THE Otago Daily Times. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, DEC. 25.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 2461, 25 December 1869, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. DUNEDIN, SATURDAY, DEC. 25.

The special session of the Provincial Council has not been productive of very valuable results. So far as its immediate object was concerned—that of deciding between His Honour and the Executive—it may be said to have answered its purpose. It has given judgment.against JHis Honour on both the questions referred to it. But the manner in which this judgment has been arrived at, with respect to the Hundreds Act, deprives it of all weight. The Executive have' clearly been defeated, notwithstanding the majority they contrived to obtain. Mr Gillies tells-us that the result of the debate is 'a great victory' for himself and his colleagues. It appears to us that a Government could scarcely occupy a less dignified position than that which the Executive occupies at the present moment. We acquit it of any attempt | to acquire votes by corrupt means; for we do not suppose that it is in any way responsible for the corruption that has unfortunately been dragged to light, i The position of the Government is not j affected by that matter. A solitary vote does not add materially to their strength, nor would the loss of it materially weaken their position. In the estimation of the public, the vote referred to goes for absolutely nothing, although it counts one on the division list. The question is not whether the Government has succeeded in obtaining a bare majority ofvotes, but whetheritspolicy2^ as opposed to that of His Honour—has met with thesupport of the Council. On that point there is no room for doubt. The Government had scarcely explained its policy on the Land question before it was made aware that the Council had no sympathy with it. The policy was accordingly withdrawn, and an entirely opposite one—framed for the express purpose of pleasing the Opposition— was substituted for r<. If this does not mean defeat, then parliamentary law has no effect in the Provincial Council of Otago. Had a similar state of things occurred in the House of Representativesj no Government would have

ventured to remaiii in. office a day. For Governments are understood to stand or fall by their policy; and unless tkeir policy commands the support of a clear .'working majority, resignation, becomes inevitable. If r they allowed to throw aside their policy in order to obtain votes from the Opposition, there would be no meaning in parliamentary government. The ojnly point on which Mr Reid and his colleagues have succeeded, relates to the actual administration of the Hundreds Act. They have given up everything but that. They have ! accepted the Act, and have even gone further than the Act in affording protection to .the pastoral interest. But they have succeeded in postponing the operation' of that measure for some. : months to come —a degree of; success of which there is no reason to boast, especially when the loss it entails upon the province is borne in mind. No land for sale, and no money for public works—that is the. practical result of the course of action adopted by the Executive. There is enough in this fact to exasperate even an ultraprovincialist. That the public interests should be compromised in such a manner, is simply monstrous. We can understand a determined resistance of an Act of Parliament condemned by public opinibn, arid clearly hostile to the public welfare. But the Act of Parliament to which Mr Reid and his colleagues refuse to give effect, has not been condemned by public opinion, and is x not hostile to the public welfare. Those gentlemen have undertaken to pronounce judgment upon it without any reference to public opinion, and without any consideration of the consequences which must ensue from their political bigotry.

In one respectj however, the Executive is fairly entitled to congratulate itself upon the results of the Special Session. It was a contest between themselves and His Honour, and the victory is theirs. , There is no reason to doubt that the Session was convened for the purpose of obtaining their removal from office. They were summoned to appear before the Council in order to stand their trial, to receive judgment, and to suffer execution. Had the verdict gone against them, their shrift would have been, a short one, and their policy on the Land and the Railway questions would have been summarily reversed. The contest was obviously imbued to a large extent with personal as well ,as political differences, and, the gratification of a triumph is proportionately greater. It is a strange anomaly in our Constitution that the head of the Government should be at liberty to drag his ' responsible advisers' before the Legislature, on the ground that he does not concur with them in their views on important questions. Such a practice is directly opposed to the theory of Constitutional government. We endeavoured to show, at the time when His Honour issued the circular letter explaining his reasons for convening a Special Session, that his action was equally impolitic and unconstitutional. He is bound to act by the advice of his responsible advisers just as much when he differs from them as when he agrees with them. He has no appeal from them to the Legislature, because they have been appointed by the Legislature r for .... the express purpose of advising him. The very fact of their being his 'responsible advisers,' implies that they are responsible to the Legislature, which alone has the power of calling them to account. His Honour appears to think that because lie is an elective officer, he is in some way responsible for the advice tendered him at the Council board, and that he is therefore, called upon to wash his hands of it at the first opportunity. If this were a correct view of the position in which a Superintendent stands towards his Executive, it might be necessary to convene a Special Session of the Provincial Council every year. For differences of opinion must be expected to arise between them ; and unless the Superintendent has the good sense'to act constitutionally, the Provincial Council must be perpetually placed in the position of a referee. The impolicy of His Honour's action in this matter is very evident. By reducing the differences of opinion between himself and his advisers, to ; a trial of strength, he subjects himself either to the necessity of resigning, or to the indignity of remaining" in office under the stigma of defeat. .The Council has thought fit to reject his policy on both the questions submitted to it, and to endorse that, of his Executive. The logical conclusion of such a judgment would be His Honour's immediate resignation and appeal to the electors. Had the Special Session been convened with such an alternative in view, His Honour's action would have been marked by some political foresight. If he believes that the country is with him on the questions at issue, he might very safely appeal- to it. If he does not, his appeal to the Provincial Council was one of those blunders which, in: the words of the French epigrammatist, are worse than crimes.