(30)

"That, whereas, by the 9th and 12th clauses of
this Ordinance, it is enacted, that every person of
full age, who shall pay twenty shillings for enrol-
ment, shall be entitled as a Burgess to vote at an
election, whether he shall be a proprietor or occu-
pier of houses or lands, or not; the undersigned
considers this enactment contrary to the spirit of
the British Constitution, and also without pre-
cedent in the laws of the British colonies; and
that such enactment will, in its practical working,
be productive of effects injurious to the common-
weal of the colony for the following reasons:-
"1st. That the non-rate payer is, by this enact-
ment, placed upon an equality with the rate payer,"

"2nd. That the effect of this will be manifestly
injurious, inasmuch as it will take away the in-
ducement on the part of the labouring classes to
elevate themselves into a position in which, from
their proprietorship of lands or houses, or their
occupancy of the same, they would become en-
titled to the rights of Burgesses, when by this
Ordinance they can purchase that right for a
mere trifle."

"3rd. That the enactment aforesaid, will, in all
probability, become a source of bribery and cor-
ruption, inasmuch as it may be the cause of indi-
viduals, or combinations of persons, contributing
sums of money, for the purpose of purchasing the
enrolment of parties other than rate payers, in
order to secure the election of improper persons
to the Corporate offices, to the manifest detriment
of the rate paying portion of the community.
That it is well known, that there is a considerable
number of persons in the various settlements of
New Zealand, who are unfit to be entrusted with
the elective franchise, as fraudulent debtors, run-
away convicts, &c., who have escaped from the
convict colonies, which persons cannot, from the
want of legal evidence, be convicted as such;
and that such persons will at all times be ready
to vote at elections for such parties, or combi-
nations of parties, as will pay the price of their
enrolment. That the principle of these enact-
ments is a near approach to universal suffrage in
its most objectionable form. That in a new co-
lony such a principle, or any thing approaching
to it, must be highly injurious to the well-being
and good order of the community, as tending to
sow the seeds of discontent and insubordination,
to establish authority in the outset of the colony,
and to prevent that good feeling which does at
present exist, and ought always to exist, between
the higher and lower classes of society."

"That it will have the effect of introducing a
party spirit between the master and employed,
and that by throwing the Corporate offices into
the hands of the labouring classes, or their nomi-
nees, the more wealthy portion of the inhabitants
will be taxed without mercy by those who contri-
bute but little to the rates, and will themselves
be for the most part unrepresented, and thus the
spirit and enterprise which has already been so
strikingly shown in this colony will be cheked in
its progress, or driven to some other colony where
no such obstacles as here present themselves exist.'

"That notwithstanding that, by these enact-
ments, the power of taxation will inevitably be
vested in those persons who contribute least to the
Borough rates, an unlimited power of taxation, at
all times and to any amount, is conferred upon the
Bodies Corporate; neither is any limit set to the
amount to be expended in public works, the conse-
quence of which will be, a series of heavy, direct
taxes, highly oppressive in their operation, in as
much as in none of the British Colonies are more
expensive public works (in the harbours particu-
larly), required than in New Zealand. Such power
of unlimited taxation being, also, without precedent
in any of the British Colonies-the Municipal Cor-
porations of other colonies being strictly limited
both as to the amount of taxation and expenditure."

"That by this Ordinance the inhabitants of
Boroughs are directly taxed for the erection of
buildings for the sole use of Government officers:
such buildings are also to be immediately erected
in all Boroughs created, or to be created, under
this Ordinance, whether the works necessary to
the prosperity of the Boroughs can be afforded or
not-a positive injustice which can require no
comment."

"That whereas, by this Ordinance, it is not in-
tended that the Mayor of any Borough should be
ex-officio a Magistrate during the continuance of
his office, the undersigned cannot but look upon
this, first, as an injustice in his not having any
control in those public works as aforesaid, which
he, as the chief representative of the community
over which he is chosen to preside, is compelled
to erect for the use of the Government; secondly,
as an insult to an individual who is usually the
chief magistrate of the borough-and thirdly, as
a tacit admission on the part of the Government,
that the persons so elected as Mayors of Boroughs
will not, under the universal suffrage principle, be
men of sufficient standing in society to be en-
trusted with the Magisterial office."

"That the opinions of the mercantile gentlemen
sitting in this Honourable Council have not been
received with due deference; every amendment
to this Ordinance, by them proposed, for further-
ing the commercial interests of the Boroughs to
be created under this Ordinance having been
rejected, and clauses injurious to those interests
retained in their stead, although it must be evi-
dent that these gentlemen, from their experience
in commercial affairs, must be at least as well
acquainted with the practical working of Ordinan-
ces of this nature as the official Members of the
Council-lastly, that this Ordinance as it now
stands will be the means of producing great and
general dissatisfaction throughout the colony, as
being based upon the principle of unlimited self
taxation, with very limited powers of self govern-
ment; that it will thus operate as an incubus
upon the resources and energies of the colony,
and at the same time tend to foster a hostile feel-
ing between the government and the governed,
which will not fail to be highly detrimental to
both parties, and creditable to neither."

(Signed) GEORGE BUTLER EARP,
Member of the Legislative Council."

The Colonial Secretary moved that the Council
do now proceed to the Order of the Day.