NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4884, 16 November 1876, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND NEWS.

SUMMARY FOR THE MONTH,

OOTOBER-NOVEMBER, 1876.

Tar transmission by thePM.C.S. City of New York, from Wellington, on the Nth November, to Europe via San Francisco .

The first.session of the sixth Parliament of New Zealand was brought to a termination on October 31st, both Houses being prorogued by commission. The future may bring forth sessions more protracted and more remarkable for bitter parly strife than that Which has just closed, but the past cannot parallel it. It has lasted nearly five months, and in more than one respect the legislation which it has accomplished has been of an inchoate and unsatisfactory character. However, no alarm for the future good government of the country need arise on this score. We , have already on ' more than one occasion pointed out that a _ kind of .“bogey,” or “bugbear,” was being made of the cry, “What is to replace provincialism when that system is abolished ?” In truth, had abolition come into effect without any of the measures of the past session having been made law, the country would not have suffered much in the interim between abolition , and the initiation of the local self-government which was to succeed it. For temporary utility the various municipalities and road boards throughout the colony would have quite sufficed. But for party purposes it was not a bad cry to exclaim, “ Oh, before you abolish provincialism let us know what is to take its place.” That was the cry of the session before last, and when abolition was carried the cry of last session was not that the system of government intended to replace it was unsatisfactory, but was simply every possible slogan of political warfare that could be raised. It is this fact that we have to thank for the somewhat lame legislation that has ensued. Nearly four months of the session were occupied by efforts to upset abolition on side issues. Separation was defeated. Time after time' decisive majorities showed the leader of the Opposition that the country supported the Ministry. Then the ridiculous threats of armed resistance, and equally ridiculous professions of fear for armed authority, were raised, and it was not until the fag end of the session that the Counties Bill came under discussion. We are all familiar with the treatment which that measure and the Waste Lands Administration Bill received at the hands of the Legislative Councillors, and we also know that but for the late period at which the session had arrived much more satisfactory results might have been produced by the conferences which took place between the Upper and Lower Houses. But as things were, the conflict with the Upper House, which must come if the Lords persist in their present policy,' has been postponed until next session, and as a consequence two of the most important measures contingent upon abolition have been subjected to a treatment altogether opposed to the desires and wishes of the people. Now, for all this—and that it is an evil no one can deny—the Opposition must be held, clearly responsible ; yet_ though through their mischievous tactics this evil has been wrought, we cannot see that any irredeemable disaster has been brought on the country. Such legislation for local self-government as has been effected is imperfect, yet it might have been much worse, and in no country possessed of a people like those of New Zealand, and of liberal representative institutions such as we possess, can obnoxious legislation be permitted to remain in existence if it is found to be exercising a positively active detrimental effect upon the country. We have no more belief in _ the_ permanence of detrimental legislation in New Zealand than we have in the ruin of the colony, though, heaven' knows, that is often enough predicted by Sir George Grey,. Mr. Waterhouse, and gentlemen similar to them. No doubt every apparent defect in the working of the institutions which now may be fairly said to have replaced provincialism, will during the recess be magnified a hundredfold by those who still cling fondly to the shade of a passed away form of government. But despite all this, and despite the drawbacks that we have pointed out in a previous portion of this article, we are convinced, and wo feel certain the mass of opinion in the colony is with us, that we are provided with what is on the" whole a very fair initiatory system of local and -which simply wants, like all constitutions, to be permitted to grow, and to be modified from time to time, as national requirements may demand, to become,all that is necessary. One of the, earliest demands of, next session will be without doubt the amending of , those portions of our newest legislation, which we may even now anticipate, and which the experience of the recess will have shown, to require amendment. "Andthough our assertion will unquestionably be received with -violent denial from some quarters, we yet venture to state unhesitatingly that much less amendment than some anticipate will be required. ; The stormy close of a stormy session has excited apprehensions which but a brief time will be needed..to -dissipate. -In-the main, we are confident that before long the country will appreciate the beneficial change which the legislation of last session on the whole, effected, and that, despite the prophecies' of Mr. Macandrew, j Sir George Grey, and their followers, the future demands of the colony in respect to the change in cur Constitution which now comes into being will be hot for retrogressive but for progressive legisation. . '

, Mr. Macaspbew, who until the coming into effect of abolition, had been for many years Superintendent of. Otago, called a Convention of all sorts of: people of that province, which met, on Wednesday, November Bth, and the nobodies which formed a majority in it (Mr. Mac Andrew's invitations not being generally responded to by representative bodies) passed a series of, resolutions highly satisfactory, to themseves. There is ; ah,old saw which says that the perfection of sport is to have the ‘‘engineer hoist'with his own petard.” We venture to think" that Mr. James Macandrew, even with the -result of the Convention before him, should have as ' practical and clear an apprehension of the application of this, truth as any other gentleman in New Zealand. No doubt the point of view from which he will see the truth is different from that of other people, but the truth will be not the loss incisively impressed upon his mind, for that reason. ; ’ ’ ’■

Had Mr. Macandrew anticipated the state of,matters and of minds which His efforts to assemble his Convention would reveal in the province of Otago, ho would, we .imagine,. have adopted some other mode bfi warfare; ‘ Otago is'sd very- far from unanimity on the point, that it is not at all certain that by far the "greater number of her sturdy and .sensible pebpile do not hold ah Opinion quite H variance

with that of Mr. Macandrew and the busybo'diea who , act with him. The replies’both from individuals and from bodies corporate to his invitation to this precious “Convention” must have, been more, wholesome than - pleasing to his taste. It will be well for his peace of mind and for the good of his district if he will read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the very sensible replies which have reached him. Southland flings his patent nostrum “ Convention ” like physio to the dogs, and straightway proceeds to keep high holiday on the very day of the funeral of the defunct provincial system. But above all, let Mr. Macandrew lay well to heart the practical rejoinder made by Oamaru. We think that this reply of the people of Oamaru is honorable to themselves, and completely embodies and exemplifies what the attitude should be of persons who although they dissented from the principle of the Abolition Bill, yet remember and realise the fact that they live under a constitutional government, and wish to obey the laws enacted by the Legislature in which they have a voice. For the benefit of any who may not have read the telegram, we here reprint it: —• Oamaru, Monday.

A.I a special meeting of the Municipal Council this morning, the following resolutions were unanimously passed:—That this Council decline to appoint any person to represent them at the convention called by Mr. Macandrew, as they are of opinion that the Abolition Act having been passed by a very decided majority of both Houses, it should now bo fairly tried on its merits; neither can they fail to recognise the extreme undesirability of establishing as a precedent the right of the minority to use their power to prevent the operation of laws passed by a large majority, even before such laws have had any trial. Further, the Council is of opinion that if all parties unite to give effect to abolition, they are much more likely to eliminate anything unsatisfactory in the working, and to substitute improvements. In all aspects this unanimous resolution of the Municipal Council of Oamaru reflects the greatest credit upon it. We believe this place elected both its members opposed to the policy of permitting the Abolition Bill to become law, but now that the battle has been fought and lost by them, they desire that the policy embodied in this Act shall have a fair trial. They refuse to be parties to the truculent attempt of a small portion of the colonists to set at nought the wellconsidered decision of the national assembly, and like men who feel that institutions are more than form, and patriotism more than breath, they wish to test, and perhaps improve, the working of the new institutions. In all this there is much, very much ground for congratulation. It is plain that ho inconsiderable part of the people of the Southern part of the colony either retain or have acquired the true constitutional spirit, which is’ the spirit of mutual allowance and concession, in fact the essence of politics. It is clear that these people can now see beyond the boundaries of what was the province of Otago, and are able to realise that they are citizens of New Zealand.

All this we say is m»at satisfactory. At best, as a colony, we are in a transition state; our efforts at adopting the form of our institutions to our expanding life are but tentative, and it will require the best co-operation of the best men in the colony to carry out to a successful issue the scheme of policy initiated by the Legislature. It is certainly calculated to alarm people who never perhaps devoted a thought to the matter when they see the pernicious and pestilent spirit of political disunion and paltry locality which provincialism has fostered. But at the same time it must be reassuring to all to note portions of the colony subjected to the worst of these influences, and but lately rabidly responsive to their evil power, now awaking from their day dream, and the people giving proof that they never had really lost the solid substratum of their common sense. Again, we would advise Mr. James Macandrew and all others, the little great men who can’t see their own smallness, to study diligently this most remarkable resolution of the Oamaru Council.