The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1881.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3055, 11 April 1881, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph MONDAY, APRIL 11, 1881.

The reported candidature of Mr Robert Stuart for the representation of Napier reminds us that in 1875 he and Mr R. D. Maney stood for this constituency when the one was defeated by the late Sir Donald McLean and Captain Russell and the other retired without going to the poll. The great question of the general elections of that year was Abolition v. Provincialism. The two successful candidates were less adverse to the old institutions than desirous of floating easily down the political current that was then under the direction of Sir Julius Vogel. To carry out the great loan and squander policy it was deemed all important to crush every institution that might act as a drag to the unlimited extravagance and bribery which made that policy so popular amongst the large estate holders of the colony. The votes of tho working classes were secured by the promise of a large share of the loans in the shape of wages ; the introduction of thousands of laborers to share in the good things offering being most conveniently kept in the back-ground. Mr Maney came forward as an apologist for Provincialism. He could point to the good that Provincialism had done in the past; whereas nothing could be said for an untried scheme of local government which gave the substance to Centralism and left the empty shadow of a name only to localities. The result of the elections of 1875, and the work accomplished by the.

new Parliament, afford a very interesting chapter in tbe history of New Zealand. The old institutions were destroyed, and the colony, entering then upon an unchecked career of waste aud false glitter has found itself in less than five years in a state verging upon national bankruptcy. _ The lamentable condition of the financial affairs of the country may be almost directly traced to the abolition of the provincial form of government. When the Local Government Bill, that was introduced by the Ministry in the session prior to the general elections of 1875, was withdrawn, there was absolutely no comprehensive scheme before the country of which any one could say, " this is better than what we have, we will, therefore, agree to abolish existing institutions." There having been nothing by which to draw a comparison, or to forma judgment upon, it was the height of folly to abandon the substance for a phantom. Bufc the question " what are we to have in the place of provincialism ?" though asked by everyone, was answered by nobody ; yet, in spite of this, the colony returned a majority of Centralists to Parliament. The people were led away by the claptrap tbat Abolition would be the means of conferring upon the country a uniform system of local government which could be so easily understood that it would work smoothly. Experience has shown us that it has not worked at all ; that it has put a stop to settlement, and that it has hampered the General Government by the necessicy of interfering with local matters. It now reads as a prophecy the many leading; articles that appeared in this journal of 1875. Writing upon the subject of Centralism the Lyttelton Times, in that year, said, " One of the greatest evils, in short, resulting from uniformity of administration and centralism is that it makes the people helpless. They look to the Government to havo everything done for them. Still more will this be the case in a country like ours, in which a large part of the population has been introduced by the Government, and where the railways and all other public works are in its hands. We see already the inclination to cry out for Government help, even in comparatively insignificant undertakings. The Government is blamed if a rising I trade has to struggle on unaided to success or failure. It is a matter of wonder ) and congratulation when private enterprise accomplishes anything unassisted. In fact, already the General Government has learned how much more necessary it can make itself to the people by making them political infants again; it has learned to administer judicious sops, and when anything is needed the cry commonly is ' the General Government will do it.' This was Napoleon the Third's one political secret of success : ' keep the people contented with eating and drinking and making money; help them al' that they need, even if you have to tax them heavily for it; make them helpless by all means, whether you make them good or not.' " This exactly describes the effect Centralism has had upon the colony. Our so-called local institutions are helpless and at the mercy of the Government, to whom all look for assistance.