The Star. SATURDAY. MAY 1, 1869.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 301, 1 May 1869, Page 2

The Star. SATURDAY. MAY 1, 1869.

In discussing: Mr Fitzherbert's draft ■ bill, the Press has been at some pains to describe of what materials the Board of Commissioners to deal with immigration .ought to be has gwen, in fact, a description of a model Commissipn according to its own ideas. Let us see what this Commission is like. In' its yesterday's article the Press said of the Commission: — That it be removed altogether from the sphere of politics. ; . The Commissioners must be: — Men in such -a position as to be unbiased by local or party considerations, uninfluenced by the popular cries of the day, and, - above nil things, under no temptation to let their proceedings be governed by the possibility of the gaiu or loss of votes. This is clear enough as far as it goes. In its . article of this morning, the Press goes into details about the Commission, and it will be instructive if we endeavour to find ont what these are. I. The Bo^rd , of Commissioners ought to act on behalf of the whole colony, and be responsible ouly to the General Assembly. .2. It is essential that the Commissioners should be entirely unconnected with and uninfluenced by provincial or sectional distinctions. 3. The Commissioners should have nothing to do wilh politics. 4. The Commissioners should be kept sedulously aloof from anything of the natare of poluies.. 5. The Commissioners should be perfectly proof against any outside pressure. 6. The Commissioners should be independent of popular caprice or outer g . 7. They should occupy a position analogous to that 'of 'the Auditor- General or Comptroller. That is the sort of Commission which the Press wishes to see established to deal with immigration. Admitting, for the sake of argument, that the Commission which our con-temporary-describes is the sort of thing that, we want, in the name of all that is marvellous where are we to getj the men to compose it ? Test auy man i or any tiotf^ of men at all likely by the | standard set up in the columns of the;

Press, and what is the result? Will any one man answer to the description ? Will the Press name, say two men iv Canterbury, who answer to its own description ? This is the only way of testing its proposal, and we think the Press might, in the interests of the public, suggest a few names as candidates for the model Board of Commissioners. Till it does so we must be permitted to think that the Immigration Board described by the Press is on a par with its famous carriage for bringing gold from the West Coast, or its still more famous railway to the North, which was to cost an indefinite sum, and to be constructed right away as the Yankees have it. But there is another point about the Board of Commissioners as described by our contemporary — a far more serious matter. They are to be responsible only to the General Assembly, to be proof against any outside pressure, and to be independent of popular caprice or outcry. It is really necessary to recapitulate a good deal, and we trust we shall be excused for doing so. It is quite consistent iv the Press to ask for a Board of this description. The gentlemen who guide the helm of our contemporary have always shown a supreme contempt for the people, an utter disregard for their rights and liberties. These are the men who believe in the secrecy of government, who endeavour to keep the public ignorant, who deny the public tbeir right of information by means of the Press, who try to make such a body as the Waimakariri Conservators, for instance, entirely irresponsible although they have the power of taxation. They do all this, and the result is that it serves to pamper them up with notions of their own importance, and to teach them, the servants of the people, to look down upon their masters. The Press, we have said, is consistent in advocating au irresponsible Board of immigration. Our contemporary used to advocate, and still does, nominated Superintendents. Indeed, every thing in the way of power the Press would place in the hands of men who are in a position to snap their fingers at the people. That has always been the policy of the Press, and may be traced home to it in a hundred different ways. Suppose a Board, composed as the Press describes, responsible only to the Assembly, free from public pres sure, independent of popular outcry, &c., &c, what is the result ? Iv the first place, the responsibility to the Assembly is a mere farce, especially in so far as the Middle Island is concerned. Do the people of this province put the slightest degree of faith in the Assembly as it is how composed? We venture to say that they do not. Do they believe themselves and their interests' to be represented by the men who are nominally their representatives in the Assembly ? They do not. What, then, would responsibility to the Assembly be worth ? JSTothing, absolutely nothing. Again, the Board of immigration which the Press asks for might, if responsible only to the Assembly, and inclined to job, easily secure its own acquittal by managing the immigration so as to obtain the support of a majority in the Assembly. Nothing could be easier than that, for it is ridiculous to suppose that you can get men of the character described in the Press — men who would be immaculate. AVhat security would the people have, the working men for instance, that the Board which is to be so very independent, would not flood the market with labour in order to reduce its price ? They might do that; and what redress could be got in the Assembly ? Will the Press give the working men of the colony some substantial guarantee, something definite and tangible, something which cannot be manipulated away from them, that their interests would be secure with such a Board as jit proposes ? Would the sellers of labour or the buyers of labour have the preponderance at the Board ? Perhaps the Press will say that the men composing the Board ought to be free from any influence in either direction. Exactly, but where are you to get such men? The Press has prudently: omitted to say, after its very minute description^ a model Board, (who is to*, appoint it. Is it to be nominated by the Governor, meaning the men who happen to be in

power a\the time? .The Press is fond of nominees, such.a T nZominee body, for instance; as the Waimakariri Conservators—ra body in the appointment of which the people have no voice, although it has the power of making them pay taxes. We really wonder the Press doesn't propose a nominee Provincial Council, a nominee City Council, and nominee ZRoad Boards. The reference in the Press to the Comptroller of public revenues is natural but very unfortunate. What is the colony's, experience of a Comptroller ? Why, that he received his appointment partly because bis political allies wished to do a goodnatured thing, but mainly because his political opponents wished to get rid of a troublesome adversary. But did they get rid of him ? Has he refrained from politics ? Has that serene, irresponsible, independent height to which he has attained made him free from all the influences which actuate ordinary mortals ? Has he, or . has he not, dabbled in politics since his elevation ? Is it not true — will the Press deny it ? — that the Comptroller's interference in politics during last session of tbe Assembly was so notorious as to draw down the constant, though unofficial, remonstrances' of the Government ? Everybody at all interested in such matters knows that such was the case. It would have been better for the Press not to have provoked discussion about the Comptroller. It is clear to anyone who will take the trouble to examine matters, that the writer in the Press has a great bugbear which is always starting up before him, and also a hobby which he loses no opportunity of parading. The bugbear is the alleged log-rolling of Superintendents ; the hobby is an old, and, as far as the writer is concerned, not an original idea, about dissolving the financial partnership between the j G-eneral Government and the provinces. These, to use a theatrical phrase, are stock pieces with the writer, and it is really surprising what an amount of work he contrives to get out of them. As his financial scheme, or rather, as the financial scheme which is called his, has already failed ivhen put to the test, we would advise him to drop it. It's getting to be a bore. As for the log-rolling of Superintendents, we really think the j poor fellows might be left alone now. According to the Press itself, they have now very little power, and it is very evident that they would have none at all in the Immigration Board proposed by Mr Fitzherbert's bill. But the log-rolling phantom was so vividly before the Press writer in this morning's article that he could not see the absurdity which he was committing. He objects, in the strongest possible terras, to theappointment of Superintendents on the Immigration Board, dilates upon the evils their presence would produce, and then winds up by saying that the bill gives them no power ! Fancy the Government of the day log-rolling with Superintendents to get a majority, when all the time the majority was in their pockets ! The idea is exquisitely absurd, as absurd iv fact as the model Immigration Board which the Press has described.