HOUSE OF COMMONS.—MONDAY, MAY 3.

Otago Witness, Issue 71, 25 September 1852, Page 1

HOUSE OF COMMONS.— MONDAY, MAY 3.

I New Zeal \.nd Government Bill. ' Sir John Pakington moved for leave to bring in j a "bill to tjrant a representative constitution to the I colony of New Zealand. Isut for the importance of the subject he would not have ventured to biintr foiwaul the matter before the House, seeing that he had been so short a time in office. He had, howe\er, received such pressing solicitations to take the subject into consideration that he did not think it was right to leave the question in abeyance any longer. He felt that he would not be warranted in interfering with the subject, but that a bill relating to it | had been left by Lord Grey in the Colonial Office, I and that he had received valuable suggestions with 1 respect to it from the Governor of New Zealand and other persons who had returned from, or were other- | 1 wise interested in the colony. In 1846 her Majesty's j i late Government had granted a constitutional go- i I \ernment to the New Zealanders, but Sir G. Grey, ! the Governor, wrote an earnest letter to the Home ! Government against that Constitution, because it j was not applicable or adapted to the inhabitants. In 1848 a bill was introduced to suspend the Constitution of 1846, and at that time the European popula- j tion did not exceed 17,000, but it was now 26,000. The exports from the mother country had increased in the same ratio. That fact would be illustrated more particularly by the fact that the imports had increased to the extent of £10,000 and upwards in the year 1850 over the year 1842. The increase of population and of commerce justified him therefore in proposing that New Zealand should possess the constitution proposed by Lord Grey in 1816. There were however difficulties with which they had to contend. The right hon. gentleman proceeded to say that the New Zealanders were more cnilispd, better educated, and better acquainted with warlike movements than our own people ; and he hoped that his right hon. friend the Secretary at War (he did not know if he was in the House) would consider these points, as they were important. In legislating for such a people it ought to secure to them the blessings of peace, and to assimilate the habits of the native population to those of the European population. The great difficulty in dealing with the subject was, whether each separate community should have a separate legislature, or one legislature should govern all the community, and it was the opinion of the Government that a general legislature should govern the whole, and that the country should be divided into six districts, each of which should be governed by a superintendent, and that that superintendent should be sent from this country with a salary of £500 a-year. Besides the superintendents it was proposed to give a Provincial Council to each district, and that Council should be altogether composed of elective members. (Cheers.; They proposed that the electors should be those possessing a freehold of £50, renting a £10 a-year house in the town, and a £5 a-year house in the country, without making any distinction as to whether the elector was a native or a European. He next came to a very important point respecting the provincial legislatures, namely, the subjects which they were to be restricted from interfering in. Her Majesty's Government had proposed fourteen re-

I strictions concerning which the provincial legislatures were not to be permitted to legislate. And here there was a very important difference between I the plan of her Majesty's present Government and that proposed by the noble earl late at the head of the Colonial Department — he alluded to the mode of dealing with Crown Lands. It was now proposed that this subject should not be touched by the provincial legislatures. The noble earl (Earl Grey) had proposed to give a power to the provincial legislatures to deal with this subject, but the Government were of opinion that it would be better to reserve a point | of so much delicacy and importance for the decision lof a higher and separate authority. The fourteen restrictions which it was intended to impose on the provincial legislatures were as follows : Ist, that they were not to interfere for the imposition of duties of customs ; 2nd, that they were not to interfere ] for the establishment of any Court of civil or criminal jurisdiction, except those Courts already established for the purpose of trying offences now punishable by the laws of New Zealand; 3rd, not to interfere for determining the extent of the jurisdicI tion or the course of proceeding of the Supreme j Court ; 4th, not to interfere for the purpose of regulating the current coin of the island ; sth, not to interfere in the weights or measures to be used in j the island ; 6th, not to interfere with the Post Office and the regulation of letters ; 7th, not to interfere with the laws relating to bankruptcy and insolvency ; Bth, not to interfere with the management of beacons or lighthouses ; 9th, not to interfere with the duties j or charges upon shipping ; 10th, not to interfere in the regulations formarriages ; 11th, not to interfere in the Crown lands, or lands to the title of which the Aborigines may lay claim; 12th, not to interfere for the infliction of disabilities or restrictions upon natives to which Europeans are not subject; 13th, not to interfere in altering the criminal law of New Zealand ; and, 14th, not to interfere for regulating the couise of inheritance for real or personal property. He thought it right to say that these restrictions were recommended by Lord Grey and the Governor of New Zealand, with the exception of the restriction relating to Crown Lands. There was only one other subject to which it would be necessary for him to allude, and that was the manner in which the Acts approved by the provincial legislatures ought to receive the final assent of the Crown. Her Majesty's Government thought it would be more advisable to invest the Governor of New Zealand with full powers to give the final assent of the Crown to any measures he might approve. (Hear.) At the same time it might be better to give the Governor in certain cases a power to refer any particular act of the legislature home to the mother country for the consent of the Crown, if he thought fit. He would now explain the manner in which they proposed to constitute the central legislature. They proposed that the Governor should be at the head of the central government, and that the central legislature should consist of the Governor, the Legislative Council, and a freely chosen Assembly. This was the most important point in which the Government differed with the conclusions which had been arrived at by Lord Grey. It had been the intention of Lord Grey that the upper chamber of the central legislature should be an elective body, and that each of the piouncial legislatures should send three persons, who should constitute the legislative council. There was not, he believed, in any part of her Majesty's I dominions, a precedent for an elective upper chamber. Even in the province of Canada, where the power of self-government and free institutions simi. lur to those of Great Britain were carried further than in any of our other dependencies, no desire had ever been expressed in favour of an elected upper chamber. In the constitution, however, which was proposed for the Cape of Good Hope, the late govern >r of that colony had expressed himself in favour of an elected upper chamber. The peculiarity of the plan was this — that the franchise for the upper chamber was to be the same as that for the lower, but the difference was that the persons elected for the lower chamber were to be elected from certain districts, whilst those elected for the upper chamber might be elected from the whole. Her Majesty's Government had no inclination to adopt this mode of election. The plan of Lord Grey was upon the system of a double election. He would not presume to say whether it might not be a good plan ; but he confessed that it was an experiment in which the present Government was not prepared to embark. They thought it far more desirable to follow the precedent set in every other British colony. Let the upper chamber be appointed by the Crown, the members composing it to hold their offices during pleasure. As far as the elections to -the provincial legislatures were concerned, it was proposed that they should remain as before, but 'that the duratioa - of each Parliament of the central legislature should be for five years. The Govem'or^of the- colony had recommended two years for the"existence" : Q^,th.e '. provincial legislature; but this was considerei'-to'o