The Dunstan Times. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1876.

Dunstan Times, Issue 754, 29 September 1876, Page 2

The Dunstan Times.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1876.

Beneath the rule of men entirely just the pen is mightier than the sword.

It must have been very apparent to the extreme P’-ovincialist party, when they received the manifesto signed by eight hundred of the electors of Dunedin, that their efforts were rot appreciated to the extent they supposed, in fact the manifesto was a snub of the severest kind, while we believe that it fairly represented the opinions of the common-sense party. Never did champions of the people’s rights enter into such an ill-judged enf*acfement as did Messrs Macandrew°and Stotit, and never did the efforts of the Provincial party culminate in such a series of silly failures. Striving, therefore to prevent themselves being made everlastingly ridiculous, it was not to be wondered at that the sensible poi tioii of the Dunedin electors were fairly compelled to call upon their representatives in the General Assembly, to leave off-squabbling over trifles and go on with the business of the country. The affair is so absurd that it almost reminds us of Falstaff, when disbanding his followers he bid them “begone brave army, and don’t kick up a row.” For Mr Macandrew we certainly feel very sorry; but we have no expressions of sympathy for Mr Stout. It was a great mistake to place this latter gentleman in the position of leader of the Provincial party, that position undoubtedly belonged to Mr Macandrew, and we feel assured that had that gerttleman been the directing head we should have achieved a system of modified Provincialism, inste’d of coming out of the fray without even the honors of war left to us. It was very clear that Provincialism, as it stood,'" could not last, the thing had outgrown itself and had become an obstruction. Still, we were not prepared at once to adopt the county system as proposed by the Abolition party. A Board of l and and Works, as proposed by Mr Macandiew, with perhaps one county for Otago for a commencement would have best met the difficulty, and saved us from the state of chaos into which we mu«t inivitably be thrown by such a sweeping measure as the division of the Province into a number of counties overtaking us so suddenly. In the matter of the Abolition debate neither party appeared to be properly prepared with a well digested scheme; in fact, how the thing was going to end appears not to have been taken into consideration. The game was what party was to have its own way, and no provisions were made to sustain an honorable defeat. We believe that every resident in the Province, although opposed to the corrupt practices of Provincialism, desired to preserve the entety of Otago and its revenues from its landed estate, including other privileges, which had been carefully conserved from spoliation. Because they desired a change they did not desire to pitch everything to the winds, bidding everybody come and help them eat the rich cake which they had been at so much trouble to make; they only desired to bo rid of a variety of abuses, (he outcome of Provincial Councils, and it was the duty of the Provincial party at Wellington to secure this, and not imperil the interests of others in factional fights, ending in an inglorious defeat. | | j i