The Poetry Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1879.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume VI, Issue 818, 25 June 1879, Page 2

The Poetry Bay Herald AND East Coast News Letter. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 25, 1879.

It is alleged that the coming session is likely to set m " stormy." There will, at the beginning, be a battle of the " ins and the outs," which will for a time retard active legislation \ Imt there are measures which will demand the attention of the Assembly, no matter what party may be m power or out of power. In the first place, there is the Education Act, which imperatively ©ills for amendment. The Act is an excellent one, and has up to the present answered the intention of the framers of it, but it is certain amending clauses will be introduced m furtherance of the views of that large proportion of the population who are not satisfied with the total exclusion of the Holy Scriptures. It will be demanded of Parliament that the of thfe Bible shall be left an open question to be settled, probably, on

some such principle as local option. This difficulty, Ministers will have to deal .with. And again, there runs through the Act a perplexity of function between the Education Boards and the School Committees. The powers of both appear to merge one into the other, neither powers being sufficiently defined. This surely might be corrected m such a plain and straightforward manner as to avoid m future those conflicts which have taken place between two ! governing bodies. The election both of the Board and School Committees is exceedingly inefficient if popular representation is to be secured. The election of the Committees being by the householders, present at the annual meetings, necessarily leaves the composition of these bodies very much to chance, whilst m the districts larger than those of Poverty Bay, it is physically impossible that all the electors could be present. There should be a nomination and poll, much after the fashion of the municipal elections, the machinery of which works with sufficient convenience and economy. With regard to the Boards, whether tha present system of election by the Committees be retained or not, the election should certainly be by districts, which might be coterminous with the electoral districts, or the boroughs, or counties, as might seem most likely to be for the purpose convenient. In the matter of the Bible-in-Schobls question, we would take the opportunity of observing that m New South Wales, although State aid is given to denominational schools, the . Scripture lessons of the Irish National Board form part of the ordinary course m the public schools — which are m fact a summary such as may have frequently advocated the adoption of. History is, however, entirely excluded on account of the sectarian tendency of the text-books, a fact upon which Sir Henry Parkes, the founder of the present educational system, remarked with great regret m a recent speech. The next claim upon the attention of the Assembly, is the constitution of the Waste Lands Boards. For all I practical purposes the administration and disposal of the Crown are m their power. They can, as pointed out by a contemporary, at their sweet will promote or check the opening of the vast areas of the interior to the agriculturist and the yeoman farmer. They can conserve or break up the great pastoral leaseholds, and with them rests the giving effect or otherwise to the will of the Legislature m the matter of enabling the settler with small capital to obtain land on deferred payments. It must be acknowledged that powers so extensive, upon the proper and intelligent exercise of which the prosperity and progress of the Colony so intimately depend, should not m pnidence be entrusted to nominated bodies entirely irresponsible either to the Government or the people. Yet this is the position of the Waste Lands Boards, who m their ordinary action are thus independent, and j-vho, so long as this action is within the letter of the Land Act, which gives a very extensive latitude indeed m most things immaterial, cannot be interfered with, even should the policy of their administration be altogether opposed to the spirit of the Act and the intention of the Legislature. It may probably be necessary that for the purpose of exercising functions purely departmental, and administering the law under special instructions, the existence of the Boards should be continued, but the enormous discretionary powers of the Act must be administered by the Government through the responsible Minister of the department. Writing on the same subject, the Otago Daily Times says : — " As matters stand, the Government can with, justice disavow responsibility m respect of maladministration of the lands. They are unable to do more than advise the Board, and use influence m the way of expostulation or instruction. True, the Governor has the power of removing any or all of \ the Commissioners by warrant under his hand ; but this is an extreme measure, which could hardly be justifiable except m the case of direct and wilful violation of the law. It is a leading principle of constitutional government that discretionary powers of any kind. must be exercised subject to direct responsibility, and this principle is violated m the present constitution of the Waste Lands Boards. In the provisions affecting the leasing and otherwise dealing with pastoral lands, there are many errors and defects, which experience has shown i to require immediate correction and amendment."