The Evening Star SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1870.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2457, 31 December 1870, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1870.

We have no doubt the prompt action of the General Government in regard to the Clutha Railway will have taken many people by surprise, and especially those who have been systematically endeavoring to throw cold water upon their financial plans. It was, in fact, time they moved —for, had they not done so, there was great risk of the Provincial Executive accepting the offer to do the work on 8 per cent, guarantee on .£400,000. Mr Reid, in his speech in opposition to Mr Yogel, gave evident signs of being inclined to accept that offer. Had it been accepted, as compared with the estimate of the General Government, assuming the latter to be able to carry out the line for £SOOO per mile, the Province would have paid too dearly tor the line in the first instance by £IOO,OOO, and would have been saddled with an annual difference of interest or loss of profit when it paid S per cent., of £l. per cent., or about £17,000 a year. There can be no doubt that two things have led the General Government to adopt the course they have taken. Before Mr Yogel left, a very numer-ously-signed petition was presented, asking that the works proposed should be proceeded with without delaj r . That memorial was signed by the leading merchants, tradesmen, and artisans of the City ; and had there been time to have sent it into the country, no doubt the number of signatures would have been multiplied three or four fold. Some few held back from signing it on political grounds ; some from doubt as to whether the General Government were really prepared to go on with the works; and a small minority because they have not yet sufficient knowledge to distinguish between taxation and reproductive investment. But the majority wisely said, The construction of the railway is offered on favorable terms: the acceptance of them does not bind the Province to any course of action inconsistent with the maintenance of Provincial institutions : if future difficulties arise in reference to the relationship between the two islands, we must meet them on their merits: we accept this offer on the conditions proposed, That it shall be a Provincial charge upon Otago ; and are prepared to insist that any railway constructed ii* other Provinces under the same Act, shall be charged in the same Avay upon the respective Provinces : by agreeing to this proposal of the Government a precedent is established, and a compact entered into that the terms of the Act shall be complied with. AYe consider this strictly the true course to have taken from the first. Mr Reid’s great mistake was that by refusing to accept the scheme, until the contingency happened that he professes to fear of Otago being called to pay the interest on another Province’s railways, he put the Province out of a position to interfere.

Had any remonstrance been attempted about "Northern Railways, the reply would naturally have been, You have no part nor interest in this matter: yon refused to participate in it, and until you are asked to pay, which probably you will never be, you have no right to attempt to dictate. The case is now different. Acting upon the appeal by the people from the decision of the Provincial Council —just in the came way as was done in the case of the Clutha petition —the General Government has taken the matter into their own hands, and it will almost certainly depend very much upon the personnel of the next Provincial Council whether the works will be proceeded with under direction of the General or Provincial Government. In two things, then—public works and the Clutha petition— Mr Reid and his supporters have done more to weaken Provincialism than any Government that has preceded them. They evidently over-estimated their o Am strength and the attachment of the people to Provincialism. They thought, apparently, that the same determined stand would be made against the initiation of public works by the General Government, as was made when, on frivolous pretences, the delegated powers were withheld. But they appear to have forgotten one essential to a correct comparison of the two situations, and that is “ difference.” It is one tiling to receive a direct insult—it is another to have offered a positive good ; and although it may be quite right to resent the insult, it may be very foolish to refuse the good. This is why the people wont behind the Provincial Council. They saw that, owing to its action, a stoppage had been pub to everything. They had waged a war against the Assembly that prevented bringing land into the market for two years, and in consequence the treasury was empty, the settlement of the country was prevented, public works could not be carried on, and there was no profit for the tradesman nor work for the laborer : and this they did in the name of Provincialism. They were requested to consider the railways necessary, and the whereabouts that reservoirs of water for the goldfields should be made, as the General Government were prepared to go on with them ; but they refused in the name of Provincialism. The damage they have done to that name consists in this : It has always been assumed in its favor, that Provincial Governments will be ever more .anxious to secure benefit to the Province than the General Government; but the obstructive conduct of the Provincial Council during four sessions has led the people to petition the General Government to do what the Council has refused to do. We need not say that this transfer of confidence from the local to the General Government is the consequence of Mr Reid’s policy, and is the worst blow to Provincialism that has been given. It beats Mr Stafford hollow.