PATRES-CONSCRIPTI.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XIII, Issue 4665, 26 October 1876, Page 3

PATRES-CONSCRIPTI.

jSra,—ln the House of Parliament last week '(the scene was a disgraceful scramble, over .twenty Bills dealing witn the public estate, and giving, 'large borrowing and . taxing powers,-; without /comment or explanation. ■Hip Ministepi etopd ,by with:foJded arms. Upwards of a thousand clauses were rushed through in about four hours." Here is !Business!" Here is what our localgovernment supporters have been crying out f; . ! Knock 'ein down," auctioneer style. JSut is it honest, is it statesmanlike t It is the fruits of corrupt centralism, and even them, only in the bud; not full blown centralization. Xook on that picture,—now on this. '« In Victoria, the Colonial Secretary sucseeded after seven months' debate in passlaS a Land Act." New Zealanders would call this (in.their wisdom) a gross waste of time and money (tho , here " money is no object '), and would shout out for "business, business." -Now, we may either distribute tne Parliamentary business, as the people desire, among three or four centres, instead of concentrating it all in one place j or let members make their ininds up to stay at Wellington -for eight -months (as is done in the Australian Legislatures), and attend calmly, and give full time to the discussion of every matter,—do their duty. Some of our members have been in Wellington littie over a month; this is turning legislation into a farce. Let it be understood from this out that there are no longer any Provinci&lists. We are now Federalists, or Centralists. Others have had to fight for their liberties. We received our, Magna Charta of selfgovernment with no trouble; and shall wo now surrender it 1 Here are solemn -words applicable to the present crisis. "I, in the most express terms, deny the competence of Parliament to do this act. I warn you not to dare to lay your hands on the Constitution. I tell you that if, circumstanced ■as you are, you pass this Act, it will be a nullity, and no man will be bound to obey it. You-have not been elected for this purpose. You hare been appointed to make laws, not Legislatures. You are appointed to act under the Constitution, not to destroy it You are appointed to exercise the. functions of Legislators, not to transfer them; and if you do so, your act is a dissolution of the Government, and no man in the land is bound to obey yom. Yourselves you may extinguish, but the Constitution you cannot extinguish. Donotlayyourhandsnpon the Constitution, —it is above your power. You may assume the power, but you have not the right. Kesiatance to it will be in the abstract a duty, and the exhibition of that resistance will be a mere question of prudence." This is a recorded judgment of a Master of the. Rolls in England, a Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, a British Peer, and who was finally Lord Chancellor for ten years. The Superintendents of Otago and Auckland may hold their offices, and say, — "J'y suis, j'y resli —Who will turn me out?" Lord Palmerston's advice was good when he said, "Keep on pegging away," as the Opposition are doing. There never was a country where agitation is more needed. Centralism will certainly continue the infliction of the unparalleled injustice and oppression Auckland suffers from. We never will obtain redress, it is a certainty, or enjoy future security, but by keeping the management of our own affairs in our own hands, with clearlydefined powers and fixed revenues, uncontrolled by hostile outsiders. It ia clear to all unbiassed minds that the only hope for this pround-down people lies in a Federal Government. "The greatest empire may be lost by the misrule of its governors," a political maxim of Publius Syrus, the truth of which has been proved in every age and country, and which we now see proved in New Zealand. Male imperando sumvium impermm amittilur. —l am, &c, RUNNEMEDE.