer referred to is Mr. Passmore, who, although then holding an appointment under the Colonial Government, considered that for the reason he would pay his passage out from home he was entitled to certain grants of land, and for which grants Dr. Featherston had signed a certificate. The letters passing between the Premier and the AgentGeneral are very excellent specimens of polished sarcasm and covert irony. Each has mastered the art of saying unpleasant things in the pleasantest of ways. There is little room for doubt that Dr. Featherston has been very careless in carrying out the important functions entrusted to him, and that he deserves all the censure which the Premier has passed upon him. Mr. Vogel pointed out to the AgentGeneral that the object of granting land certificates was to encourge people to come to the colonies, and were not to be made to those who intended to come in any event, which was certainly the case with Mr. Passmore, and at least one other certificate holder. Other serious charges are made against him. But the AgentGeneral places such a nice coat of varnish over everything he is charged with, that the offence is overlooked in admiration of the manner in which it is made to be concealed.

We notice that the English journals are pointing to the necessity of some qualifications being necessary before persons are placed on the roll of the unpaid magistracy. It is contended that a Justice of the Peace should be at least a man of education and possessed of some elementary knowledge o police law. In England, as in New Zealand, the greater number of the unpaid magistrates are appointed for political services rendered, or for the place they hold in regard to social position or property. Fitness to preside on the magisterial bench is never taken into account. Hence it is here, as in the home country, the unpaid magistracy are for ever committing so many grave blunders from "unexp'ained causes." We have over nine hundred Justices of the Peace gazetted for New Zealand; of this number we would like to know whether one-half have read with any care such a simple work as Judge Johnstone's " New Zealand Justices of the Peace," and whether one-third of them are capable of applying what they have read in dealing with cases brought before them ? Do one hundred of the whole understand the commonest rudiments of evidence, and what may or may not bo received ? We have no reason to doubt but that the large majority of these gentlemen administer justice according to the_ light that_ is within them, but then that light sometimes is very dim indeed. Two Justices of the Peace who sit to-day will double the punishment for an exactly similar offence which another two Justices ordered yesterday. The tendency of the newlyappoiuted is a determination to " put down offences, "and in many cases they would pass sentences which would be illegal, but for the " whisper" of the clerk, who informs them they would be exceeding their powers. We are inclined to think that these magisterial honors are toe thickly, as they are too indiscriminately, showered over the colony. Every new session of Parliament produces a fresh shower, and as the appointments are for life, we may expect at some no very distant date to find the number of Justices comprising the greater half of the whole population.

The correspondence re immigration matters supplied elsewhere is well worthy of perusal, though it will be difficult to credit some of the statements contained therein. The most extraordinary revelations are made in reference to the appointment of ships' surgeons. For instance, Dr. Brittain, of the ship Invererne, which lately arrived in this port, relates how ho obtained his appointment. He first made application to the Immigration Office, London, for an appointment, but was told that he could not obtain one for several months. He then went to the medical shipping agent, who agreed to get one for him if lie would give him a commission for the trouble. By this means Dr. Brittain obtained an appointment in two mouths, for which he had to pay £10. Dr. Xesbitt, of the ship Warwick, another immigrant vessel which sailed to this port, had still greater difficulty in obtaining a ship. He applied times without number to the Emigration Department for mouths without receiving any satisfactory replies, but in ten days after he put his case in the hands of the medical agent he received an appointment, for which, like Dr. Brittain, lie had to pay £10, and was informed at the same time that no surgeons were appointed except through the medical agent, lie adds numerous other particulars which, if only partially true, exhibit a most disgraceful state of corruption among some of the officers of the Emigration Department in London. The fact as revealed that gentlemen have been so solicitous to come to Is ew Zealand as surgeons of immigrant ships as to submit to such terms and indignities is, however, scarcely complimentary to the profession.

This afternoon the members of the CityCouncil will meet to receive and entertain proposals from those who may be willing to lay down tramways through the city and suburbs. If there be any bona Jtdt applications, as we have reason to believe will be the case, we trust the members will not hesitate to accept, without fear, favour, or prejudice, that which appears to be the best. This is demanded of tliem in the interest of the burgesses. What the Council should insist upon is a guarantee that, whatever application is accepted, some guarantee be taken that the conditions shall be faithfully carried out. We believe there is no city in New Zealand where the convenience of tramways would be more generally felt than in our own. People are, by the force of circumstances, huddled and confined in back lanes and close streets, because, although desiring to live in more open space and where a pure atmosphere can be breathed, the means of reaching such by cheap transit is not at their command. It is not for the Council to say whether tramways will prove or will not prove a paying speculation. Their duty will be to see that ordinary traffic is not interfered with by any obstructions a tramway might possibly cause ; but we are not quite certain that the Council should have anything to do with fixing the tariff, because the public can travel as they have done heretofore. But it is not in the least likely that any persons possessing the right of laying down a tramway would be so blind to their interest as to defeat the object for which such conveniences are intended, namely, facilities given for cheap and safe conveyance from one part of the c'.ty to another,'or to the suburbs, at frequent and regular intervals of time. The public were anxious for a tramway long before Mr. Turner came to throw light upon the subject, and they are equally anxious for the same now that he has taken his departure from us. We hope to learn that the matter has been determined before the Council separates this afternoon.

From Fiji we learn that Governor Sir Arthur Gordon had returned with H.M.S. Pearl from his trip to the Windward Islands and Vanua Levu,. and had walked round the island of Ovalau, on -which Levuka is situated. His Excellency was looking into everything, and making himself thoroughly acquainted with the affairs of the colony, but not disturbing any of the provisional arrangements for the present. The ex-King Cakobau had frankly and fully expressed Ins loyalty to the Queen and the determination of himself and other chiefs to aid in making law be respected by all the natives. The deaths by measles during the past four months are estimated at forty thousand. This number is not likely to be exaggerated as the Wesleyan Mission district of Rewa counted nearly nine thousand, whose names were registered, in that district alone. Among them were eighty-four teachers. The misery caused among the natives has been

very great, and the details are sickening. Bodies unburied, the convalescent perishing because there was no one to supply them •with food, and whole towns depopulated are among the incidents narrated. Manj killed themselves in terror or in grief for the loss of their friends. It i 3 a bad beginning, but it is satisfactory not to see any trace mentioned of the ill feeling the natives might be supposed to nourish, or suspicion that it is other than the hand of God by which they have been smitten.

The rumours of irresponsible " specials, and the insinuations of the envious and suspicious regarding the occasion of Sir Julius Vogel's absence from the colony, will be found completely set at rest in our telegraphic columns. Onr special correspondent at Wellington supplies us with a copy of the Premier's letter to Dr. Pollen, and that of a medical certificate signed by the Queen's Physic'an (Sir William Gull) and Dr. oarrod. A perusal of the letter will serve to assure the reader how anxious Sir Julius is to return to the colony at the earliest possible date, and how groundless have been the thousand rumours circulated with reference, not only to the actual state of his health but his intentions. At the same time, the medical certificate is a sufficient guarantee — if any such were wanting—that Sir Julius has suffered much through over-work, and from want of rest in the work of his office. In September, Sir Julius states it is his intention to leave London for New Zealand; but he very justly remarks, in referring to the advice of his medical attendants, "I think you will agree with me, in the face of such a document, I could not, with justice to myself or family, incur the risk of leaving England in June," —the latest date at which he could have left England to be in time for the present session. The terms of his letter will meet with universal sympathy.

It will be observed that Sir George Grey was greeted with cheers from all sides of the House on taking his seat. His Honor is a central figure in the Assembly, and the influence of Auckland cannot fail to be much increased by his leadership. There is the further advantage that his supremacy among our members wul be natural, and one that nobody will feel himself warranted in contesting. In the strife to come, this province may justly feel a confidence in him that no other leader could impart. Before no other could rivalries be so readily thrown aside and in no other could the same experience, broad views, and great ability be found. It is safe to say that no petty party objects will influence Auckland representatives so long as Sir George takes their lead. This will not only give confidence to ourselves but will add to the consideration of our members in the Assembly and in the whole colony.