GOVERNMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

Taranaki Herald, Volume II, Issue 91, 26 April 1854, Page 3

GOVERNMENT IN NEW ZEALAND.

(From the Sydney Morning Hern hi Mcrch \.) Looking through our file* of New Zealand papers, we are reminded of the nursery story about nu old lady '■ who lived in a shoe," and who 'had so many children, sho did'nt know what to do." What with tho six superinten dents of six different province*, the six piovin« ciul councils, the six spcakoi's, the six clciks, the six executive governments, and tho six oppositions, it appears to us that the " Britain of tho South," though not an old ludy, is much in the sumo, predicament as our ancient nursery acqnuinlancc. Supposing nnv body but a New Zealander to wade through the mass of debating nnd doings of (iiese multiplied Government machines, he must indeed have arrived at the nil udmirari who is not affected with a painlu! sense of the ludicrous. At the first promise of Constitutional Government iv New Zealand, we certainly entertained and expressed a hope that the changes' would be for the better; but we are sadly afraid our confidence was misplac> cd. Tho debates in the Provincial Councils have been characterized by all the littleness, and all the paltry jealousies, proverbially to village politics ; and the individuals who have assumed the lead in each legislative body appeal' to bo actuated by only one desire — [hat of nßgrandizing their particular province, and concentrating in the body to which they belong, as much of tho executive, administi alive, and legislative power as they possibly can, without the slightest reference to tho general intcicits of the colony. At Auckland indeed, tho looal Council has gone the length of petitioning the Queen and the Imperial t'arlinment for a total separation from the other five provinces, and the erection of their little domain, which may contain a population of five thousand or six thousand Europeans into a fiee and independent colony !

No Fooner ha> the Imperial Parliament at homo achieved the laborious task of framing a Constiiution intended to meet the peculiar wants of tho different settlements, and to provide for the general well-being of tho colony at large, thun the tolomsis, on tho one hand, and the Governor in-Chief, on tho other, devote all their antagonistic energies lo tearing the Constitution mii) bbreds. Instead of being content to play the subordinaie part evidently marked out for them, iho provincial superintendents and councils strike lor powers and privileges entirely incompatible with the unity of tho colony ; and the Governor»in-Chief, remain^ to carry out the express mtcniion of tho Imperial Parliament, purposely abstains from summoning tho General Assembly, although questions of vital importance to the future welfare of New Zealand, and which tho General Assembly alone uun decide, press for immediate- solution. We confess that the experiment suggestid by Mr. Wakefield — municipal governmnt for the colonies — doos not appear likely to succeed much better in New Zealand, albeit under a more pompous and pretending outside, than the simple form ol corporate administrations which have been tried, and have failed in Australia. And certainly, the great idea of " responsiblo government,' 1 as practically applied in the hliputian parliaments of New Zealand, receives no accession of dignity. Responsible Government—in other words government by party— in a community numbcting by scores or bundled) only, and represented by a Council of 9, or 15, or IS, as the caso may be, is merely a laice, a miserable parody upon tho great system of parliamentary administration, which has made Eogland the envy and admiration of the world.

Hut, as if tlie lulers and people of New Zealand hau determined purposely to draw upon themselves the derision of surrounding commu» nities, they have suffered tho perpetiation of the most absurd anomalies in their executive arrangemonti. The present suporintondont of the province of Auckland, Lieutenant Colonel Wynyurd, was eonfesstdly elected to that office by tho votes of the military pensioners Bottled round iho city, to the exelu«ion of the popular candidate Wo believe that Colonel Wynyard's personal qualities fitted him for the office of Superintendent, and we cannot constitutionally, quarrel wilh the result of the election; nlthough wo may be disposed to doubt the expediency of tho electoral arrangements which led to it. But Colonel Wynyard had no business to be a candidate, holding as he did iho office- of Commander in Chief of the Forces in New Zealand, and being consequently liable at any timo to be called upon to exercise tho functions of the Governor, in the absence of the gentleman representing her Majesty's person and authority. So long as Sir George Grey remained in the colony, the inconvenience, though apparent, was->not of a practical nature- But no sooner has Sir George Grey sailed for England on

i Heave, tUn Mr. Superintendent Wynyard, the 'elected of the prop*", fulla into a position of o'fficml imtiuoniS'ti to Colonel Wynyard, '• the officer adminwlcriny tho Government.' 1 In hii latter rapacity, his Excellency hni already dis™ nllowerl An ordinance passed by Superintendent Filzgcrafl and the Council of Canterbury j and there is no reason why ho should not to-morrow disallow a simihir ordinance, passrd by Superj intendent Wyuyard and the Council of Auek- , land. The absurdity of tho lesult is irresistibly lauglmblii. Dut the stmn^o inconvenience reaches BtiH luithor. C ilonel Wynynrd is the Colonel commanding the f>Bth regiment, stationed nt Auolilund. In the course of his duties he has dmihriciß conliilu.il occasion to communicate officially with the Cmnnnnder-<in»Ghicf,' who in no o'her than himself. Should a case really arise affeotinu; tho interests ot his rejiment or of any of the individuals composing it, in a civil sense, he must communicate with the Superintendent — himself — and the Superintendent may have orcnsioii also to communicate with the Officer administci inj; the Government — attain himself. So that here wo have Colonel Wynyard writing to hiimelf in four difFerent characters, in each of which hi* duty muy compel him to censure or commend himself in all the otl)er«< How tho coinmonist machinery of Government can be administered uprightly by Colonel Wynyaid under such circumstnnccs, wr arc quite at a loss to concaivc, Asoin, his Excellency hn« suraK moned the General Assembly of Now Zealand to meet nt Auckland on ihe 24ib of Muy. It will be his duty to lay before that Supreme Legislate c a ►tntcment of Ins rotation* as acting Gomnnr-ri-Ch,ief with the six Superintendents and their Councils. With what (trace can Governor Wynyaid express an opinion upon tha v.cwi of superintendents Stafford, Fitzgerald or Fenthcrstou, whiltt his ov.n views as Superintendent <>1 Auckland are, from the very neccssi'y of tbe vase, exempt from censure or cx« aminuiou X If Colonel Wynyard poasossca any feeling of sclf-icspect he ought to resign the buperiutendency, for 'which the people pay him £800 aypHr—or the command of the forces and the noting Governorship, for which he is paid partly by th» Crown and partly by the people. It ia imp»isiblc he can honestly discharge the duties

of two offices.