The Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2465, 10 January 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, JANUARY 10, 1871.

It is said tliat there is “ reason in tlie “ roasting of eggs ” : we wish we could say as much for the daily diatribes of our morning contemporary against the Immigration and Public Works scheme. When we were told authoritatively that there was no chance of the loans being raised, we thought we had heard the last of the subject, as surely little anxiety need be felt or expressed as to the expenditure pf money which is never likely to be obtained; and the

article reprinted from the Economist, and made so much of, should at any rate have satisfied those who profess to pin their faith in matters finanpial upon that influential journal. “ In- “ jury to the Southern Provinces ” is too good a card to throw away just on the crisis of a general election; and though it is decided that we are not to get the money, the Daily Times per-* sists in harping upon the theme of where it is to be spent. This is not very logical or consistent; but we presume it is expected to answer a purpose —the rousing the constituencies by a sense of almost personal injury to oppose tooth and nail all candidates who express themselves in favor of Mr Yogel’s colonising policy. We by no means say that we approve of all the details embodied in the various Acts of last session which gave life to this policy. Too much was claimed for the North at the expense of the South Island, and we do not consider it sufficient excuse that it was only in accordance with precedent that Southern interests should to some extent be neglected for the North. For this the Canterbury members who follow Mr Rolleston are and have been especially to blame ; but we fail to see that the repeal of these Acts—and if the arguments used mean anything, they go to this extent—would materially or in any way mend matters, or would by any probability tend to legislation based upon more immediate equity. Wo say “ more immediate,” because although for the present we are powerless to resist any overpayments which may be made out of Southern revenue to meet the interest and charges of the proposed loans, they must be looked upon as an advance merely to the more needy Provinces, for the repayment of which to the Consolidated Revenue due arrangements must be effected. Could we lose sight of the equity of charging the cost of North Island defence upon North Island property, and thus put aside the feasibility or not of the restoration of this balance of credit, we believe that it would be a saving of money to the Southern Island were it to undertake on its sole responsibility the intimated works in the North. There can be no end seen to Native disturbances, and consequent insecurity of life and property, until the country is opened up, and communication rendered easy. And men acquainted with the subject say :—Main arterial roads will not merely “ check ” Maori combinations for mischief—they will simply render them impossible ; and the necessity for spending from £250,000 to £300,000 a year for “ Native and “ Defence purposes” would cease almost simultaneously with their construction. We are now putting before our readers the Government’s view of the matter. Their notion is that if life and property were rendered secure, population would speedily flow into the magnificent area of country now practically a wilderness from distrust of its aboriginal tenants. If this be true, and if we cannot shake off* the North Island weight, we are really deeply interested in the construction of main trunk and even branch lines in the North Island, as a speedy means of relieving us of heavy annual taxation : and viewed in this light, and in this only, a false issue is raised when we are told that the works in the North are solely for Northern benefit. We must not forget that provision is made for charging the interest of the cost of public works Provincially—an arrangement which, if adhered to, neutralises the charge of injustice against the Parliament that sanctioned the Acts. The article in the Economist above referred to is intelligible, and admits of argument. It simply condemns the whole policy as a policy; and although we detect the Roman hand of a politician not unknown to New Zealand, it is, while written no doubt to serve a party purpose, fair enough from the point of view taken, and entirely free from the personal bias which is so conspicuous in most of the Opposition papers in the Colony, We allude to the article as “ Intel- “ ligible,” because in this it affords so great a contrast to what is being said and written here. Whatever may be thought, nothing has yet been avowed in the direction of direct opposition either to the policy of raising money by loans for the development of the Colony, or to the decision of the Parliament that Public Works and Immigration will load to such development. These are the true issues to place before the people, and they are diligently withheld by Mr Reid and his friends, who are ever twanging on the one string, which seems to strike a sympathetic chord in the electoral heart—- “ Tire Provincial revenue is in dan- « ger ! ” This is the battle cry of those who supported the Executive in the now happily moribund Council—men who during the four years’ tenure of their seats have done much to render the very existence of the Provincial system a mere matter of time ; who in their treatment of the finances of the Province have been frugal whore they should have been generous, extravagant where they should have been

conservators of the public funds ; who have steadfastly set their faces against enterprise, and have succeeded in thwarting all proposals for the development of the Province ; who have rendered the Superintendent a nonentity, and the Council a farce. These are the men who now have the audacity to dictate to the electors, and who ask the constituencies to impress upon the policy of the Colony the costly “ do- “ nothingness ” which has well nigh ruined the Province.