The Evening Star. SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1870.

Auckland Star, Volume I, Issue 168, 23 July 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, JULY 23, 1870.

It would be nothing short of a miracle if tho colonization scheme of the ministry should meet with universal favor ; and we are not surprised that, although it has been kindly dealt with by the leaders of the opposition, it has had to encounter also a good deal of croaking. Minds are like jars, there are big ones and little ones, aud a pint jar into which a gallon would be forced must reject it or burst.' It is a mental indiosyncracy with some, to be pitied not blamed, which prompts to gloomy forebodings when any pcheme out of tho beaten track is presented; but like everything else from the hand of nature the" old fogey" is a useful institution in our. political economy, serving the purposes of a drag on the wheels of progress; The objections raised against the comprehensive scheme for lifting New Zealand out of the slough, of despond are but the, promptings of little-min-dedness, and as such are uttered with all those airs of exclusive wisdom, aud devotion to theinterests of the country which little mindedness invariably assumed. There is no concession that others are, looking at the-.matter in the light of public interest; no supposing that it is advocated in the hope of making New Zealand's future brighter than her past.. It is only personal interest forsooth ; it is but the selfish schema of those who want to see the golden showers falling, that they may gather in their own harvest; who long to share in the revelry of borrowed millions, let who will pay the piper. .Tt is not possible, we are to believe, that anyone can. take pleasure in contemplating- the prospect of our " deserts blossoming as the rose '—pur fern-clad hills waviug with golden harvests—and our valleys studded with happy hamlets, resounding with the hum of busy industry. No, it is only the device of those who haye got an axe to grind. Publicans advocate it to get navvies to drink their nobblers; merchants, for the; pickings of tea and sugar passing through their hands; bankers, for

t^ote-shaving purposes ; v and landsharks, to give a fictitious-jyaluja to their holdings, ."-,||Safc-|Wi^' may sell and- clefer-oiifcj • froiigLJ tHfe plague-stricken country ;■ find las Jqßf' poor New Zealand, in yulg^pparlanee, '■ let her rip;" This comprehensive and generous view of the progseEjpise»-po-licy is & devout articleL..oQjMfh with those of* us whom the iipdrutable^decrees of Providence have ai||tgnen, as their lot, to croak. And while^pit'y for the unhappy country going down to irretrievable ruin, is mingled with indignation against those who. are endeavoring to hasten its destruction, wo are invariably warned that it* such and such is done, they will at once sell out, and leave us to our fate. With such a melancholy catastrophe impending, it is strange how indifferent we seem to onr doom ; and from every quarter of New Zealand there comes a general chorus of praise of the Ministerial policy of progress. Why is it that the "Auckland party" in the House of Representatives have so identified themselves with the croakers ? Ifc cannot be from natural bins in their minds, for there are thorough progressionists among them. We believe ifc if only from that wholesome respect for their constituents which every good member of Parliament feels on the eve of a general election.- But why do they suppose that the people of Auckland are retrogressionists ? We have no hesitation in. saying tkat it is a gross mistake; and that if the people o' this city were polled on the subject, nine-teen-twentieths would be found to be warmly in favor of the policy of progress. Why, then, do we not express ourselves ? The public has done so, down South, and though now our nption in the matter, may not bear directly on the question, we would, in the strongest manner, urge that a public meeting should be called, and that we should tell our representatives —in language not to be mistaken — that, waiving all party feelings and political differences, their constituents are of those: who believe in a bold and comprehensive effort to raise New -Zealand to prospe-ity; r

Since the foregoing- waa in type, we rejoice to learn that the Rubicon is passed, and New Zealand is actually on the march of progress. The substitution by the Houso, as just telegraphed, of four for six millions, the cash amount of the loan asked, for by the Government, is a concession to the timid, and may not be unwise. "We are pleased to learn moreover that the Auckland members have redeemed the credit of the province, and have supported generally the Government proposals.