The Taranaki Herald. " Open to All — Influenced by None." NEW PLYMOUTH, JUNE 7, 185-1.
It is now eighteen months since the New Zealand Constitution, then recently granted to the Colony, was published in our columns. To day, we furnish our readers with the Address of His Excellency the Officer administering the Government, on the first opening of the General Assembly, a document scarcely second in importance to the statute itself, as giving vitality and action to the forms of government which it propounds. The Address is a masterly production, and dors infinite credit to the administration from which it issues. Tho spirit in which the new institutions are accepted ancf considered by the framers, and the truthfulness shown in the measures suggested with a view to their improvement, harmony, and permanence, is well calculated to induce j that confidence in the General Executive of j the Colony, so necessary to the popularity and efficiency of its operations. Although in the perusal of this address, it is impossible not to regret the time that lias been lost, and that must yet be spared for undoing much that has been done by the Provincial Councils, and which will scarcely be balanced by the questionable experience the irregulatity has brought us acquainted with — it is desirable that we should look forward rather than back, and instead of regretting the past, make the best of the future : and we feel bound to admit that the best wishers for the prosperity of New Zealand could s6arcely desire that he? destinies should he in -better hands than those which we are hound to conclude are prepared to establish and consolidate the Constitution on the basis here laid down. Among the most important principles an* nounced, is the policy tending to a common nationality of the Provinces, and to strengthening the central Government of the colony as the means to be adopted for facilitating intercourse between the various settlements, renders such a course practicable and convenient. Much anxiety has been felt on this point, arising not merely from the physical difficulties enumerated in this address, and which must necessatily render progress to tfiis desirable object a matter of time and difficulty ; but also from opinions expressed in more than one settlement in favour of separation — in one in favour of entire separation, in another in favour of a division more in accordance with the insular situation of the Provinces. We cannot tut view with satisfaction the broad announcement of the policy of the Government in particular. It is asserted with truth that upon thia point will rest the question — " Whether New Zealand shall become one great nation exercising a commanding influence in the Southern £>ea3, or a collection of .insignificant, divided and powerless states. In respect of the Provincial management of the Land, it is admitted, that, notwithstanding the improvements effected by the Regulations of the 4th March, 1853, "no general system can be equally adapted, or can long remain suited to the changing circumstances, and to the various and varying conditions of a country like New Zealand." An objection is, however, started to the delegation of the powers of the Assembly in retation thereto to the Provincial Councils — that it would be such an altering of the powers of the latter bodies ns must needs occasion the reservation of the bill for the signification of Her Majesty's pleasure ; and a suggestion is thrown out, that the Assembly might (qy. for the present and until such confirmation could be obtained) " pass an Act to vest in the Executive Government of each Province, the administration of its Waste Lands, and the proceeds arising
therefrom, subject to the charges imposed on the Land Fund by the Constitution Act, and on the terms and conditious now in force for the sale, letting, disposal, and occupation." This clearly does not meet the difficulty first stated ; but as the Assembly | have, independent of the Crown, the power to vary those regulations, and as the matter either way must be accomplished by an Act of the Assembly, this sentence may, it is presumed, be read — or under such other regulaUons as the General Assembly shall see fit to enact. The existing difficulties in the provinces are well known to their several members, and a practical and efficient measure will no doubt come out of their deliberations. The question of the New Zealand Company's Debt is, in the first instance, proposed for consideration apart from the equities of the parties interested, but it has been found impossible to avoid touching upon them, and we find them point by point brought under review, until not only the justice of the claim, but also the discretion of the Imperial Parliament in relation to ita admission is brought in question, nor could it indeed be otherwise. These paragraphs of the address evince a sincere desire to relieve the colony from the mill-stone which the Home Government has fastened round her neck, nndesignedly no doubt, but, nevertheless, with a palpable want of circumspection 1 ; and here again, we cannot but admire the straight-forwardness of purpose which has'induced the Government to be foremost to place itself between the colony and this monster evil, by suggesting its consideration to her assembled represen- 1 tatives as an evil and injustice which it is their duty to make every effort to remedy. Tho addreis presses upon the General Assembly the necessity of preventing the growth of an inconvenient diversity of Provincial Legislation ; (an evil which, by the way, is chargeable principally on the incomplete introduction cf our new Institutions) anu coupled as this suggestion is with the disinterested concession of such extended executive powers, as the experiences of the past have proved to be necessary to the efficient practical working of the Provincial Governments, is a point upon which no diversity of opinion is to be looked for ; and indeed the necessity may very probably be placed before the Assembly in such a shape as will render denial impossible, for it must be recollected that up to this time every Province has been driven to make the best of its own government and resources unaided by the external support now about tc be brought to bear. In connection with this subject, the appointment, payment, and control of the Officers under the authority of the General Government ; and those of the Provincial Governments arising out of the Local Establishments, or to be placed under their authority by the Assembly, is treated of at some length ; and the principle assetted that the appointment and payment of Officers should be placed under the anthority in when the controling power is fixed. The Revenue of tho colony is shewn to be in a flourishing state, a surplus of £54,617 remaining for appropriation by the Assembly ; £18,000 of which it is suggested should be granted for lines of communication between the several Provinces, and for Steam communication for the purpose of facilitating more intimate relations, so necessary to the permanent unity of tho colony. As regards the future revenue, it is recommended to the Assembly, for the purpose of avoiding any question of the legality of the appropriations, thai a re-im-position of all duties should be made by act of the Assembly ; and that a permanent appropriation should also be made by the same authority to the intent that the Provincial Governments may understand with certainty the funds they have to expend in local affairs. It will be observed that the Address is altogether silent on the establishment of a responsible executive in relation with the chief Government ; unless indeed that paragraph has indirect tolation to it which suggest the possibility that " some of the moreimportant provisions of the Constitution Act may be open to objection" ; and reminds the colony that looking to the spirit in which the Constitution has been granted, there is every reason to believe that favourable consideration will be,given to suggestionsforitsamendment j and that any alteration which after experience, and on deliberate consideration, may be found needed f or giving free scope to its development, will, so far as may be consistent with the interests of Her Majesty's Native subjects, be readily conceded by the Crown and Parliament. It is, however, a subject that can-
not fail of being brought forward in the House of Representatives, and we must wait until then for a further elucidation of the views of the several estates of the colony on the subject. The time to bo occupied by the Session will, no doubt, be greatly circumscribed by the straightforward and sustained policy announced by the Government on this occasion, and by the measures which have teen conformably prepared for the deliberation of the Assembly ; but even with these important aids there appears every proba - bihty that the Session will occupy a considerable time.
Puess of matter obliges us to postpone our report of the proceedings in the Resident Magistrate's Court during the past week. — There is, however, one decision which we feel it to be our duty to publish without delay, for the guidance of the inhabitants of the Town district. A question has arisan regarding the construction of the 39th clause of the Trespass and Impounding Ordinance, [which has relation to the turning out or depasturing cattle upon unfenced town lands, whether the land be, or be not, in the lawful occupation of the owner of such cattle ; and enacts a penalty of Is. per head for every day on which the same shall be turned out or depastured. The question had been raised, not with a view to the prevention of any mischief committed, but purposely, and we understand at the expense of the authorities, to ascertain the construction which the Bench might place upon the section of the Ordinance in question. The defendant Betts was complained against by the Police for depasturing four goats tethered on his own unfenced land within the limits of the town of New Plymouth, contrary to the Ordinance, &c. The case occasioned some discussion ; one of the Justices (Wilson) considered that the section of the Ordinance under which the information was laid, was such an infringement of private rights as to be repugnant to , the law of England, and made the Ordinance itself a nullity under the provisions of the New Zealand Constitution Act; and read from that statute the section controlling colonial legislation in this respect ; and also a passage frpm Blackstone's Commentaries showing how tenderly private rights were cared for by the laws of England. The Reiident Magistrate did not consider it competent for that Court to discuss the validity of an Ordinance. The j duty of the Court was to construe the pro- j visions of Ihe Ordinance and administer the law accordingly. The only question wa3, therefore, whether the law had been infringed. The Magistrates retired to consider the case, and ultimately fined the defendant 4s. cowudering'that the offence charged was xvithin the 39th section of the Ordinance. The Resident Magistrate's decision in relation to the validity of the Ordinance is clearly correct. Ihe court has no authority to question the force of an act of the Council duly confirmed. We cannot, however, altogether agree with the verdict, There is certainly incon- ! guity between the wording of the 39th secsion and the objects to which the title and preamble clearly confine the Ordinance ; and the ordinary rule for cpnstruing such instruments might have been referred to with advantage on thia occasion. When the enacting part is dark or uncertain, the preamble and plain objects of the Act may be consulted as a key to its intention. Now the Ordinr.noe purports to enact provisions regulating the impounding straying cattle, and the summary recovery of compensation for damage done by cattle trespassing ; and in the case before us, it is quite clear that until the tethered animals should get loose and run at large, they could not come within either of these provisions. We think that the words "or depasturing" might have been treated as surplusage, end a decision more in accordance jjvith public convenience arrived at; but, it "cannot be denied that the section in question is faulty ; and it is certain that unless the Bench on further consideration shall see fit to revise the construction on which this conviction is founded, the Council will have to amend the Ordinance.
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Bibliographic details
Taranaki Herald, Volume II, Issue 97, 7 June 1854, Page 2
Word Count
2,055The Taranaki Herald. " Open to All—Influenced by None." NEW PLYMOUTH, JUNE 7, 185-1. Taranaki Herald, Volume II, Issue 97, 7 June 1854, Page 2
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