The Sun.
London, England, 1854-11-29 00:00:00

lu tions

"1. Tnat tho Government of the colony, as at present
administered, does not possess the confidence of this

House.

"2. That this,Council resolves to postpone the con.
sideratioii of the estimates for the year 1855, until it is
assured that the public expenditure will be made under
a GOvernment formed upon the principle of Ministerial
responsibility.
" 3. That an address be presented to his Excellency
the Govarnor-General, transmitting the foregoing re-;
solutions, and respectfully requesting that his Excel.
lency will be pleased to take them into his favourable
consideration."

The censure is confined to the officials connected
with the administrative departments of the Go-
vernment. Mr. Cowper made a special exemption
iu favour of the Attorney-General and Solicitor-
General. The other officers he accused of want of
zeal, want of knowledge, want of industry, and
want of good manners, the last always telling for
something in the management of all bodies of men,
from parish vestries to Imperial Senates ; but the
chief special charges sprang from the management
of the expenditure of the province. The Executive
does appear to be falling into a system of extrava-
gance that no revenue so liable to fluctuations can.
, justify. The supplementary estimates for the pre-
sent year amount to 185,0001. over and above the
ordinary expenses. It is more than the whole ex-
penditure amounted to a few years ago, and is not
accounted for Dither by any sudden increase of the
population or by the outlay on public works and
roads. There is a strong feeling out of doors
against the mismanagement that must exist some-
where, and it is expressed even in quarters once
favourably disposed to the official system genes--
ally. The Sydney Herald, for instance, describes
the position of the Executive at present as one
" of Jarring incoherence, of helpless decrepitude,
and imbecility little short of mental aberra-
tion." Nor was the language used by Mr. Cow-
per in the house much more qualified. He
said the officers of the Government, in the discus-
sion on the supplementary estimates, had displayed
"an ignorance, apathy, and carelessness in the
highest degree reprehensible,—he could use no
milder terms ; the history of the progress of that
estimate through the House was the most painful
passage in his Parliamentary experience ; one pub-
lie officer frequently contradicted another ; the
grossest ignorance was displayed both in reference
to the items and the works for which they were
intended. The House would not be discharging
its duty if it suffered the money of the public any
longer to be squandered by such a set of inoaPa-
bles." The general charges were supported by refer-
ence to particular errors and shortcomings, and he
wound up by observing that " the motion, if it
did nothing else, would enable the House to wash
its hands of all responsibility for the mismanage-
ment of that Government, which he must pro-
nounce the most imbecile, the most inefficient, the
most wasteful, and the most profligate under the
sun." The Executive can, of course, as far as
votes will do it, set this or any similar motion at
defiance ; lint the effect of such a debate, and the
general discontent that has produced it, are de-
structive of that confidence and respect which it is
the true interest even of an " irresponsible" Go-
vernment to secure. The charges should have
been met by
especially as an immediate reply of some kind,
ample time had been given to prepare
for the discussion. This was not (lame, and the
Executive committed another error in sitting silent
under the castigation, and merely applying, through
the Solicitor-General, for an adjournment of the
question for a week. The impression, therefore, on
the public is, that such charges can be made, and
nothing can be found to repel them. Such a dis- '
cussion iu the last weeks of Sir Charles Fitzroy's
government must be very unpleasant to him, though
he cannot be made responsible for the bad' system
under which misumnagement has had no cheek
from public opinion legitimately represented. Ho
has worked with the instrument as it was transfer-
red to him, and has loft it neither better nor worse
than ho found it. The evil is in thcesystein itself,
which secures to the Executive a certain majority,
and makes it in effect all but absolute. It is easy
to call the few representatives of the large centres
of population and influence " a factious Opposi-
tion,' and override them by the votes of the
nominee members who represent nothing ; but it
is a mere semblance of power, and the confidence
created by the reliance on such majorities is a false
one.

The motion will be defeated, but the contempt
and irritation it expresses will not be diminished.
Such is ono of the results of what is supposed at
home to be " the representation of the people " in
the colonies. It is a cleverly devised mockery of it,
which studiously preserves all the names and terms
of a representation deprived of all active and healthy
controlling power. The result of the want of con-
fidence debate cannot be known in time for this
mail.

The colonial 'Mint maybe considered established,
though it will be long ere it is actually in operation.
Rather frightened at the future expense of the stair
of officers, and doubting its present utility, a
strong effort has been made in the Council to sus-
pend its establishment. Mr. Parkes, one of the
members for Sydney, moved for a select committee
to -inquire into the whole subject. The debate
opened the great question of the currency, and, in
point of abstract principles, proved as unsatis-
factory as currency debates usually are elsewhere.
The ordivaty problems were stated—what is money
generally? and
" what is a pound 1" in particular—
and received the usual conflicting answers. But,
as no theory of the probable 'or possible results of
establishing a Mint could get rid of the fact
that the Council in the first alarm of the gold
discovery bad petitioned for the privilege of coin-
ing, and had had it granted, the main question
had to be settled on very practical grounds. A
large expense bad been incurred and engagements