THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1857.

Colonist, Issue 3, 30 October 1857, Page 2

THE COLONIST. NELSON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1857.

" As truth js truth, And, told by halves, may, from a simple thing By misconstruction to a monster grow, I'll tell the whole truth." Sheridan Ksoavi.es. We see in Wednesday's Examiner that the editor of that paper now thinks that " the elective character of the Superintendeutships of Provinces" is "likely to prove an unsurraountable difficulty attending the working of that curious piece of mechanism. —the New Zealand Constitution." And our contemporary proceeds to endorse all the opinions expressed by Dr, Monbo when Mr. Jolly had been defeated, and repeated after every unsuccessful attempt which the Doctor has made to supply Nelson with a Superintendent "on the right side ;" —the latest declaration of them having been made to the " respectable company" of "forty," who are called by the Examiner, Dr. Monko's constituents. Dr. Monro early fell, and almost as early expressed his sense of these " unsurmountable difficulties." But when we read in the Nelson Examiner, " A Superintendent so chosen (i. c. by the electors) will generally represent the head-long will, the impulsive force of the community, nay, sometimes may represent only the will of- the least thinking or least educated part of the community!" we involuntarily turned to the heading of the article to see if it was really the Nelson Examiner that we had taken hold of. The editor of the Examiner also admires Dr. Monro's opinion as to the reasons why the electors are sure to elect one "youthful" "impetuous" "headlong" "unbroken horse" for Superintendent, and yet are equally sure to elect twenty-five men of " maturer experience " for the Provincial Council, As the reasoning of these great men is quite beyond our comprehension, we will mention a few reasons that occur to us as having caused the electors of Nelson to elect a Superintendent by such a large majority, and then to elect to the Provincial Council members, three-fourths of whom are or have been his opponents. The first and most obvious cause is, that in the election of Superintendent, property can give no plurality of votes, so that the rich and comparatively poor are in his election placed on a perfect equality ; but for members of the Provincial Cuuncil, an elector who has property in nine different districts may give nine votes in opposition to his poorer neighbour's one. Another cause which has contributed to this effect is, that in the election of Superintendent the electors could range over the whole Province to obtain one man, and therefore no party had any difficulty in obtaining a candidate with the necessary personal qualifications who really represented their political views. But for the Provincial Council twenty-five men had to be obtained from the same electoral roll. This was a difficult task, and in many instances the electors found it impossible to persuade men to come forward who really represented their political views; and, therefore, whether represented or misrepresented, were obliged to accept those

whose vocation left them most at liberty to give up their time to the public service. Again, the two Candidates for the Superinfendency were both well known public men, and therefore in voting for or against them the electors knew very well in a political sense what they were about. But Dearly all the candidates for the Provincial Council came forward with professions of the greatest impartiality towards either Superintendent or either parly, and there can be no doubt that many of the * electors voted for their nearest neighbour, their best customer, or their most intimate friend— for the' man who had given them the least cause of offence—who had been the earliest and best canvasser, or happened to have the most active agents employed in his behalf—without once asking or thinking whether^ he would be the supporter or opposer of the!'present Superintendent. Another cause will be found in the fact, that, whilst most warm partizans would like to have seen the Legislature composed of all Robiusonites or all Monroites, the generality of cooler heads think it more safe to preserve "the balance of power;" and having elected a Robikson for Superintendent, they think it safest to elect Monroites to the Council, who will be sure to look very sharply after him, and in doing so we believe that they adopt the course adapted to secure the most honest, although not the most efficient or economical government. We regret to see some expressions which have been publicly made use of by some of the Superintendent's opponents as soon as they had secured their seats, and which do not augur favorably for the temper with which they intend to enter upon their work. After " the largest and most intelligent constituency in the province" had given a majority of more than sixty votes to Mr. Robinson, and then very good-naturedly elected his most able and uncompromising opponents to the Provincial Council, it is a little too bad for Messrs. Monbo aud Renwick to turn round upon them and say that " the supporters of Mr. Robinson." had tried to keep them out by " practising dodges," and that " if any party should be formed against him (Mr. Robinson) for the future, his supporters could have no reason to complain, as it would only be meeting them with the weapons which they have been the first to use." ' But before these gentlemen come to the Council, we daresay they will find better tempers and better logic, too, or else the supporters of the " working man" will have very little difficulty in showing themselves to be the most gentlemanly, if not the most powerful portion of the Council. In last Tuesday's Colonist our readers may have seen a letter signed " Populi," in which the writer appears disposed to criticise the manner in which the term " the people " has been used "in the first number of the Colonist," when speaking of the source from which many of the peers of England derive their origin. There were a great many words "in the fkst number of the Colonist," and we should be afraid to undertake to prove that every one of them was exactly the right word in the right place. But we are inclined to think that the term —the people, wasjthere used in its commonly received sense. The Norman chiefs, who were placed over the people of England by William L, and from whom some of our Peers have descended, did not " start from the people," even in the most extended sense in which that word can be used. But such expressions as " The people and 'their rulers"—" The people of the princes"—" The people and their oppressors"— The people's edition," which we find used by the best ancient and modern writers, appear to fully justify the use of the word as applying to the great bulk of the population of any country* as distinguished from their rulers, their law* givers, or any particularly distinguished or favored few. Alexander Cruden, M.A., says' that one of the senses which the word people sometimes bears in the scripture is " The vulgar or inferior sort of persons in a city or nation." But " Populi" is of course a latin scholar, and will go to the derivation of the word, and we shall [not be so presumptous as to attempt to argue latin with him ; but we may just remind him that in Ainsworth's Dictionary, Populus is interpreted " a nation, a people, the common sort, the multitude." If the word "people" has in Nelson any peculiar, exclusive, or offensive local meaning, we must request our correspondent to point it out, in order that its use may be avoided; but until we are made acquainted with any reason why so common a word should not be used in its common sense, we can only say, 111 be with him who thinketh ill. May we venture to hope that "Populi" will never find any thing more serious than this to complain of in the columns of the Colonist. Town's Improvement Rate. —There is a report current among the ratepayers, that the Town's Improvement Amendment Act, which received the Superintendant's assent, has been disallowed among those set aside by the General Government, at Auckland, and that, therefore, the Local Board cannot levy a rate. By information received from a member of the Board the Colonist can satisfy its readers that the Directors have full power to levy the rate in question. EXPLORATION OP THE WeST COAST OF THE Province op Nelson.—The schooner Ann, of about 20 tons, belonging to Mr. Akersten, sailed on Wednesday last on a voyage to the Grey River, and other places adjacent. She has on board a party of gentlemen, whose object is to ascertain ■whether any considerable extent of sheep country exists in that locality. The care of the expedition is eiftrusted to Captain Ayers, late commander of {he China. Gold from Collingwood.—The Tasmanian Maid brought over 9 lbs. weight of gold, on Tuesday last, from the above place. Resident Magistrate's Court.—Wednesday, 28th October. —Before Mr. Poynter.—The case of Sullivan v. Akersten, for debt, was adjourned. Police Court-—Before -Mr. Poynter. —On Wednesday last, Joseph Drewitt was fined sg. aud costs for allowing cattle to be illegally at large.