THE Otago Daily Times. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 3252, 9 July 1872, Page 2

THE Otago Daily Times. TUESDAY, JULY 9, 1872.

As it is not improbable that grave constitutional questions will come under the consideration of the General Assembly during the ensuing session, it is evidently desirable that the public mind should be rightly informed, or reminded, of what was the original Constitution, and how far it has been altered. The Imperial Act of the 30th June, 1852, conferred a Constitution on New Zealand, defining the powers of the Imperial Parliament respecting the Colony, and the respective powers of the General and Provincial Legislatures created thereunder. Among these powers, as regards the General Assembly, was the authority to legislate in alteration of the Act—with certain exceptions—and the power to overrule all the legislation of the Provincial Councils by subsequent enactments; and the Provincial Councils, by clause 19, which is not repealable, are especially precluded from legislating on questions of Customs' duty, the establishment or abolition of higher courts of judicature, regulating coin or issue of notes, post offices., bankruptcy, coast lighthouses, shipping dues, marriages, Crown or Nati* c lands, invidious restrictions on the natives, the criminal law, except so far as it is summary, inheritance and wills; and generally, they were precluded from enacting anything contrary to the Statutes of the General Assembly. From time to time this Constitution has been amended, viz., by the Imperial Act of 17th August, 1857, extending the .General Assembly's legislative power; and by. that of the 11th July, 1861, which provided that the General Assembly shall have power to constitute new Provinces and to alter the boundary of existing Provinces; and of the 29th July, 18G2, repealing the above, and making fresh provisions on the same subject;' -There, were also the Imperial Act of Bth June, 1863, defining the boundaries of the Colony; of the 29tb June, 1865, respecting the validity of Colonial laws ; of 13th July,. 1868, respecting the constitution of the Legislative Council, and lastly, that of 31st July, 1868, for the formation of territorial areas outside of Provinces, in fact, for the creation of Counties. Under these powers the General Legislature has, from time to time, taken action, generally in the direction, as regards the Provinces, of restricting their legislation by framing statutes on subjects which, from the infancy of the Colony, had been left to Provincial action.

In our issue of the 25fch ult. we drew attention to the chief of these statutes as regards the Provinces, viz., that respecting the disposal of the Waste Linds of the Crown, by which, tinder the Land Revenue Appropriation Act of 1858, the revenue arising from the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation o£ the Waste Lands within each Province was appro-

priated for its use ; and by which, uiador the Public Debts Apportionment Act, £180,000 was rained for fclie ex-= tinctioa by purchase of the Native title to Ituuls, and provision rras made by the -former statute for reserving a portion of* the proceeds of the sale of lands to purchase other lands. This latter power was destroyed, by desire of the Northern Island, by the Land Revenue Appropriation Act of 1862. Before the repeal took place, the rebellion broke out in the Northern Island, ostensibly on the ground that the Native title to certain lands had been violated by a purchase made by the Government for the Province of Tarauaki; but, really, from a desire to close all sales to Europeans, in order to stop settlement, and to assert the sovereignty of a Native chieftain. In the session of 1862, provision was made, in order to allay all excitement, that land might'be purchased by any one from the Natives, by Provinces as well as by individuals, in fact, allowing Provinces to purchase, as they are now largely purchasing, large blocks of land. In the session of 1863, the Assembly, at the instigation of a Government consisting of six members, five of whom were from the North Island, in- 1 troduced into our statute laws—Tho ! Suppression of Rebellion Act, Tho,New Zealand Settlement Act, The New Zealand Loan Act, and the Loan Appropriation Act. Under the third of these Acts, £1,000,000 was raised for war expenditure ; £900,000 for public works ; £300,000 for immigration--; .£IOO,OOO for arras; £200,000 for lighthouses and electric .telegraphs. It would be a useful and instructive historic record to have a complete return of this money, Provincially distributed. The arrangement was sanctioned by 33 to 21, and the mem bars from Auckland, whence the cry for tho spoliation of the Middle Island land fund is now heard, voted to a man for it, and the mem hoi's from Taranaki and Hawke's Bay accompanied them into the same lobby. The Middle Island, remembering the territorial arrangements of 1858, and on the faith of them, bore its full share, and no small ohe, of the burden, yet reaped but little, if anything, from the now policy. Since then it has never ceased to bear additional burdens, and notably by the late Defence Loan. The land revenue of each Province is the property of that Province, to bo administered by it for immigration, education, and public works, and the Provinces of the Middle Island are content that it should remain so. If other sums are raised on the faith of the ordinary revenues of the Colony, the administration of the loan rightly belongs to the General Legislature. If public works are undertaken on tho faith of any special allocation of land, then the proceeds of that land should be capitalised, and care taken by tho General Government that the works contracted for, from time to time, are within the sum at disposal, or at once secured by rates. All Middle Island responsibility would then cease, and works would proceed in exact proportion to capital and security provided, and no further.