Cromwell Argus. AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. CROMWELL: TUESDAY, SEPT. 26.

Cromwell Argus, Volume II, Issue 98, 26 September 1871, Page 4

Cromwell Argus. AND NORTHERN GOLD-FIELDS GAZETTE. CROMWELL: TUESDAY, SEPT. 26.

At this distance from the city of Welling- j ton, which is jnst now the centre of political and administrative activity, so far as this Colony is concerned, our readers, for the most part, only hear the echoes of! party strife; The dwellers in this district j depend for their prosperity upon the devc-| lopment of its auriferous resources ; and lo : them the discovery of a quartz-reef, or the | satisfactory result of a “ trial crushing,” is ! of far more interest, and present importance, than the most keenly-contested “ division” in the House of Representatives. I The public were told before the Scssh n commenced that it was going to be a most I important one ; it was “ big with fate” ;; the “ great scheme of Colonisation and: Public Works” was to receive amplification and realisation, if not finality. Above and beyond all, the great and sagacious Julius Vogel was to perform some extraordinary coup de main, before which all preceding coups d’ elat were to he as nonothing. But the Session, so full of promises before its opening, has, so far, been remarkably barren in satisfactory performances. The Fox-c«ni-YoGGL Ministry, with all its stupendous “schemes” and audacious projects, may yet earn for itself the appellation of the Do-nothing Ministry. The fault of our rulers (to name them as such !) Is doing too little, and talking too much : Yet the little they’ve done far too much will be found When the weight of taxation presses heavy all round. It will be fortunate if the Session which

(to parjiphpasc iT tbef:' *»f - ani' English statesman) began with ao much 'ambition, ami proceeded with'3o much covert discomfiture, does not end in disaster and disgrace, and an unparalleled exhibition of financial muddling. 'That the Colony is over head and ears in debt is well known to everybody ; that, by borrowing, we are becoming still more indebted, must bo self-evi-dent. It is only a question of fact H her the men who now compose the Mb. are possessed of sufficient administrative skill and honesty of purpose to bring the country through the difficulties with which she is beset 011 every hand. That is the question ! Opinions differ widely as to the best means to be adopted for bringing the patient safely through the crisis. Vogel’s panacea is a plentiful application of “ golden ointment,” even though there may not be sufficient cash left to pay the credulous apothecary who supplies the nostrum. Besides the important questions which have to be discussed this Session in connection with the Government schemes of Immigration and Public Works, there is another one of vital interest which will have to be dealt with, We refer to the fate of the Provinces. How much longer is Provincialism to exist as an institution 1 When will legitimate Centralisation become an accomplished fact in the history of this official-ridden, over-governed, and yet most mis-governed Colony 1 Provincialism has long been doomed, and is now moribund, if not in artieulo mortis. Yet the blind friends and interested supporters of a ruinously expensive and eminently unsatisfactory system are perpetually entering caveats against its decent interment. This has ever been the case with rotten though time-honoured institutions. The annals of Borough-mongering furnish abur.* dan I illustrations of the tenacity of existence displayed by corporations, and other organisations, which had been permitted to outlive their period of usefulness. At that stage Provincialism, we feel assured, has arrived ; and it is sheer folly for its friends to endeavour to prolong its life. "Cut it down ! why cumbereth it the ground V Some short-sighted Superintendents, and high Provincial officials, look forward to the coming dissolution of the system with which they have so long been prominently identified with something akin to terror. These gentlemen display a great want of wisdom bv adopting an obstructive course. They would do better, both for themselves and for their Provinces, if they would throw themselves heartily, patriotically, into the work of building up a strong Central Government, which should have radiating from it all the institutions and organisations necessary for effective, yet in-expen-sive, local self-government. A Dunedin contemporary recently published an extraordinary article in favour of the continuance of Provincial Government in a slightly modified form. The article—(see Southern League, August 28,) is a strange jumble of contradictions. It says : —“ With re- “ forence fo a community, an autocrat at a “ distance would probably govern more “ wisely than would’ many minds conflict.- “ iug around one centre. We should not “ abolish either the Provincial Council or “ its Government, so long as toe can pag “for them / .and when wo are unable to “ pay for them, instead of abolishing them , “ we” should cut down the unnecessary incidentals of Provincialism, and retain a “ Government local and compact.” The last Financial Statement of the Provincial Treasurer proved to every impartial mind that, ao far as this Province is concerned, the public can no longer afford to pay fur Provincialism and its expensive and “ unnecessary incidentals.” And we contend that, with our improved and improving facilities for communicating with and influencing a Central Government, it is better that the present regime should bo abolished, and a new order of things inaugurated. The absurdity of continuing a bad thing “as long as we can afford to pay for it” is evident to every man in Otago. Tim fact that the public can no longer afford it is undoubted. The sooner, then, the “ autocrat at a distance” is duly installed, the better. It is the duty of the General Assembly to define the limits within "\ 'iiS-Sr 1 the Central Government shall dofwnate, and to provide for local self-government on the most approved and efficient models.