The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1876.

Dunstan Times, Issue 750, 1 September 1876, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 1876.

Beneath the rule of men entirely jest the PEN is mightier than the sword.

We have often had cause to think that those violent representatives of public opinion in Dunedin, known as the Daily Times and the Guardian newspapers, were scarcely what they professed to be, of this, now we are absolutely certain that these journals are not the mouthpiece of the thinking portion of the people of Otago, or they never would descend to such an absurdity as even hinting at an armed resistance to the constituted authorities in the shape of an attempt to make Otago a separate Colony, Such a proposal is simply ridiculous and would never be listened to by the Imperial Government, while any attempt at an appeal to arms would be promptly suppressed, and this without outside aid at all, but by the lovers of law and order within the Province itself. If the violent Provincial party have been so ignomiaiously defeated, it is because they played a bad game, and they have only to thank themselves, and the ridiculous measures they propounded for their ill success. At the commencement of the Session it was very plainly to be seen that the Abolition party would in the main be successful, still, by making reasonable concessions something of the old state of affairs might have been left to the Provincialists, But what did this party do I They went to the Assembly a thoroughly disorganised body with no platform to carry out, no defined and well matured ideas to guide them j in fact, they really did not know what they wanted, their only desire being evid»ntly to oppose in everything the measures of the Government, and the result is, that this disorganised body has been thoroughly conquered) and comes out of the fight with scarcely even the honors of

war. Now, although wo are thorough Abolitionists, we nevertheless have cause to deplore this unfortunate result, for the reason that it has brought about a state of affairs which cannot tend to the material prosperity of the Province. From the very beginning we advocated a system of modified Provincialism, such as clipping the wings of Provincial Councils, by making them administrative bodies, instead of legislative. In fact, they were always more of the former than the latter, for at the best their legislative functions were only of a very quasi character, as unless the Ordinances passed by the Provincial Council received either the assent of His Excellency the Governor, or were legalised by the Assembly, were as much waste paper, their deliberations amounting to no more than playing at Government. As a purely administrative body, in the shape of a Board of Land and "Works, the business of the Province might, instead of being dragged over a period of three months out of every year, been dispatched in as many weeks, while one half of the number of representatives could have been dispensed with. We never looked upon the County system with any great amount of favor, believing in its impracticability, and the difficulty which would be experienced in finding a sufficient number of men possessing the necessary ability to carry on the business of a County Council. The doings of up-country Municipalities go a long way to prove this, and if we have so much mismanagement upon a small scale, what would be the result of a greater? While it must be acknowledged on all sides that the set of Officers necessary for the proper conduce of the business of one County would be amply sufficient for the whole of Otago. However disagreeable the fact may be, the day of reckoning for our past extravagancies is only overtaking us, and whether we like it or not, quite an economical order of things must be initiated that the impending crisis may be averted, or perhaps, more correctly speaking, stripped of the - worst of its evil effects. It is most reasonable to suppose that at least for a commencement, one County, as a substitute for each of the Provinces, would be sufficient under the Abolition Act, the jump to a larger number is too wide for a beginning, while nothing will be more easy than to make divisions afterwards when the necessity for such occurs. If we are to have a plurality of Counties, let us have as few as possible, as the greater the number, the greater the amount of confusion.