THE SELF-RELIANCE POLICY.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 1905, 14 June 1869, Page 3

THE SELF-RELIANCE POLICY.

Y e ake from a Parliamentary paper laicbi the table ° f tbe House a few the following letter addressed •.'Honor the Superintendent to by a.'' thpEA 51 ’ 1101 ' Superintendent’s Office, Otago, 22nd Dec., 1868.

delayed taking upon myself a ' M duty until I feel that, in justice r>ai * Province which has done me the ° to elect me as its Superintendent, i -J 0 *: n0 longer defer doing so. I beg 1 ICh Excellency to observe that the : of Provinces owe their ; bU - B to the direct legislation of the ■ • parliament, whilsb the system ■ qtive General Government has * . X up out of regulations and legislation. The Constitution a devolves on the Superintendents f ovinces inportant functions; and fev ident fom the general tenor of tl (Act, that it is contemplated the gutendcn may place himself in ( commuication with the GovernC f \ink it nr duty to avail myself of rhat I coceive to be my official riot to repremt to your Excellency theimperativ necessity for adopting otlim measure for extirpating the ev i)i jgrebellm than those which are beug,employe. _ E Vr.hout emnng into the merits ot theb'ative diftulty, or the best mode of edling witlit, it will not be denied tlw during te past few months the k ■ Cony hasbea subjected to enormous loss; both ofife and property, while th'policy whli is now being pursued is verv day siting the Colony deeper am deeper uto financial embarrass* I mc inv-Jvii.g an expenditure; utterly) nd beyond its means; and -Tice means shall have been ab* go ; 7 cdiaustcd, the chances are that q. jnlnvill be fruitless in as far a; op' tie rebellion is concerned. 10l Pj-t, as British subjects in a Brb isb',.jjon T , we have a prescribed rigfc to tf assistance of the British troop. It yell known that yom* Excellene liaofiy to express a wish in order brtto the immediate aid of the coloy sevfl. hundreds of trained soldier; art Vsenture respectfully to subnt tint ck political consideration shoul inte». ; e with what seems to me to e thtighest duty at the present moraei, nany, that of procuring the ntmet pcsik assistance to protect the livs anPsdperties of Her Majesty’s suthe atrocities of savagj ’avcvffly in rebellion against Her Mjespsovereignty. The fact of t; re) - tbclaring that they resist tl; Qn 7s supremacy makes the rebelm one I imperial moment: the presty of HeEipirc is concerned in givii; the«at-blow to all revolts against tl Imqria'.power. The fact that the se vi: of hitish sailors are being used; a. jnv.ent in favor of making use thtp-itih troops ; the failure to do » is ai iisulb to the army, and wl donhfca be felt to mean such, Ici

coicgjg of no greater slight to war? i the t-olin’S of the nation than to declh then j,| A vhen British subjects a; WtrWhtered, and the fairest di trie 1* a °Bi It,ish Colony laid waste. - > allegation hat the self-reliant po) jdopted b> the Colony shuts , ou f a the aid of Imperial troop "Cj. once ft aside by the fai xrm 'r.jj gelf-reliaie policy has fade* i ■ :. y. nC vcr iticipated that tl ,'i , ■ n '. ceH of b past few montl . 1 cnVj and he House of Repr atrs virtual abandoned the sel ■ ’ ’ policy wn it approved of tl i 1 of one giment, seeing th f 'ft-iO uTi" primlc upon which se : ’ was bai, that there shou ■ ■. single itish soldier left ’ ’deny to enle the Imperial G rent to iit’ere in the intern '3 of the dony. A condith lent to sic an arrangement we f r he Colon- Government shou ,i; adeqnae protection to the liv i : roper tie >f Her Majesty s su ’ tl.is t ias fulled to do, ai ore Inprial responsibility i til i beam. It is impossible for ai < ’. ~, ,i oi tin ae hand to divest its* 3 right of protecting its own su • Ai cron tin other hand to depri aucte objects f the right to demai it.y whicl a nation delegates tl “of protctiiig'' ; sß?|H^^fe^^ i ,:4 authritft^flMM|^HU|HK

yoicjHPnoment that authority proves itself inadequate to fulfil the duty devolved upon it. It may also be remarked that the self-reliance policy has [never really taken root in the minds of the colonists. It depends upon the assumption that there exists in New Zealand a Colonial nationality to some extent distinct from the nationality from the Empire. Such a feeling exists only in the minds of the few sentimentalists. The colonists for the most part regard themselves as British Colonists, just as much entitled in case of need to the aid of tie military power as do the inhabitants of any town in Great Britain them themselves entitled to military ad when the civil power is inadequate The colonists, moreover, regard tic wars with the' Maoris as matters of Imperial concern ; they did not come c New Zealand to fight the Maoris ; hey look upon it that they were invited to regard New Zealand as a British Colony within which the Queen had determined to uphold her sovereignty; they hiut/ no notion but that the labellions Jraories must be subdued Iv paid soldiers, supplemented by the loci Militia. The truth of the correctness of what I state is to be found in tie fact that there is no volunteering on national grounds. Not a single recnit who has left this island, or the chif centres of population in the Northern Island has done so, in as far as I im aware, for any other reason thar because the terms of the employment suited him. If the alleged national feding was really aught but a myth, mer of independent means, instead of comparatively poor men would flock as volunteers to the front. It remans for me to show your Excellency the manner in which the Province is affected, in order to jusuby my addressing you. Already, recruiting has been gong on within the Province —that is to say, inducements are being offered to a portion of our population to leave, and it is quite possible that this may be erforced on a much lai’ger scale through the Militia Act, I may observe tint this Province has contributed vay largely to the general revenue of the Colony. Apart from the revenue which has reverted to the Pmince for disposal by the Provincial Cornell, I find that during the nine ! yens ending in June, 1867, Otago has j bed* charged I »Bss {pr tgf general; L3m,l-85Pfor local charges voted by trie QemiW* of its revenue reverting to the General Government, for purely Colonial purposes, amounted to L 131,750. I see, Enough the possible drain upon its popilation, that much injury may be done to this Province and to the Colony, vhich the figures which I have quoted show the Province has vastly aidedwith revenue. A handful of settlers u-igmally colonized Otago. On them, aid those who subsequently followed tbm, the whole work of colonization has fallen, The Provincial systen has given to the Colony a power! il aid wealthy member; and if the Colony has not done much to make Otago what it is, it should do nothing o Jestroy it. The Province is also drectly threatened in another manner thm by the withdrawal of its population; liabilities are being undertaken on behalf of the Colony, which, for generations to come, must seriously cripple thefcdustrial resources of every portion of t; and should the rebellion continue, he Colony will be saddled with such u enormous debt as must drive both ppnlation and capital from its shores. Even as it is, lam in a position to asure your Excellency, that the efforts ae have been making to promote the settlement of this Province, by meais of suitable immigration on a large scale, are being checked, and that botl capital and enterprise are seeking to truster themselves to other fields, anxios to escape the heavy burdens whin the Native policy has already involed.

With the itraost respect, I venture on behalf of tisprovince most earnestly to urge on yur Excellency, that you will be pleasd at once to summon to your aid the Imperial troops, under the powers which vlje ninth section of the Royal Instrudons confer upon you. I cannot conceie an emergency more alarming thanhat which now calls fertile • exercise of your Excellency’s plenary powers Either the Royal Instructions weremeant to be inoperative, or the occasior has arisen for acting upon them in the direction I have indicated. Failing you Excellency adopting this course, I arnestly implore that you will cause u immediate dissolution of the Assembly and a fresh election, to convince yov Excellency that the great majority othe colonists disclaim being a party r the insult which is shown to the Erpire in refusing to use Imperial troops r assert Her Majesty’s sovereignty, ant to protect the lives and properties of British subjects from the atrocities of Inatic cannibals.

the Australian Colonic, why the Colony slighted the assijLance of the troops, and at the bottomed the refusal to employ them lurks a spirit of rampant disloyalty to the Empire. In the desire of asserting the loyal attachment which the people of this Province entertain towards the Sovereign, I venture respectfully to ask your Excellency to cause a copy of this despatch to be forwarded home to Her Majesty’s Principal Secretary of State for the Colonies, for submission to Her Majesty. I have, &c., J, Macandrew, Superintendent. His Excellency Sir G. F. Bowen, Wellington.

In forwarding His Honor’s letter to the Duke of Buckingham, the Governor makes the following observations : 5. With regard to the letter from Mr Macandrew. the present Superintentendent of Otago, urging me to apply for a reinforcement of Imperial troops from Australia contrary to the advice and opinion of the existing Colonial Ministry, it will be sufficient to repeat the obsesvations submitted on a previous occasion with regard to other applications of a similar nature :—“ I have considered it to be my plain duty to decline compliance with the prayer of all Memorials and personal representations of this kind. For it seems obvious that this Colony could not be held responsible for any portion of the expense of the maintenance of any additional trbops, for which the Colonial Ministers had not made formal application. Moreover, the whole tenor of the communications received during some time past from the Colonial Office appears to show that the Imperial authorities desire to encourage, as far as possible, a true and permanent spirit of self-reliance among the people of New Zealand, and that they have no wish or intention to keep any portion of the Queen’s forces in this country, except on certain fixed conditions, and with the advice and consent of the Local Ministry and Legislature. I trust that I shall be informed if I have rightly interpreted the views, on this most important point, of her Majesty’s Government, and if the manner in which I am endeavoring to carry out [those vsfiH T s is correct.”, , _ „ nc 0 in 1 ii MwK | 'iiuti'ilu -c-fit. .iH • ■ ~' r ' - ’ r ■■”*s! l T ‘’’Art ii. djfec*#) j' . jap-, iff to . <; uiq S p. J u. from ‘Hansard?) id rtldto -r The foiti'fch session of the fifliVth of New Zealand, was opened on the Ist inst. by commission. The speech was read. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. June 2. ENQUIRY INTO WRECKS BILL. The Hon. J. HAim moved for leave to bring in a bill intituled “ An Act to constitute Courts of Enquiry into the causes of Wrecks.” Leave was granted, and the Hons. E. W. Stafford and J, Hall were ordered to prepare the bill. MERCHANT SHIPPING ACT. The Hon. J. C. Richmond moved for leave to introduce a bill to amend the law relating to Merchant Shipping. He said that although the law on the subject appeared in the hill in a small compass, it really adopted legislation which occupied a large space m the English Statute Book. It was found necessary that the law here should be more completely in harmony with the Merchant Shipping Act of England. They had already an Act which adopted it in part, but not in such a way as to meet the case of vessels registered at home and doing business in the Colony. Leave was granted, and the Hons. J. G. Richmond and J. Hall were ordered to prepare the bill. ADDRESS IN REPLY. Mr Edwards (Nelson City) moved the address in reply. He said that he believed that it was usually understood, and indeed accepted as a matter of fact, that the mover of the address in reply was to be looked upon generally as a supporter of the Government. To some extent he admitted that to be the case as regarded himself, but still he reserved to himself his right of private judgment and vote whenever ho was culled upon to exercise his political privileges in that direction. He thought it would bo a matter for oongratulation that the session had been called together earlier than usual. As to the period of the commencement of the war, no doubt there were some who might be disposed to blame those in power for permitting themselves to be found obliged to meet the rebel natives with a force totally inadequate to the emergency of the case—a matter which, taking into consideration the departure of the Imperial troops from the Colony, whose removal was, no doubt, the opportunity of the robelliously inclined natives, ought never to have arisen. But, nqvertheless, since that lime, the Go’tornttafenfrhad taken advantage of every means at £He disposal of the Colony. He thonjghFltiAtiiiefc be -admitted that by the Colonial forces everything had been done that could bo 48n®i4‘flirsKort a time aud.with the nlimited

and occupied in perfecting their communications.” Although ho agreed in a great measure with the policy of the Home Government in the removal of the troops, still he did not agree that the Colony had not a strong moral claim to be afforded some assistance by England of another kind. It resolved itself into this, that the war might bo called an Imperial war, and wo have a right to look for aid to those who had been somewhat, at least indirectly, instrumental in bringing these troubles upon us. But to effect this desideratum of putting down the native rebellion wo must begin by consideiing the question of ways and means. The way suggested in the speech pointed to another loan. There might be many hon. ‘members who considered that another loan ought not to be incurred; but those members should consider that, with a tariff so high us that which now existed, it was impossible to look for an increase of customs revenue in that direction, a'heightened tariff meant depressed trade generally. The taxation was now as heavy as tho country could bear; and he believed that heavy taxes would only lead to a decreased revenue, and not to an increased one. An income and property tax could not be brought into immediate operation—and being slow in its operation, it could not be used, even if agreed to, for the purpose of meeting the present emergency. He had no doubt that, under all the circumstances, hon. members would look forward with great anxiety to the production of the estimates of expenditure for the ensuing financial year; for they would show how far the Government had already been spending unvoted money in the exertions they had made to put down the Native war. It was, (To he continued.)