THE LATEST MOVE.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2665, 1 September 1871, Page 2

THE LATEST MOVE.

Tuapeka, the birthplace of the Southern league, and our of liberal politicians, has spok.n. The death-knell of Provincialism htva sounded therefrom, and the modern David is typified m Mr Horace Bastings. According to the Tuapeka Time- s, at the conclusion of the meeting of ratepayers of Lawrence to consider hospital matters, Mr Bastings took advantage of tho occasion to pressnt to those present a petition against Provincialism, to which he trusted ever3 r onc of them would attach his signature. Many others in various parts of the province were at one with him in the object he desired to accomplish, and if the petition were introduced into the Assembly this session passed, the affairs of the country would be conducted in a just and equitable manner hitherto unknown. He trusted the Provincial Council of Otago would never again jn.et, but would meet with that fate which should have overtaken it long ago, namely, that of bdng hurled into the Bay, never to be resuscitated. The following jis the petition referred to, which is being numerously signed in the Tuapeka District : To the Honourable the House of Representatives of New Zealand in Parliament assembled. The petition of the undersigned residents of the goldfields and interior districts of the Province of Otago. Humbly Sheweth, — 1. That the greater number of your petitioners came to Otago upon, or shortly after the discovery «f the goldfields in the year 1861, and from that period up to the present time had, and still have, grave grounds of complaint against the administration of the Provincial Government of Otago. 2. Your petitioners have, until a short time since, been deprived of the proportion of representation to which they were fairly entitled, in consideration both of their numbers and the importance to the Province of the industry developed by them. 3. Your petitioners complain that the Provincial Council of Otago has, as a general rule, shewn a determined opposition to proposals made for relieving the industry of gold mining from the ciurmous special taxation with which it has heretofore been burdened, and that the representatives elected for the older settlements of the Province have, as a rule, exhibited a selfish, intolerant, and illiberal disposition towards your petitioners and the great industry which they have been the instruments of establishing. 4. Your petitioners assert, and challenge proof to the contrary, that not even the semblance of fairness has been shewn to them in apportioning the expenditure of the revenue of the Province ; and that even after sums have been voted for roads and public works of the utmost necessity to your petitioners, the older districts have been preferred in the expenditure of the votes, and tho urgent wants of your petitioners have beau entirely ignored and the votes allowed to lapse. 5. Your pedonors would adduce, as an instance of tho way in which they hj ave been treated in this respect, the expend ture of the year ending Ist April, 1860, in which the Government of Otago expended L 25.000 without the authority of the Provincial Council, while sums which had been voted for urgent public works in the interior, amounting to LI 7.009, were allowed to lapse. G. Your petitioners further complain that every obstacle has been thrown in the way of settlement on tho public lands in the interior by the Provincial Government neglecting or refusing to open up laud at the proper time ; by charging excessive fees for survey and other matters, and by extraordinary delay iu giving occupants a title : and although during the last few years a little has been conceded to the urgent solicitations of your petitioners, yet the injury that has been caused to their interests can scarcely be now repaired, and they have little confidence in receiving any greater consideration for the future. 7. Your petitioners are of opinion that in addition to the matters of complaint before mentioned, and which your petitioners submit are sufficient to shew that the system of Provincial Government is inefficient and unsatisfactory, the same is unnecessarily cumbrous and expensive. Your petitioners therefore pray that your Honourable House will take the premises into their consideration with the view of removing your petitioners from the control of the Provincial Government of Otago, assigning to them a fair portion of the general and land revenues arising from thoir own industry, and devising a system of local government which shall be free from the evils of which your petitioners complain.—And your petitioners will over pray.