THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL AT WELLINGTON.

Wellington Independent, Volume V, Issue 415, 3 October 1849, Page 3

THE FIRST LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL AT WELLINGTON.

[From the New Zealand Journal, June 2.] We hardly need inform our readers of the nature of the free institutions of Representative Government conferred by Earl Grey upon the settlements in Cook's Strait, in accordance with the high opinions expressed b< the Govemor-iu-ehief of the greatintelligence and respectability of the Southern Settlers, aud the capa"bility of managing their own affairs. It is equally unnecessary to inform them that in consequence of representations from the same source, either contemporaneous or following immediately after, Earl Grey abrogated all that lie had done, for which we do not blame him, so much as his councillor. His Lordship might, however, have hesitated, before he adopted implicitly the opinions of a man, who, however able in other respects, had in this, blown hot and cold almost with the same breath.

j A Legislative Council has, however, j met at Wellington, with all the formali- ! ties in such cases made and provided; it i has also separated, we beg pardon, been I adjourned sine die by the Govenior-in-I Chief, without having come to a single decision, or even had any definite subject before it. This Council* had several distinct features, the most prominent of which was, that all participation in ite i measures had been respectfully declined by the influenzal and educated inhabitants of the Settlement, in consequence of their disagreement with the Governor-in-Chief s proceedings, as savouring more of those of the Autocrat of Russia than Jof the representative of the British Government; —the consequence of which j disagreement has been, that in place of : education or intelligence, his Excellency i has, with one exception, selected men ' without either, but who possessed, if not \ the confidence of their colonists, at least the pliancy which he deemed primarily essential.

Of these gentlemen we will not speak, but will rather let them speak for themselves. To Mr. Moore belongs the honour of having been the first " independent member" to speak in the Councils of the Colony, and he began his speech by declaring that " it was with extreme diffidence !" that he found himself in his novel position. Mr. Moore's speech consisted of one idea only, from which we should infer that, he has organ of comparison strongly developed. He said, in reference to the condition of tho Colony, that" it would be tinu-ise to entrust other than a bone knife to a child till he knew the use of a steel one ;" —certainly the most original observation which ever emanated from a Colonial Legislative Councillor, nor can we wonder at the diffidence of a man who would make use of such an observation. Sir George Grey ought, however, to have felt much indebted to tho honourable member for the remark, as it was only a homely version of what he had himself written to Earl Grey, after having asserted that the child, i. 'c. the Colony, had long been capable of shaving himself with two razors at once such was the length of his beard and his dexterity in the use of the weapons. With the two preceding remarks, Mr. Moore's speech began and ended.

After this four deforce, his Excellency adjourned the Council to Saturday at three o'clock, and on Saturday at three, o'clock the assembled wisdom again met. "Now," said the Governor-in-Chief, " / will sketch you out a skeleton of your future Constitution, the details of which you will fill in"— though how the details of a skeleton are to be filled in, would, we believe, puzzle α-professor and Guy's Hospital, where, we have no doubt, a skeletonis usually considered to be a skeleton. This sage remark of tho Govoruor-in-Chief, brought Mr. Ludlam on his legs, this being also his first appearance in the capacity of a Legislative Councillor. " 1' —said Mr. Ludlam, who has evidently a wholesome dread of ghosts—" have a

great horror of tfoUlont. I whh lo know whether the skeleton v to be pulled by wirex, and ij Ho , who h to pull the wir*-; i" His Excellency replied, that he woa(d pull the wires I as is w> (Lmbt requisite under an « independent" constitution. KealJy we are at a loss which lo admire most, his Excellency's complaisance or us candour. Mr. B«ll then inquired whether the Session wan to be adjourned or lo .sit, permanently." « Oh, / ~/m / / adjourn it shi,: die," replied his Excelleii'jy. "// the Council wish any furth-r discussion, they can do it an ivdl in my absence an my presence;" though how a Council which is adjourned sine die can discuss at all, is as great a puzzle as the "details of a skeletan." \v e kllow of only one parallel to such a scene, and that was presented by the late Charles Matthews, in his inimitable representations of the Lord Mayor's court and the old Irish watchmen of the metropolis. Lord Mayor.— '■ What's the charge- against ihe prisoner at the ba: - ? '.'

Watchman.—" Piasc you, me Lord, us I -.vas a goin , down Chapfcside last night, about four o'clock this icoriiiii', I lj'md a row. Where's the row ? hays I.—TJon't know, suys he.—Never you mind that Bays I, J'il fi;!(l it out therectly. An''so, me. Lord I see the prisoner asleep an' snoriu' on a stone step, an' as a mutter o'coorse 1 bid him dispen-f; ?—Dis' jierse, snys he, how can one man disperse ?—Niver you iain J that, says I, that's my business aa' not yours: an' so, me Lord, he would not disperse, an' i took him afore your Lordship."

Lord Mayor. —" Quite right," my man: no insubordination."

The discussion of a Council adjourned sine die i.s quite as possible as was the dispersion of" the "sleeper on a stone step," and there is no doubt but that the watchman was as strictly on the line of duty as was bis Excellency when recommending such a course. But, said Sir George, it is very probable that the new comers of Otago and Canterbury "will bring some valuable laws with them .'" ''and " we may borrow some mggeiiicns from them. ,. Another councillor, Mr. Bannatyne, replied to this, that he was very glad to hear it, for his own private iiapression was. that those present had not ail idea amongst them! " Indeed, more than one honourable member had tvld him they luid none to spars , .

This was the first Legislative Council of Wellington, and we Lave used no-ex-pression relative to it which was not reported in the local papers.

His Excellency evidently experienced somewhat of the same feeling relative to his councillors, as did Sir John Falstaff with regard to his troops, —" I'll not march through Coventry with them, that's fiat." No sooner had the Governor called his council, than he adjourned it sine die —the latter being,perhaps, the wiser step of the two, for we- do not see any good which could have resulted from a body of men who, as honest Mr. Bannatyne expressed it, " had not an idea amongst them."

These are the men of whom Sir George

Grey wrote in the highest terms respect-

ting their great intelligence and capability of managing their own affairs. If

Sir George has not selected the best men lof the colony, he has evinced a want of ; judgment or honesty. That he has not ; selected such is certain, and the inference ; i Sj —because the really intelligent portion

of the community would have maintained their independence, a line of conduct which would not have suited his purpose, In this Sir George Grey has totally departed, not only from the letter, but from the spirit of Lord Grey's instructions to him. Unless we grievously misunderstand these, the spirit of them is this,— " Let the Colonists as far as possible

' manage their own affairs. I make you I Governor-in-Chief of the Colony, in order \ that you shall have as little as possible to :do with legislation: for that—l have ! created two who ! shall be the go-betweens between you and ; the people: on their shoulders bo the ! brunt of any quarrels that may arise, i whilst you are free from the blame in being above its reach, and therefore in a •! better position to control all parties, not iby the exercise'of despotic power, but by the exercise of a moral power, which be- ! ing isolated from all petty interests, is strong from being impenchable." lhis is the tenor of Lord Grey's intentions : it was this that gave -eclat to the first period of his ministry. Mr. Hawes has over and ! over again iu'Parliament taken credit for those intentions, and the way in which 1 Sir Goorgo Grey has carried them out is before us. We* find no fault, with Lord Grey's intentions, but their expositor has acted in a way most unaccountable.