The Evening Star THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2398, 8 December 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star THURSDAY, DECEMBER 8, 1870.

The prompt action of his Honor the Superintendent in at once complying with the resolution passed by the Provincial Council, was as unexpected as it is agreeable to the Province, it seems very probable that the members of the Council had calculated upon a little longer time to prepare for an appeal to the electors. But the interests of the Province have been played with too long. The depression of trade and industry, the shutting up land from settlement, and the damage to public roads and works through inability to expend the votes of the Council in maintenance and repairs, required decisive action; and the Province ought to be grateful to his Honor for giving it an opportunity of getting rid of an obstructive and tyrannical majority. Only yesterday a deputation waited upon his Honor to ask that a muchfrequented road should be repaired, and rendered safe for the heavy traffic pissing over it; and they were met with the reply—“ To be frank with

“ you, through the action of the Pro- i “ vincial Council our funds are very ‘ “ low, and until the Province can get ( “ over the consequences of that action, “ the Government are obliged to be “ very chary of any outlay.” This is no fancy picture ; it is absolutely true. There was a joke going round the town yesterday that an up-country member, who has done his utmost to assist Mr Reid in bringing about this dead-lock, rushed to the Treasury to secure his honorarium, lest the coffers should be emptied if he allowed others to get the first turn. We were not present, so cannot vouch for the truth of the story ; but report says his face lengthened pretty considerably, and his jaws dropped, when with a disconsolate air he turned away on being informed that in consequence of shutting up the land, the weekly receipts at the Treasury were. a few half-crowns for bush licenses, and therefore he would have to wait a short time for his honorarium. But although the short time really was a few hours, the money paid to that gentleman and the rest of the clodocrats for preventing the sale of land during the last eighteen months would have paid the cost of repairing . that road ten times over. Yet they must be paid while the highways suffer. Precisely the same wayward • action has been taken in the matter of public works. If there is one thing required more than another, it is improved means of intercommunication. Now we would emphatically draw the r attention of the people to the character of the opposition of the Reid faction. It was not to the Hundreds Regulation Act. This is evident, because on their own voluntary recommendations they absolutely gave to the squatters greater privileges than they even dreamt of, or than the original Act provided. The opposition to the Act was because the Provincial Council did not originate it, and were no longer to have the power of obstructing the proclamation of Hundreds. We refer those who question this statement to the Hansard containing the record of the debate twelve months ago. If the electors have the patience to go through i those debates, they will acknowledge 1 its truth. Yet there are country and . City agitators who say otherwise, and many people believe the lie.' The special session this year was taken advantage of to prevent the prosecution of public works, because it was alleged . the Provincial Council could not have 3 the control or disposal of the money. The attachment of the people to Pro- " vincialism has always been founded on the belief that through its operation greater power of industrial develop- ’ ment could be exerted than by any . other form of government. It re- • mained for the Reid “ tail ”to demon- ’ strate that the converse was equally . true, and that through its iustrumenta- : Kty more obstinate obstructions could be placed in the way of progress. The Province, we trust, has learnt that

lesson. The great drawback to our political connection with the North Island has been that through the war expenditure there, all public works in Otago have been stopped. That Avar is over, and the General Government are taking the only Avay to repair its damages, by carrying out works that, but for it, might have been completed long ago. The Superintendent and the people are united in their resolve to have them no longer delayed. One winter has passed, and the people suffered through want of employment. It was Avith the utmost difficulty the Reid Government Avere induced to move a step in mitigation of it. In order to prevent a recurrence of that distress, his Honor has complied at once Avith the recommendation of the Council to appeal to the country; and avc trust such a response will be giA'en as avIII raise the Province to that prosperity Avhich the present Executive have done so much to prevent.