The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume VIII, Issue 2505, 25 February 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1871.

The inhabitants of Dunedin will shortly be called upon to choo.se seven representatives for the, Provincial Council. It therefore much depends upon the wisdom with which that choice is made, whether the next four years shall see Otago progress, or be as barren of results as the last. The coming Council will have many advantages over the last, so far as the absence of subjects of bitterness is concerned. There will be time enough for that virulent party spirit roused by the recent contest to cool down. The Province has virtually settled the Public Works question : if men will only accept it, the lend between the farmers and the squatters is resolved, and the abstract question as to whether good measures are to wait to be initiate;] by

the Provincial Council, or to be accepted though passed in the General Assembly, has been shewn to be practically determined. If we review the events of the past three sessions, it is plain that much of the time of the Council was spent in noisy declamation on that subject, and in ridiculous efforts by the country party to resist laws passed by a higher Legislature. The real cause of the early dissolution of the Council was a deadlock —an appeal to the opinion of the people from the decisions of the Council. It was not a personal matter, although unfortunately it was made so. The question to be settled was which should make the railways—which should bring water to the goldfields—the Provincial Council at a heavy cost, or the General Assembly at a light cost to the Province. It will be seen, then, that it •was a mere question of pounds, shillings, and pence, and of administration. With regard to the first there cannot be two opinions, The credit of the Colony is worth 'l\ per cent, more than that of a Province, although that Province is Otago ; and therefore it must be plain that it would be a suicidal act to pay 8 per cent, when 5-J----will do. With regard to administration, it will depend very much upon those returned whether or not the Provincial Council will have that control given to them that might be secured by intelligent co-operation with the General Government for the common good. It cannot be expected that any Cxecu.ti.vo would dare to surrender the control of public works to a Council, the members of which bastd their opposition to self-evident advantages on the ground that they originated with an individual. To those who have supported Mr Macanuiuw it must be plain that it is necessary he- shall at least have the help of men not personally opposed to him. In fact, if any of them present themselves for election, they expose themselves at once to the suspicion of being actuated more by party than a desire to servo the public. On the other hand, we do not wish to see men elected who would be willing to promise unqualified support to him. The most able and intelligent men are the least likely to bind themselves to party, and those in the highest positions in society are, as a j rule, tin most free to act independently. I They e,m a film I to set cl hj prism at deliS mice, and have a C''msciimsness ol resi ponsiiuiily that leads them to decide upon : ■ r '?•-■■■■ • inest>on «.»»> ios un-rics, ' There hGo . :-.,d vantage h'O. mi !•:• •. mg educated men v - ; d ; ;r 'e represent us; then ineiud j perity depends mainly on the- gem ed advancement of the Province in mad 1 rial wealth. The last Council made it evident that there was too great a preponderance of two interests--the farming and the squatting. Perhaps in a now Colony this is inevitable, for there is not too wide a choice of able men outside those leading industries. From the country we shall almost inevitably have a return of those settlers with one leading idea, prepared to sacrifice every other interest to it. It must be for the City to elect men of wider views—men who can see beyond a pigstye and cows cropping natural herbage. They are very picturesque objects, and look pretty in a picture when placed beside a rosy maiden and a chubby boy, although the cottage may be mud, and the chimney a zinc case. But as a reality we had rather see these rustic beauties alternate with tall chimnies, and hear the sound of wheels driving machinery, the signs of busy activity, providing markets for the bacon, milk, butter, and cheese without which the chubby boy and girl might prove children of a pauper farmer, vegetatin';; upon a valueless farm. If our rustic population could only be brought to believe it, they are as much interested in the progress of industry and commerce, the development of the goldfields and mineral resources, as any mevcjwint or tradesman. If they could but Pc brought to believe it, their habits of thought and modes of life are not so favorable to attaining a knowledge of measures necessary to secure those advantages as those of person* engaged in trade and commerce. But since surj; a tiling never was known as that plass of men believing it, the people of Dunedin must do their best to protect themselves and our country fellow-colonists against the preponderance of narrow-mindedness that was so marked a feature in the clodocrafcs of the last Council.