Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 633, 22 February 1879, Page 2

Poverty Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1879.

Ministers continue to harp upon the same string — There must be an elective Governor ; people of New Zealand are sufficiently enlightened, and should be sufficiently free to choose their own Governor, and say what salary he should receive. Where his power is to begin, and where it shall end. Ministers .say that we shall not throw ourselves off from allegiance to the Queen, or have a less love for the Constitution ; but still, there must be a Governor of the people's own choosing. It is not right, say they, that a man should be sent to them of whom they know nothing, and who cannot possibly know what are the wants of the people of the Colony, nor how they may desire to be governed. All this is very high-sounding, and contains a good deal of the high falutin'. We regai-d it not only as dangerous to the existing institutions of the Colony, but as threatening the liberties of the people, besides being a first and long step towards cutting the connection between the Colony and the Empire. Certainly, the settlers of New Zealand are not at present prepared to take any such step ; and we doubt whether the eloquence of the Premier or the logic of the Attorney-General will ever educate them to the point of being prepared to move in this direction. There are good solid reasons of both a political and social character which can be urged against such a change, while others of perhaps a more sentimental character will probably continue to influence the minds of the present generation of colonists almost as potently. What Ave should lose by the substitution of an elected for a nominated Governor may easily be reckoned up. Whether we should gain anything is at present problematical, for neither Sir George Grey nor Mr. Stout have been very clear on this point. The principle they contend for — that of an elected head of a political entity — is not a new one. It would be difficult to imagine, says our Southern contemporary, the Otago Daily Times, anything more likely to embitter the relations between political parties than a contest for the position of Governor. The prize would be such a high one that no effort would be spared to secure it ; the whole Colony would be thrown into confusion, and on a small scale we should probably witness some of the demoralising incidents usually

attendant on a Presidential election ' in Amei'ica. We may safely assert that if we adopted the American system of an elected Governor, we should soon go a step further ; and if we did not have elected officers in every department, we should probably have a tenure of the chief officers in every department of the State made dependant on the retention of power by the Governor whom they supported. No more serious evil could befall the Colony than this. Let \is see, then, what position the elected Governor would hold towards the Legislature and the Executive. He would in himself be equally the representative of the people of the Colony as the House of Representatives. Strictly speaking, he would be the sole representative of the people as a whole. Is it likely, then, that he would subordinate his opinions or wishes to those" of the majority of the Legislature, or to the Ministry which but represents that majority ? A complete dead-lock would almost inevitably occur, unless the elected Governor were endowed with almost superhuman good sense and moderation. Trying as were Sir George Grey's own experiences of the position of nominated Governor, he would, were he elected Governor — as no doubt he would be if the office were made elective — find that the difficulties he had forniely encountered were as nothing to those by which he would be surrounded in his new position. And outside of Sir George Grey, or after him, who is there in the Colony that the people would be willing to see filling the office of Governor 1 Excepting by great pressure brought to bear, as shown by a large majority of colonists, who have all to lose and nothing to gain, by a reign of confusion, anarchy, and corruption, the English Government would never consent. Ministers only have spoken, but the colonists themselves have not urged any such right. We feel convinced that if a plebescite were taken upon the question that threefourths of the people would be against such a change ; and we may feel assured that until a plebescite was taken the Home Government would not listen to the proposal. The more the matter is looked into, the more closely the position which an elected Governor would necessarily occupy is inquired into and realised, the less will the project commend itself to men who really love Liberalism. The proposed change would no doubt be «a radical, almost a revolutionary one, but it would certainly not be a change in the interests of Liberial and Constitutional Government. Unless we are to become a republic, and separate entirely from the Mother Country, the Home Government must retain a right of veto in the name of the Queen.