The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED ONLY. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1886.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXV, Issue 7118, 16 July 1886, Page 2

The Taranaki Herald. PUBLISHED ONLY. FRIDAY, JULY 16, 1886.

Sir G. Grlv is without doubt the ', most prolific bill manufacturer in the Houso. Bills on all kinds of subjects seem to exude from him by a kind of ; process of spontaneous generation. J He must bo always a neck ahead in ' the legislative race of bill-making, and ■ consequently as he generally spots ' popular subjects ho leads Ministers a j breathless dance iv following iv his footsteps. Elective Justices of tho : Peace met with premature death, and ! now as a consolation to the bereaved J parent there is a possibility of the : birth of a bill to elect members oi " Waste Laud Boards." At present, as is well-known, members of those J bodies are nominated by the Govern- ' ment of the day, who aro elected by '< members of the House to act in the ' capacity of Ministers, Virtually, ' therefore, tho Houso appoints the ! members of Land Boards through the J Ministers. Sir G. Grey wished to ' delegate this function of nomiuatiou I to local bodies iv the same manner iv ! which the Education Boards aro ] elected by School Committees ; that ] is, tho local bodies first nominate ' candidates, aud when the nominations ' have been completed they electa certain | number to form the Board out of tho ] candidates so nominated. This inodo of election may be a convenient one iv ! tho way of saving expenso in elections, l but we think it would be moro satisfactory to tho public if both Laud ' Boards and Education Boards ] were elected by the public ' gonerally. Tho nWe of election, ' however, is ono for {fro \yi sdom of the ] House to determine. Th) feeling in tho House appeared to bo iv favor ' of elcctiug by somo means instead of ] nominating. Two members were in ( favour of abolishing Boards altogether, ' and throwing tho whole responsibility ' and administration on to the Minister ( of Lauds. Mr. Kollcston, tho most f autocratic of Ministers, was one, and Colonel Trimble, a blind worshipper ' of tho ex- Minister of Lands, but whose ' practical knowledge on tho subject is ' not considerable, was tho other. Mr. l Rolleston, when Minister of Lands, t had the direct responsibility of adminstoring the Au on tho West 1 Coast District, aud he ruled, not according to law, but according to his uwh fads and prejudices. If tho law I stood in tho way of his opinion, so ) much the worse for the law; it had, tp a

yield. It is true there was a Board nominally in the shape of an official resident on the coast, but ho was merely a receptive and transmitting agency ; the business was settled by Mr. Eolleston in "Wellington, when it suited his purpose to sett'e it. It is well-known that many questions arise between settlers and the Board, which require and ought to be speedily decided. With a Board tho matter is soon settled, and in public ; with a Minister iv Wellington delay would bo frequent aud vexatious, aud it. would bo dealt with iv an official manuer in private. Such a manner, however, is quite in accordauce with Mr. Eollestou's views, for he is nothing if not autocratic. Colonel Trimble seems to have but a low opinion of Laud Boards, especially of tho Tarauaki Land Board. Jlo said, speaking of the Tarauaki Laud Board, that " it had been of no use whatever in regard to settlement." " Two persons," he said, " have been conspicuously valuable as officers of the Government iv promotiug settlement, viz., the late Crown Lands Commissioner and the Crown Lands Kanger, and if the Minister of the day had attempted the settlement of the country uuder the advice aud through the exertions of those two individuals, settlement would have been far more prosperous than it had been." This is very flatteriug to tho officers concerned, but rather rough on the Board which controls the laud administration locally, aud directs its officers. How simple-minded the Colonel must be to think that Mr. Eolleston would for one moment be guided in his views even by two such officers as the Colonel pats on the back. Take suggestions, indeed, on the policy of land administration from two intelligent officers. That would not be Eollestonism; he would simply give the order evolved from that inner conciousuess of his and expect it to be implicity obeyed. The land administration on the West Coast is truly his. The slopes of Mount Egmont are dotted with chess board settlements of acre and five acre allotments still waiting for occupation. With deferred payment contracts for land, aud with the perpetual lease system growing around us, all involving many questions between the Board and the occupier which may make the settlers 'position easy or exceedingly hard to bear, it would be the extremity of folly to exchauge a Board which sits with open doors and conveniently assembles, for a harsh minister at Wellington, or an official here without any official discretion, who could not take responsibility like the Land Board can, bub must act as inexorably as a machine. Land Boards are a part of local Government that the people would be foolish to abolish. f ihe mode of their appointment is however auother question, and on the whole a convenient made of election would, we think, be the best for the public generally.

_~ o> TnE Now Plymouth Harbour Loan Bill haa becu again " scotched " by three of the least progressive men in the House, "who have thought proper to stop all business iv order to " talk it out," as it is called. They aro evidently determined that this useful measiu'c shall "suffer with the ( other " innocents " at tho "massacre" on the last day of the sec'sion. For want of something to say to fill out tho time, Mr. Hurslhouse, it appears, took exception to our calling him the " larrikin of the House " ; but if ho did not earn that title on the day the Bill first came up, he certainly did so yesterday afternoon It is absurd for him to say, after his speech on the second readiug, that it was a " public duty " ho was performing. What has Motuoka to do with Now Plymouth when a private bill is before the Houso ? He, it appears, appealed to the Speaker as to whether he was ever accused of transgressing the rules of tho House ; but Mr. Hursthouse kaows as well as anyone, that a member can play the part of an overgrown schoolboy and yet keep within the Standiug Orders. What all this had to do with our Harbour Bill, if it was not an attempt to " stonewall " it, we are at a loss to imagine, aud what are " stonewallers" but larrikins, in a Parliamentary form? If tho bill had . interfered with any district, or was a claim on the colony, for money, thero perhaps might have been reason h for this obstruction to its passing; but being purely a permissive measure, aud one that was to give a moro equal representation to the ratepayei-3 on the Harbour Board, the waste of time on Thursday afternoon was disgraceful on tho part of all concorned. If Colonel Trimblo could hear bub half the uncomplimentary terms applied lo him during the past two weeks by both his friouds and late supporters, he would be somowhat surprised ; but after tho uncomplimentary remark iv his speech respecting tho people in this district, it could hardly bo expected that he would bo eulogised as a model statesman. Mr. F. W. Bucklaud, tho member for Frauklin North, it seems, also took part in the obstruction of our bill. The woll-known liberal principles "and intelligence of tho father do not seem to havo been inherited by the son, for tho late Mr. W. Bucklaud would never have mado such a ridioulouß statement as " tho end of the breakwater would broak off if it was extonded," nor would ho have tried to impede the passage of a useful private measure, as tho eon seems to have done on this occasion. The wholo affair appears to bo very paltry when it comes to ba lookod into. What public duty have these obstructive members been poii'orming iv opposing the bill '> Nono. What then can havo been their reason for so doiug ? It is quito unnecessary for us to answer this question, for their conduct throughout has shown that thoy havo been influenced by motives which are plain enough to tho publio, but which those goutlemon took care to carefully abstain from enlightening the House upon. It shows email minds; and we only pity the constituencies that they cannot find men of broader views and more liberal principles to represent their interests.

Tlio direct steamer Aorangi, with Uio Eudish miil, liasarrive-l atPoit Chalmers. We may expect the mail hero by Monday's steamer,