ELECTION OF FOX.

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

ELECTION OF FOX.

"We observe by the Independent, that Mr. Fox has lately been elected a member of the Provincial Council of Wellington, in the room of XtK t Bethune, Esq., resigned. After Mr. Fox had been declared duly elected, and having thanked the electors for the honor they had done him, he proceeded to, state his views upon various popular questions. But we .pass on to his remarks on Responsible Government and the other important subjects that follow, in noticing the former of which h» says :—

Before leaving this topic he must express his great surprise that, in the Address lately delivered to the General Assembly by Colonel Wynyard, not the slightest allusion was made to this subject — by far the most important and most pressing that awaited the decision of the Assembly. But if the omission from the Address was remarkable, still more remarkable was the fact, that the General Government of the Colony had not a single member in the House of Representatives. Whether it were a pure neglect, or whether no member of that Government had been able to get himself elected, he knew not ; but so it was, and the Governor was consequently in the anomalous and unconstitutional position of having no medium of communication between himself and- the Representatives of the people, and the General Government was virtually (on the principle of responsibility) actually out of office

The next point he would touch on was ihe proper boundary to be drawn between the powers of the General Assembly and the Provincial Councils. Efforts had been made to mislead and injstify the public mind on the subject; and nonsense had been talked about ' Provincial ambition,' ' pettj states,' ' great and united nations,' and so forth. The question was extremely simple, if looked at ftoin a common sense view, and with reference to the actual facts of the case. The Colony consisted of separate Settlements, having for the most part separate and independent interests, but in some f"w particulars having a common or national inteiest. The -proper limit of Provincial Government was everything of mere Provincial interest : the proper limit of General Government was just so much as was of general or national interest. But, in the address lately delivered by the Governor to which lie had before alluded, he perceived with the utmost alarm that a poiicy was announced in utter opposition to this simple principle ; a policy by which the General Assembly was urged to interfere in the affairs of the Provinces, and as it was insiduously phrased ' rather too narrow ' the range of Provincial Legislation. Mr. F. here quoted several paragraphs from the Governor's Address, and denounced in strong terms their tendency, as amounting to a declaration of war hurled against the Provincial Government*. He would oppose to such unstatesmanlike sentiments the views of an ardent admirer of liberty, whose sympathies were ever active, whether in behalf of political victims in the dungeons of Naples, or of British colonists seeking to be emancipated from Colonial Office rule — he meant Mr. Gladstone. That statesman, speaking on the New Zealand Constitution Bill, had most strenuously condemned the overriding power of the General Assembly, Avhich Colonel Wynyard was now labouring to promote and enlarge. ' I am glad,' said he, 'to find a protest against those attempts to centralise by law when there is no sufficient attraction to a natural centre, which can only produce weakness and dissatisfaction . When I consider how well an opposite system has worked in North America ; when I consider how much of the character of the Union depends on the strict division into States, and the rigid maintenance of their separate authority and jurisdiction, I do not hesitate to say, that the recognition of these small communities, which are to have a substantial political existence of their own, while they are likewise to be associated together for other more general purposes, is in my view one of the fundamental merits of the bill ; indeed, it would be much better if it went further, ami endowed these settlements with independent legislative power for all purely local purposes. . . ." A concurrent jurisdiction in the business of legislation ' (the very thing Colonel Wyn- ■ yard seeks to promote) ' means,' continues Mr. j Gladstone, ' uncertainty, conflict, and confusion. I The over-riding of arrangements already made un1 der authority deemed competent, by extraneous. i power, must ever lead to annoyance and angry feel- ' ing. What reason can there be, if these district legislatures are fit to deal with the subjects which i come before them, what reason can there be that 1 their decisions should be subject to revision ? I \ will put this in the form of a dilemma. If these dis1 trict legislatures are fit to deal with the subjects en- ' trusted to them, why not let them deal with them ? 1 If they are unfit to deal with them, why put into | their hands the power to meddle with them ? Let 1 the district legislatures be, for New Zealand and unI der the circumstances, the fountain of power.' In ' conformity with these enlightened views were those ] of M. de Toqueville, who, commenting on the cxi cellencies of the American federal system, and the 1 method by which it was attained, observed, ' The at- | tributes of the General Government were carefully enumerated, and all that was not enumerated among them was- declared to- constitute a part of the privileges of the several Governments of the States. Thus the Governments of the States remained the rule, and that of the Confederation became the excepI Hon.* And how narrow and limited was that exception. It extended to scarcely anything more than | the power of declaring war and peace, regulating the Customs and Post Office, issuing patents, and establishing a Supreme Court. But as to permitting the Federal Government to interfere in the affairs of individual States, it was what no American ever born would submit to for a moment, and he h&ped that no New Zealander would ever submit to it either, in however patronising and parental a manner the Officer Administering the Government might seek to induce him to do so. As regards the Waste Lands, Mr. Fox considered that in the very nature of the thing their administration was necessarily local, and he trusted that before this their representatives at Auckland had taken measures for making it so. But how to be administered was another question, and one which, more than any other required conference of mind,, I investigation, and discussion. His own opinion was that they should be so administered as to secure their earliest possible occupation for productive purposes, but whether in the hands of capitalists or of working men he cared not; so long as the result was obtained. As to price, that also ought to be whatever would best secure- this Tresult. It might be the lowest price, or it might not.. They had had hints, from what had occurned in a neighbouring settlement, that alow price, indiscriminately fixed, might • be the means of taking the lands out of the reach of the working man. One purchase, made- by .a millionare, of 28,000 acres; another threatened of 240,000 acres, and a party reconnoitrejftg in our' own province- who was said to have a million of woney in his packet, might well make us paunet before we placed tifite lands at-the disposal of , such -an' ab-,. sentee propaxetary— but, he repeated, the wholey, question was one emphatically for discussion, *noV

except so far as already stated he wished not to pledge himself upon it.

On Education his opinion was, that it also was clearly a Provincial question. At present, by an Ordinance made in the old times, it was made a matter for the General Government, the Governor having powar to take one-twentieth of the revenue, and spend it as he liked. But surely in a colony like this, it ought to be a subject for Provincial administration. At Otago they might probably wish to introduce into their schools the Westminster Catechism ; at Canteibury they might think the Church Catechism was the best foundation of loyalty and all that should be taught to the youth of the Province ; at Nelson they might prefer the British and Foreign system ; here we might perhaps approve the liish ; and at Auckland, judging by their Snperintendent's address, their fancy was for none at all, for the subject was never even alluded to by him. Well, why not let each have its own way, and educate its youth according to the predilection of their parents ? On the analogous subject of Ecclesiastical Establishments, he would say that the State had nothing to do with them, either in its provincial or collective capacity. But let all stand on the same footing. If any possessed a privilege — as in the case Of marriage licenses — let it be extended to all ; if any were compelled to have recourse to an officer pf the Government to authorise its marriages, let all be placed under the same necessity. Perfect equality was the only safe rule, and the only security for the harmonious and friendly working of ecclesiastical bodies among themselves.

In conclusion, he would congratulate them on the manner in which the Constitution had hitherto worked. Though brought into operation by Sir George Grey with the wrong end foremost, and in a manner calculated, if anything could, , to insure its failure, yet by the good sense and intelligence of the Colonists, it had so far worked most satisfactorily, and been producthe of much benefit. lie would only compare the Government under it with that under the old system in one particular, the management of the public purse. "Under the old system he found the Revenue of New Ulster for 1849-50 amounted to £31,108. Of this no less than £28,219 were expended on official establishments, leaving only the miserable pittance of £2589 for public works and surveys, and that including the salaries of those conducting them. In the present year the Revenue of Auckland was estimated at £28,900 — of which £15,900 was expended on the Civil Government, and the handsome sum of £13,006 set apart for public works. In this Province (Wellington) he found in 1851-2 the Revenue £29,700. the expenditure on officials £25,691, and only the paltry balance of £1019 on public works and surveys. In the present year he found the revenue estimated at £19,000, the charges of Civil Government £9052, and on public works £8952, as nearly as possible one-half, or as it would probably prove that the revenue would exceed the estimate, probably nearly two-thirds would be available for public uses. What a contrast. Under vSir George Grey's Government out of a total revenue for the two Provinces, amounting to £60,800, only £6800 expended on public works — under our new Constitution out of a total from Auckland and Wellington of £47,000, not less, probably more, than £22,000 are rescued from official clutches and spent on useful works ! ! When he stood the other^ day watching the departure of the steamer cleaving with her sharp bows the smooth waters as she glided along, he could not help contrasting her vi ith our old lumbering government brig, drifting to leeward in a gale of wind on a rocky lee-shore ; and he thought no better contrast could be drawn between the new Constitution working smoothly and going right ahead, and the old one rolling stern foremost and carrying her passengers in any direction but that in which they wanted to go.