THE ROCK AHEAD.

Auckland Star, Volume VI, Issue 1712, 13 August 1875, Page 2

THE ROCK AHEAD.

To the Editor of the Evening Star. Srp.,'—l find it written in the history of the Irish people that "the rotten boroughs bad by this time fallen under the influence of the adjacent landlords, Wbo3e command of__b".2P made them masters of the _*__ House of Commons, while tbev T&rmed in person the Irish Houßfyof _"geTs." To such a length had tbi*> System been carried that "more than sixty" seats were in the hands of three families—that of Lord Downshire, of the Ponsonbys, and of the Beresfords. The half of the House of Commons was, in fact, returned by a small group of nobles, who were recognised as " Parliamentary undertakers," and who undertook to "manage" Parliament on their own terms. Irish politics were for these men a mere means of public plunder ; they were glutted with pensions, preferments, and bribes in hard cash in return for their services ; they were the advisers of every Lord-Lieutenant, and the practical governors of the country." I read further, sir, that the independence of the Irish Parliament in 1782 was achieved by the aid which the Presbyterians and the Catholics both rendered to the Church of England in the days of the Irish A''olunteers. But no sooner was the victory gained than the " Undertakers" came to the front, ruling both Catholics and Presbyterians witharod of iron, refusing the franchise to the one a_d the removal of their disabilities to the other, till the sheer rottenness bred by its own corruption made this so called Irish Parliament sell itself body and soul to the pecuniary profit of its members and the pecuniary profit of the great " undertakers " Are we to repeat this little game in New Zealand, by throwing all the power and patronaae of the country into the hands of an Assembly, that abounds in what are, or very soon will be, the rottenest of rotten boroughs. Ihe out districts are often in the hands of only one or two men who are themselves in our House of Lords. They return whom they like as their members in the House of Commons. Increase the booty and rotten boroughs, and "undertakers" will soon increase with them. The outlying districts and the gold-fields will be used to crush the towns, and then they will themselves fall a prey to the power and influence of a few great land-owners. This may suit Mr Stafford and those working with him, but it will not suit the large heart and great mind of bir George Grey. Let the people look to it, and remembering that prevention is better and easier than cure, demand that the Assembly be itself reformed before it asks to be entrusted with greater power, greater wealth, and greater means. of corruption.—Yours,'/ar, A Pjrovincialist.