The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2255, 29 July 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star FRIDAY, JULY 29, 1870.

Mr Reynolds’s motion for political Separation of the two islands has been lost. No one will feel surprised : in fact, it would have been wonderful had it been seriously discussed in the present temper of the House. Matters just now look too smiling to render such a resolution tolerable. The Ministry are the lions of the day. They have succeeded in their Native policy, and they have enunciated a bold and coniprelicnsi\ c peace arrangement, the carrying out ot which, in the opinion of many, will depend upon the unity of Government, i When therefore it is proposed instead that the Colony shall be divided, those who look superficially at the state of affairs cry out that the proposition is ill-timed and inconsiderate. Admitting that there is a time for all things, it may be fairly asked when is the time to secure justice for the Middle Island I When the Colony was at Avar, the North Island mcmbe’t'Slfcind their abettors in the Middle Island said it was not the time to talk about Separation, for it would be equivalent to leasing the Northern Colonists to bo murdered. We believe that was a grand mistake. Had the Middle Island gone boldly in for Separation then, the North would now have been under the fostering hand of the British Government, instead of fattening, developing, and securing itself on the revenues of the South. That time has gone by, and still the same cry is raised, Mr Reynolds’s resolution is “ill-timed.” It I may not be exactly what was wanted 1 —that wo are disposed to grant ; but | that it was “ill-timed” is not true. Mr Reynolds would have have been as much astonished as anyone had it been carried. Just as the demand is, there is such a close phalanx arrayed against granting it, that no one so intimately acquainted with the opinion of parties as Mr Reynolds , could ever expect that it wmdd be adopted. But it was not the less necessary that the question should be raised. T£ peace were absolutely secure ; if there were no more troubles looming in the North 3 if the North Island in relation to land wcyc in the same position as the Middle Island, even then the financial relation of the two islands should be fixedly and determinately settled. It is the injustice of Southern revenue being spent on Northern improvements, that renders the continued agitation of the question necessary. If there were a statesmanlike determination on the part of every Ministry to lay the burden of North Island expenses upon the North Island Colonists, no one would he found to advocate separate Governments ; but we do not remember a parallel in the early history of any State, where the revenues raised from one district in no danger, and wlio.se interests were totally separate, were spent in the improvements in roads and defences of another. If the property in the North be worth keeping, it will pay for the cost; if it will not bear that, it is not worth retaining. We are told we, in the Middle Island, are partners with the North Island. Of course, this implies that there is an analogy between our political relationship and a trading firm. If this be true, it follows that we are justified in looking upon the connection between the two islands as intended to be mutually beneficial, and that there shall not only be a fair division of profits, but of expenses. But our directors, instead of that, lay tlio expenses on the South, ami give the profits to the North. No mercantile firm would consent to carry on a partnership of that sort. They would very soon point out to the branch in the North that, as it did not even pav its own expenses, the partners there must cither give up business, or transact it on their own account; for it was no use allowing one unprofitable section to impoverish the rest. Perhaps Mr Yodel’s proposals are fairer towards the Middle Island than those of any preceding Treasurer, but even they only extend to the idea of an equality of claim, and do not recognise the localisation of expenditure. This is, in realit}’’, what Mr Reynolds has brought before the country by his motion, and, as wc shall shortly have a general election, it w;is necessary to bring this idea prominently forward, in order that it may form, not a mere hustings cry, but a principle which every elector in the Middle Island must insist upon his representative advocating. In this view, the motion was not ill-timed but necessary. It would be mere waste of printers' ink to reproduce all the idle rumors trumped up in the North about probable Native troubles. The Northern journals appear to have become so accustomed to Native difficulties that their readers would miss their usual excitement were there no bogies raised about the disaffection of the different tribes. In fact, it is rather amusing to read the correspondence of the Auckland journals. Only a week or two

ago a letter in the Herald , under two different dates, raised an alarm in one and contradicted it in another. But even these straws shew the direction of the wind. We are not safe from Northern troubles. They arc never likely to be so severe as they have been ; but, on that ground, the North will bo bettor aide to bear too expense. We have done more than our share in that direction. The next thing will \)e, we suppose, making railroads in such districts as Patoa, as suggested bv Major Noaices. Strange that not even Major Richardson ever asked the Government to make the Clutha Railway for Otago 1