EPITOME OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT AUCKLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 163, 29 July 1854, Page 3

EPITOME OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY AT AUCKLAND.

(From the Xclson Examiner.) Tiik political news from Auckland by the Steamer is replete with interest to those who occupy themselves about the public affairs of the country. The natural development of Representative Institutions, in the shane of Responsible Government, has been happily effected, and effected without the struggle which many anticipated would precede the gain of that essential object in the working of the Constitution. Without entering at length into the varied matter laid before us by the debates in the Assembly, we will content ourselves to-day by giving a sketch of the results of the first six weeks of the session. As soon as the House of Representatives and Legislative Council weie fairly constituted, the question of the immediate establishment of Responsible Government was brought forward: and we gather i that many fears were entertained, from no mention i 1 of the subject having been made in the Governor's I 1 opening speech, lest the old government might have ] decided against granting the concession. A reso- i lution was proposed in the House of Representatives to the effect that the first essential point was " the recognition of ministerial responsibility in the peri formance of legislative and executive functions by the Governor :' : and after a debate of four days, in which an amount of ability creditable in a high de1 gree to the character of the house was displayed, the resolution was carried by a majority of 29 to 1. In the course of the debate, it had transpired that Colo- ! nel Wynvard, so far from being hostile to the desir- !, ed object, was personally willing to grant it, and [ that the old Executive wai also prepared to give ! way before a feeling so unanimous as that which the ' Legislature evinced. The day after the debate had j closed, Mr. FitzGerald [Member for Canterbury] I and Dr. Monro [Member for Nelson] were "sent I for" by his Excellency, and after their interview i made a statement in the house that Colonel Wyni yard had requested them to undertake the new Go- ! vernment : whereupon the house adjourned for a , week, to enable those gentlemen to make their ari rangements and decide upon the measures which, ! supposing they undertook the task assigned to them, j they would propose to the Assembly. When the j house resumed, Mr. FitzGerald and Dr. Monro stat1 ed that upon a discussion of each other's views, they ! had not found it practicable to agree in many essenj tial points, and that in consequence Dr. Monro had | withdrawn. We understand that the main differ- | ence between them related to the grant of powers to | the Provincial Governments ; Dr. Monro wishing to | retain absolute authority in the Central Government ■ on most important matters, while Mr. FitzGerald desired to confer upon the Provincial authorities large powers of local administration. Each, it appears, tried to induce the other to lead the new Go- ! vernment, engaging to afford that fair support | which was necessary to inaugurate the new state of 1 things with credit and success ; but Dr. Monro seems to have been aware he could not expect to \ carry out hi* \iews in a bouse where the ultra-pro- | \incial feeling was supposed to predominate, and the result was the formation of a Government by Mr. FitzGerald. Without going into the various negotiations that ensued in" the two houses, it will suffice to say that a " Ministry " was at last finally constituted of Mr. FitzGerald", Mr. Weld, and Mr. Sewell, in the House of Representatives, and Mr. Bell in the Legislative Council : and that at the date the steamer left, the new Government had made ministerial statements of their policy, and brought in several bills to carry it into practical effect. Before remarking on the general tenour of that policy, we may as well say, that owing to the nature of the Queen's Instructions accompanying the Constitution Act, no arrangements could be made except subject to her Majesty's approval, and that until the question of the retirement of the old members of the Executive is settled, they continue members of the Government, and equally responsible for the policy proposed. We learn, it is true, from the debates, that those gentlemen are not responsible in the sense of being immediately removable by a vote of the houses ; but this is merely temporary, until their retirement is provided for, and, so soon as that be done, every member of the Executive Council will hold his position as one of his Excellency's advisers on the same condition as the four new members now do, namely, that they only stay in so long as they enjoy the confidence of the Legislature, v

Practicall)', therefore, we have now, after so many years' struggles and hopes, a Responsible Government actually existing, established in perfect peace by the Representative of the Crown, and busily engaged in maturing measures for giving full effect to those representative institutions which Parliament bestowed upon us. To Colonel Wynyard, who has thus, at a time when he was only temporarily administering the Government, taken the responsibility of granting this concession, it is enough praise to say that his

name will be ever gratefully remembered as that of the first Governor of New Zealand who had the courage and wisdom to identify himself with the . people he governed, and to reconcile the hitherto conflicting characters of Representative of the Queen and Leader of the Colonists. We observe that a Testimonial is to be subscribed for, to place in his family a record of his conduct : and at the head of the list of subscribers is Mr. Brown, who contested the election for Superintendent with him, and was for a considerable time his bitter and uncompromising opponent. The policy proposed by the new Ministry is one of which we can only now indicate the general tenour, and must leave the details for more careful examination. So far as we make it out, there appears to run through it one principle, namely, that of retainI ing in the Central Government an absolute authority over a small number of matters, transferring also over a small number absolute authority to the Provincial Governments, and then delegating the remainder to the Provinces, to be administered by them under certain organic instructions from the central authority, these being of course subject to the annual revision of the General Assembly. Thus it is proposed to pass a General Empowering Act, to enable the Superintendents and Provinjial Councils to manage absolutely certain departments of the Government, and a number of others by delegation from the Governor, revocable if their exercise of such authority be disapproved by the General Assembly ; by this Act all the existing Empowering Ordinances passed by the Provincial Councils will be repealed. A General and Provincial Revenues Act will define what is to be General Revenue, subject to approbation by the General Assembly, and what Proviiicial Revenue, to be appropriated only by the Provincial Governments ; the object being, whenever the administration of a department is either absolutely transferred, or delegated as above mentioned, to the Provinces, that the Revenue of it should belong to the Provinces also. The " Waste Land Bill proposes to delegate to the Provinces the administration of the Crown Lands in the following way. Our readers are aware that an absolute transfer of the Waste Lands is made impossible by the terms of the Constitution, which requiies any Act altering the limits of authority of the Provincial Legislatures no be reserved for the Queen's assent; but this difficulty is practically got over by the Bill, which enables the Governor to make land regulations in each Province, provided they be assented to by the Superini intendent and Provincial Council, and to delegate ! to Superintendents all the powers of administration I nominally reserved to the Governor by the Constij tution. Thus the Superintendent and Council will | propose what regulations the province requires, ; which the Governor will cause to come in force by proclamation, and the Superintendent will administer the waste lands under published instructions I from the Governor ; — of course, all acts of the Go-

vernor being "with the advice of his Executive Council, ' the responsible ministry for the time being. Other measures, are proposed relnting to the Supreme Court, Post Office, Native Land Purchuses, and other mutters affecting the Natives, and we gather there is also an intention of bringing in a new Tariff ; but of i these measures we have not now time to speak, and can only uotioe the " Executive Government Act," by which the old order of things is to be changed. It establishes six principal officers of the Central Government, namely — a Colonial Secretary, a Coloniiil Treasurer, an Attorney-General, a Solicitor-General, a Secretary for Native Affairs, and an Auditor-General ; all except the lust being 1 removable at pleasure by the Governor, whenever tliey may lose the confidence of the Assembly, or virtually, of the House of Representatives. The Auditor is to be a permanent officer, exaluded from a seat in either house, and made, so to speak, independent of the Government, so as to secure an efficient overlooking of Expenditure. That part of the Civil List (£4,700) imposed by the Constitution, which provides for the "establishment of the Central Government," is repealed, and instead of it the Representatives grant to her Majesty a Civil List to provide for the establishments to be created by the Act ; and Messrs. Sinclair, Shepherd, and Swainson, whose permanent offices are abolished, are to receive retiring pensions, or a commutation. We perceive from the proceedings of the Assembly, as well as from other sources of information, that the new Executive has had ti very general promise of support, and has had strong majorities on one or two divisions. In fact the general temper of the House of Representatives seems to be to give the men now in power a fair trial, and to let them carry their measures through this Session with hearty assistance from the great majority Of course there are some who disapprove of their policy. SVe learn that on the one haud the members who lean wholly towards central Government disapprove of granting so much power to the Provincial authorities, while the ultra-provincials are dissatisfied with getting only delegated powers instead of absolute transfer. But whatever may be the disapproval of the two extreme parties, it is evident that the policy of the new Government is at least a plain and very decided one, and we are uot left in doubt that by it they are ready to stand or fall. We learn that Mr. E. G. Wakefield, annoyed at not having been " sent for" by the Governor, had criticised on several occasions the plans of the new ministry, but that a large majority of the members were too anxious to get through" the work of the session and return home, to suffer patiently any serious interruption from any_ persona who could not conimund a sufficient majority to enable them to go into power themselves. Mr. Wakefield and Mr. Sewell are now ranged on opposite sides, for a wonder, and preparations were taking place when, the Bteamer left, for a battle debate between the ministry and Mr. Wakefield, which was expected to lead: to open war, but which there was hardly a doubt would end in a large majority for Mr. FitzGerald. On the whole, we congratulate our fellow settler* on this commencement of Parliamentary Government. Whatever men are in, the system is now once ler all established, and we have no doubt that the Assembly, which has in the first days of its session, successfully, and with apparently perfect ease, brought it into- immediate operation, will be always ready henceforth to provide men possessed of public spirit enough to bear the burden and responsibility the system imposes, even though it should also create party governmeut — "• the price," as Lord John Russell said, " which. Englishmen must pay for freedom."