Wellington Independent WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1871.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3284, 23 August 1871, Page 2

Wellington Independent WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 23, 1871.

The Reclaimed Land Purchase petition which we referred to yesterday was, as will be seen from our parliamentary report, presented hy the Hon Mr Stafford ! The whole proceeding is about the greatest farce ever enacted in Wellington. The petition does not emanate from any public meeting or any public body. Its contents have never been mado public, and except from a sotto voce reference to it by his Honor the Superintendent in his speech in reply, we are without the slightest clue even to its prayer. The subject is an important matter, and has been fully discussed by the Provincial and Municipal Couucils. They agreed to the bill which the petition opposes. Arc we then living in a country under representative institutions ? Is the mind of the public no longer ascertainable through its representatives ? Is a petition signed on the ex-parte explanation of one or two men to override the deliberations of our public, bodies ? Theso are the natural questions that arise in one's mind on learning that a petition numerously signed (on blank sheets) has been presented in tho Colonial Legislature, praying that body to ignore the decisions of two other public bodies on a subject with which they are specially qualified and empowered to deal, Had tho decision of the local authorities given any general dissatisfaction, the natural course for the malcontents was to call a public meeting, and pass resolutions on which a petition to the Supreme Legislature, if deemed necessary, might have been based. Tlie more General tho dissatisfaction, the better was their chance at any public meeting. But no opportunity has been given to, as none has been desired by, the public of expressing their approval or disapproval of the decisions of either the Provincial or the Municipal Council. The whole thing emanates from the' one man who kindly ottered, at tho general election, tlie repr. sentation of Wellington in the new Parliament to the Hon. Mr Stafford ! That hon. gentleman then wisely preferred the security of Timaru to certain defeat at Wellington. Then, he warily refused to, be an instrument in carrying out a revenge under the name of " reform." Happy and wise as happy had he been on this occasion as discreet! Surely a petition on a purely local subject would have come more naturally from a local representative. Wo wonder what the constituency of Timaru, who elected the hon. member as the guardian of their local interests against the neglect which they shared in common with other outlying districts, would think, if a number of their ratepayers would sign a petition (contents unread), and ask a member for Wel--1 lington City to present it, praying that the decisiou of their Board of Works bo not given effect to ! The whole proceeding is an ignoring of the very genius of representative institutions. It is an anomaly without any precedent, and defensible by no show of argument. The remarks of Mr Stafford, disparaging the resources of our province and so adding insult to injury, were gallantly answered by " that enemy of Wellington," as a local contemporary lately termed Mr Fox, and no less ably by our Superintendent. We can assure Mr Stafford they will not be soon forgotten. The whole debate was eminently instructive, and the pres sure on our space alone prevents us from enlarging on it. Meanwhile we draw this conclusion, that we have nothing to expect from Messrs Stafford, Gillies, Collins, aud the one or two who with them form " the extreme left." We ask no favor from the colony — we do not approach Parlisment in forma pauperis, and yet wheu our representatives desire a bill to be passed of purely local concernment, and having a colonial bearing only in the direction of improving the colonial security over our reclaimed land, they, are met with insinuations as to their candor, and with sneering remarks as to their estimate of our landed estate. However gratifying it is to reflect that those form but a miserable minority, it behoves our representatives loyally to support the Superintendent in the noble stand he took yesterday afternoon on behalf of the city and province.