CURSE CF CENTRALISATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1325, 26 August 1886, Page 3

CURSE CF CENTRALISATION.

Visitors of the Sala or Froude type who confine their observations principally to the capitals of thi various colonies are apt to form a very one-sided opinion of the condition of affairs in each colony. Those who have extended their researches more widely must admit that the mother colony compares unfavorably with others of the group in some respects ; and there Cannot be a doubt that this ia due to the want of useful legislation. In New South Wales there are villages which in other circumstances would present a more flourishing appearance and be much more pleasant to reside In ; but the country is suffering under the dread curse of centralisation. There are hundreds cf fairlysized townships which are not, bat shoo'd be, incorporated. In these a narrrow strip down the centre of the main road ia indifferently m&int lined by the Government ; while the side) of this and the whole of olhrr streets are left unoared for, and are in a worse state generally than when Captain Cook paid his memorable visit to the colony. How different is the appear- & ca of similar townships in Queensland, Victoria, or South Australia, where the pe> pie have er.j -.j ed the blessings ol local sel -governm n for Biveral yeais ' In New South Wales the fcmty expenditure which au impecunious Government can afford is coufiutd wholly to the centre of the roadway, except in those cares where a representative by persistent hedging obtain a vote for a bridge or a piece roadway other than the main road ; and i must not be forgotten that such grants are

at the expsnee of, and unjust to, other equally necessitous districts. It is time that this disgrace to the colony was re-ooved, hut this will never be until the public themselves move in the matter. There are too many “ roads and bridges members” in the Parliament, who would find their occupation gone with the passing of an equitable Local Government Act; and it is unreasonable to suppose t' at these would exert themselves to effect a change which wan'd be disastrous to their own intera ts. There are other members who talk like pacro's, and with very little more knowledge of tbe meaning of their own words than those loquacious birds. This is a sorry admission. But it ia true; and the electors themselves are responsible for it

If they allow themselves to be led away by plausible, long-wiuded, and generally meaningless oratio. a (g ive the mark ’.) by legislators, they must suffer for It, — Town and Country Journal.