West Coast Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1866.

West Coast Times, Issue 392, 27 December 1866, Page 2

West Coast Times. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1866.

The history of the present session of the Provincial Council forces some very 'serious thoughts upon us. Of what practical utility has been the increase ,in the number of our representatives ? We have sent five gentlemen over to Christchurch. They have not been idle members. What they have done in the Provincial Council is no actual guage of their efforts to serve the interests of Westland. We know that very many matters have been discussed between the members for the district and the Superintendent and his Ministers. But we can speak openly only of what has openly transpired And we have the plain, indisputable fact before us that the Provincial Council, down to the tenth week of its sitting, has not been moved to any decisive action whatever on any single point affecting our interests. Our members have proved themselves a power in the State, so far as regards the direction of the current of general politics. They have shown themselves to be an important element in the forces that make and unmake Ministries. But their position in the House is manifestly a most anomalous one. They are not numerous enough to be a party in themselves. Hitherto they have been the dominating power by which the fate of parties has been decided. But what does such a political position imply ? They must act in concert always ; must abandon independence of individual judgment ; must vote as a five-men power in the House or they are poweress altogether. But it is plain that so long 04 they $hem*elye& qq^

titudo, as the only means by Which they can hope to effect the maintenance in office of a Government whose general policy is favorable to the interests of the district they specially represent, so loug they necessnrily remain exposed to the imputation of being a compact " vote" in the Council, acting as a dead weight on one side or the other, and influencing the single issue— what Ministry shall be in and what out.

We confess that to our mind this is a very unnatural and unsatisfactory position for any body of men to hold. Unsatisfactory to themselves, still more unsatisfactory to the constituents they represent. By uniformly supporting a Government on the ground of its being favorably disposed to West Coast interests, they at once stultify themselves as independent members of the Council, and at the sanie time excite against themselves and their district a strong antagonism. As representing a distinct interest in the Council, our five representatives are either too many or too few. They are too few to b" a party, and are ex • posed to the suspicion of being a faction. They are too many to constitute a mere Westland delegation. If the members for this district — or rather for the several electorates comprised within it — are to be a' part and parcel of the Council, and act on general and broad and independent principles — not as a " compact vote" made one by the bond of a special interest — the representa-

tion must assume dimensions corresponding with that of the other side. The " special interest" must'bu extinguished. Uutil that be done, and our members find themselves released from the necessity of making " common cause" on behalf of their constituents, it is a suggestion worth consideration whether it would not be better to abandon representation, and fall back upon delegation ; to give up the idea of " constituents" and accept in its stead that of " clients," sending some one to pKari their cause, with brief in hand, at the bar of the House.

The present position of the representative quehtion is most illogical ; and if any further illustration of the fact were wanting, it is surely furnished by the point which has lately been mooted of the expediency of having one of the Westland members in the Executive Council, When, many months ago. Mr Moorhouse promised that he would act upon that idea, we pointed out that, however popular it might be, such a pledge was scarcely consonant with the principles upon which the system of constitutional government was based. We rumiuded our readers that ministries were unities, and that few men would cousent to accept the command to " form an administration" bound by the pledge of the Superintendent to select one of his two or three colleagues from amongst any particular section of five members. The rule would be altogether unworkable, and, as putting a man into office simply as a West Coast member, it would hive the undes rable effect of giving to the Government to which he belonged the support of t'«e ' compact vote" of his colleagues in the representation of the district on all matters of general policy. That Westland has a claim to be represented in the Executive Council, is a position that no one can dispute.- It is not disputed on the other si-le. Looking at the magnitude of the interests to be dealt with, nothing could exceed the anomaly of a system which excludes altogether the element of local responsit>ility in the management of our affairs and* the expenditure of our funds. But if this responsibility is to be secured by the introduction of a Westland minister into the Cabinet, it is a condition pre^ cedent of such an arrangement that the representation of the district shall be enlarged, and that its members shali cease to be a distinguishable sectional element in the House. Until that be done, we must be content with some other form of embodiment of the responsible principles ; and we look with, hope to the appointment of the proposed Commission to point a way out of the difficulty. In difficulty the whole subject is involved. Even the question of an enlargpd representation has its difficulties. After the experience of the present session, how m.my of our present members will be disposed to return to their profitless task? Time will tell. But, meanwhile, we can make a very safe guess that there is not who does not feel that he has sacrificed too much iv the hope of doing some good, to make the prospect pleasant of having to sacrifice so much again. Increased representation without the proper men, willing to fill the additional seats, would be a bane rather than a bles-ing. It behoves us all to think earnestly, and to speak openly and freely upon the political situation and necessities of the district.