THE GOVERNMENT MANIFESTO.

Clutha Leader, Volume II, Issue 91, 6 April 1876, Page 3

THE GOVERNMENT MANIFESTO.

Referring to an article in the l New Zealand Times' (the accredited Government organ) the 'Daily Times ' says: — '"After rather misrepresenting our "views upon the'question of the general education of the colony, and quoting our language about the justice of retaining our local endowments, we are; told by the " ; New Zealand Times,' 1 Now we have not heard of any attempt being made to divert them from., that, purpose, but it is quite clear that the burden of education in one part of the colony must not be cast upon local rates while it'is borne by the Crown lands, in other words, by the Colonial estate, in another part of it.' Now,* *we put it to any one of our readers whether the "sentence we have just quoted is not a plain. and unmistakeable threat to use our local reserves for education for the purposes bf general or Colonial education. What is meant by education beiiig paid, for out of Crown or Colonial lands, if it. has not a reference to our Ibcal- endowments ? What is'the meaning of saying that it is not proper for education to be thrown upon local rates m -(say) Auckland, and upon land endowment in (say) Otago ? -What is the leaning of changing : the phrase from Crown to Colonial in the above sentence if it is not for the purpose of pointing

out that the revenue derived from this so-called colonial estate should bo spent coloniallv.

"We understand the position of a paper or a politician who is prepared to take up the education question from a high stand-point, and who deems it necessary, in order to attain his lofty end of educating the colony, to sacrifice previous * contracts and engagements. We can understand and respect an open adversai'y, but this sort of shuffle deserves and gains no respect from any one. Why not say out: 'You in Otago have set apart a good deal of those Crown Lands you believed vested in your province for the purposes of education. Now .that the colony proposes to resume possession of all Crown Lands, it intends to resume possession of your local endowments for education, and use them generally for the purposes of Colonial education.' There is" a something of course to be said on behalf of such a proposal. That is what the Premier plainly inferred ; but Mr Facing-both-Ways tries to shirk the issue. If we are not mistaken, he will share the usual fate of such, trimmers, and his master will sooner or later declare —

But thou, thou art not for our course, Hast fear, hast pity, hast remorse ; And he with us tbe galo who braves Must heave such cargo to tbe waves, Or lag with overloaded stores, "While barks unburdened reach the shore. " We regret having* to deal in such fashion with a contemporary, but there is something* so infinitely contemptible iri endeavoring" to foist this hocus-pocus of syllables, this farrago of mere sentences, upon the public, that, in the interests of common sense, we are compelled to expose it. The duty of the colony towards education is not a trifling* matter, and we confess we lose our patience with those who dally with it. The Government proposes to steal our education reserves, and use them to educate the youngsters in Hawke's Bay and Wellington, whose parents are unwilling to pay for their education directly or indirectly. Plenty of people have persuaded thenselves that the greatness of the end justifies them in the use of any means, however disreputable. The ' IV ew Zealand Times/ like the timid boy in the story says : —

Ashamed to live, yet loatho to die ; I soiled me with their infamy.

This is neither upright, manful, nor honest. We do trust our contemporary will make up his mind which side to take. To steal or not to steal ? that is the question. "

In reviewing Sir Julius' lato speech, the ' Lyttelton Times' makes the foliowremarks : — " He is evidently under the impression that what the country was wanting was quantity, not quality of local government ; and so we are to have a complicated network of countyboards overlapping* in one direction the limits ofthe road boards, and in another the old limits of the Provinces* and out in the cold are to stand municipalities, of the finances and powers of which the Premier has nothing at all to say. Among this fry will move the aggrandised General Government, ' a Triton of the Minnows.' It has gathered to itself all the local power,* and left the shadow to be scrambled for by these insignificant boards. The fate of this weak impoverished crowd, if they ever stand in the way of Sir Julius Vogel's financial schemes, is not difficult to predict. They might draw a lesson from the fate of the Provinces, ancl the fate ' intended for the road boards in the last Local Government Bill. They will find no belter litany or dirge to embody their complaints than the following, even though they search in Dr Watts' hymns. In it, Sir Julius and his policy are marked out with prophetic touch : —

How doth the little crocodile Improve his shining tail, And pour the waters of the. Nile On every golden scale. How clicorfnlly he seems to grin, How neatly spreads liis claws, And welcomes little fishes in With gently smiling jst*^-* " Snyder " sends the following to the •* Coromandel Mail.' He says: — "I see by the newspapers that the subject of rechristening New Zealand is again being discussed; I would venture to propose that the name of* New Zealand be abolished by Act of Parliament; and I humbly suggest the name, of *** Loanland' be substituted. The name is at once euphonious and" suggestive. •I. would call the small islands in the vicinity of Stewart's Island 'The Deben-. ttire Grotip,' Tbe deepest river, 'and the one that runs the fastest out to sea, carrying away with it all the rich deposits formed froth its banks, I should call the ' Julius.' The river that runs the shallowest and smoothest, but with a shifting bed, I should name the ' Smaller Pollen.' The river, the source of which has not been traced, neither is it known where it discharges its contents, I should call the 'Maclean.' The narrowest and most tortuous serpentine stream, I think, might be named the * Larger Pollen.' Tho biggest mountain,the most difficult to overcome in'the ascent I should name . * Greymont'; the smallest I think might be. called 'The* Bathgate/ INear- Wellington ..is a.-little rock, at low water sticking out. at sea,, which might be called ' The Smiler,' as at high tide the rock is out of sight, but the surface is covered with pleasant ripples. It is a dangerous rock and should be blown up, which could easily be done with a small charge of gun-, powder."