# The Story of Christchurch, New Zealand/Chapter 7

Chapter VII.
The Canterbury Provincial Council.
The early days of Provincial Government presented some interesting constitutional problems which may more conveniently be discussed in this chapter, as it is not proposed to follow in detail the later proceedings of the Council except in so far as they have a direct hearing on the story of the city of Christchurch.
Provincial Council Chamber, from Speaker’s chair
Plate 9.
Provincial Council Chamber, from main entrance
Plate 10.
​differed from that of the King in relation to the British Parliament, or from that of a constitutional Governor of the colony towards the House of Representatives. Then, if the Superintendent was to be responsible for his policy, it was a serious hardship that he should not have a seat on the floor of the Council, and be able to defend his measure personally, instead of having to depend upon an Executive, which possibly did net support him whole-heartedly. This disadvantage was felt severely by several of the Superintendents, notably by Mr. Rolleston, who made strenuous, but unsuccessful, efforts to obtain an alteration m the Constitution enabling the Superintendent to take a seat in the Council.
There were at first, no “parties” in the Provincial Council, as the term is understood to-day, but oddly enough, that did not prevent a rapid succession of ministerial crises involving constant changes in the personnel of the Executive. Some of these atmospheric disturbances were quite amusing, and a few instances will illustrate difficulties which arose at the beginning of representative Government in Canterbury.
Mr. Henry John Tancred had been appointed head of the first Executive, and in the following year, the Provincial Council was summoned to meet on October 10 (1854). Mr. FitzGerald, delayed by Parliamentary duties, was unable to be present at the opening. A message from him was, however, read, in which he referred to three important questions which would require the immediate attention of the Provincial Council. viz., the Waste Lands Bill, the affairs of the Canterbury Association, and the enlargement of the Provincial Council itself, The latter was an important proposal involving an alteration in the existing electorates, and would necessitate a fresh election of the Council. Obviously, such a measure required the most careful consideration by the Superintendent and his Executive: to ensure such consideration, it was the intention of the Executive that ​the Council should proceed with routine business, and then adjourn until the Government, after consultation with His Honor the Superintendent, had had time to prepare its policy measures. A committee was set up to consider the affairs of the Canterbury Association. Then a very curious thing happened. Mr. Packer gave notice ta move on the following day the suspension of the Standing Orders, to enable the House to consider a short Bill, having for its object the enlargement of the Council. Next day, the motion was carried, and the Bill read a first and second time. A day later it went through its further stage and was passed. Briefly expressed, the position was as follows:—The Government had announced its intention of bringing down a policy measure of paramount importance to the Council, involving no less than the reform of its own Constitution. Nevertheless, the Council agreed to suspend its Standing Orders to enable a private member to forestall the Government by passing his own Bill. No wonder one of the members entered a mild protest that, in his opinion, the Bill was being passed with very unseemly haste, and no wonder too, that Mr. Tancred and his Executive declined to accept the assurance offered by those who lad supported the Bill that they had meant no harm to the Government. The matter was treated as a vote of censure, and the Government resigned.
Mr. John Hall was invited by the Superintendent to form the new Executive Council, and was able on October 31, to announce that he had succeeded. Associated with him were Mr. Bealey, Mr. Gouland (Provincial Secretary), and Mr. Gresson (afterwards His Honor Mr. Justice Gresson), a recent arrival from Ireland. Membership of the Provincial Council was not then a necessary qualification for office, and neither of the last two gentlemen mentioned was a member. The new Executive shortly afterwards introduced and passed a fresh
Corridor in Provincial Council Buildings.
Plate 11.
A stairway in Provincial Council Buildings.
Plate 12.
Mr. Hall only held office for about seven months. His resignation was due to the steady refusal of the Council to pass his Bills. The odd thing was that the Council did not want Mr. Hall to resign, and offered, if he would remain in office, to pass a vote of confidence in his Government. This somewhat empty compliment did not satisfy Mr. Hall, and he resigned early in May, 1855. His successor was Mr. Joseph Brittan, who, in accepting office, definitely declined to take any ministerial responsibility. The Council agreed to this arrangement, and by resolution affirmed an important principle: “That in consequence of the elective and responsible office of the Superintendent, the head of the Council, it is the opinion of this Council that the members of the Government in this Council should not be expected to resign their office except after a distinct vote of want-of-confidence by a majority of the whole Council.” This resolution was, in later years, the cause of much friction between Mr. Rolleston and his Executive.
In November of the following year, 1856, another ministerial crisis occurred, in connection with the vexed question of communication between the city and the port. Opinion was, at that time, divided between the adherents of the Sumner Road and those of the Bridle Track, and Mr. Brittan introduced a Bill setting aside 25,000 acres of Crown Land to be sold at £1 per acre, the proceeds to be used to construct a horse tramway from Christchurch to Lyttelton, via Sumner. The opponents of this measure argued, with considerable justice, that such a departure from the recently adjusted land regulations, which had fixed the price of land at £2 per acre, would destroy confidence in the permanency of land prices, and prevent purchasers coming forward. The Bill was defeated, and the Government seems to have accepted the decision of the Council in a philosophic spirit. But ​when a few days later, Mr. John Ollivier brought forward and carried a motion asking the Superintendent to place £5,000 on the estimates, to be spent on the Bridle Track between Lyttelton and Heathcote, instead of the Sumner Road, the Ministers resigned. Mr. Ollivier was asked by the Superintendent to form a Ministry, but he declined, and, after a short adjournment, Mr. Brittan announced that he and his colleagues had decided to retain office. A few days later, a series of Government motions, practically rescinding Mr. Ollivier’s resolution, were carried by narrow majorities, and the crisis was at an end.
Many changes of Executive took place in the ensuing years, most of them over trivial questions. The inability of the province to secure a really stable Administration is indicated in the long list of Provincial Ministries in the Appendix of this volume.
Mr, W. P. Reeves, in his “Ball in the Old Provincial Council Chamber,” from which the stanza at the lead of the chapter is taken, has, in a few happy lines, caught the “atmosphere” of the time:—
The three instances cited above present distinctive ​features, but they all arose from the same cause, namely a disagreement between the Executive and the outside members of the Council. It was in Mr. Rolleston’s time as Superintendent that “the crisis in the fray” assumed a new shape.
Mr. Rolleston, who was elected in 1868, was a man of strong personality—perhaps somewhat obstinate—and he had no idea of being dominated by his Executive. He was ambitious to have a seat on the floor of the Council, so that he could take his own part in the rough and tumble, as he was well fitted to do, and in 1869 he actually proposed to become a candidate for one of the Christchurch seats which chanced to be vacant, and very reluctantly gave way to the protest which was made on constitutional grounds. Defeated in his first attempt, he returned to the charge by sending a message to the Council, June 4, 1869, that he intended to ask the General Assembly for legislation enabling him to sit in the Provincial Council ex officio. The Council replied with a resolution “that the business of the Council and country should be conducted as heretofore until the Council shall have agreed to some modified form of Government.”
In the following year (November, 1870), there was a distinct breach between the Superintendent and his Executive. The actual question at issue was unimportant, relating to an item charged for interest by the Bank of New Zealand, but the principle involved was whether the Superintendent or the Executive should be responsible for the policy of the Government. The Executive had the support of the Council, but the Superintendent surmounted this little difficulty by declining to call the Council together, even when requested to do so in an address signed by a majority of the members of that body. This deadlock went on for many mouths, until, owing to the unexpected postponement of the meeting of the General Assembly, Mr. Rolleston found himself ​obliged, by regard for public convenience, to summon the Provincial Council, July 14, 1871. Then, indeed, the Executive got its way, and the Bank of New Zealand dispute was referred ta a committee.
The Provincial Council continued in existence until the abolition of the provinces in 1876, Mr. Rolleston remaining in office till that date, and being the last Superintendent of Canterbury.
The opening session was held in a small house in Chester Street west, near the river, which had been the office of the short-lived “Guardian” newspaper. A description of this meeting-place had been left on record by Mr. Henry Sewell. “The externals are shabby in the extreme—a low, desolate looking wooden tenement, all by itself in a potato garden, a quarter of a mile at least from the inhabited part of the town, approached on an open trackless common covered with fern and tussock grass, barely passable in dry weather, and miserable in wet. The interior has been disguised neatly enough, but in a flimsy way, with canvas papered oak pattern, scarlet moreen covering the seats, which are of iron hardness. A respectable, dignified chair for the Speaker such as one sees in Masonic halls, a plain table, covered with papers, at which the clerk sits in front of the Speaker, with the English Statutes ranged imposingly in front, so as to give a Legislative look to the place. A side partition shuts off the public, and there is a small space at the end of the room for the Bar.” (Press?)
In 1857, the Council changed its quarters to a house in Oxford Terrace, previously occupied by Mr. W. G. Brittan. This house was afterwards converted into an hotel. Again, in 1858, the Council held a session in the Town Hall (on the present site of Messrs. Strange and Co.’s premises), which had been recently erected.
“Land Room,” Provincial Council Buildings.
Plate 13.
​a handsome chamber with an oriel window overlooking the Avon.
The site of the Provincial Council Buildings had originally been reserved for a hospital, but had been appropriated by the Council, November 8, 1854, for its own use, and the sum of £2,000 voted at the same time for a building. The foundation stone was laid by Superintendent Moorhouse on January 6, 1858, Messrs. Mountfort and Luck being the architects.
Later on, the increased membership of the Council necessitated larger accommodation, and on November 21, 1865, the Council met for the first time in the present Provincial Council Chamber, admittedly one of the most beautiful pieces of architecture in New Zealand. In selecting the material for its construction, the resources of the whole province were drawn on; the bluestone columns came from Mr. Ellis’ quarry at Hoon May; the walls were rubble from Mr. W. G. Brittan’s quarry at Halswell; the interior of the upper walls was freestone from Governor’s Bay; the mantelpieces were cream coloured limestone from Weka Pass; and the screen below the public gallery was a combination of the Weka Pass limestone with freestone from Mr. Cracroft Wilson’s quarry at Cashmere. In later years, after the abolition of Provincial Government, the citizens of Christchurch have often approached the Government in the hope that this building, with the other buildings which surround it, might be vested in the city, and become the home of the Municipal Government.
For further information about the Canterbury Provincial Council the reader is referred to the Appendix, where will be found lists of successive Superintendents, Deputy-Superintendents, Speakers and Executive Ministries.