The Evening Star. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1871.

Evening Star, Volume IX, Issue 2690, 30 September 1871, Page 2

The Evening Star. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1871.

The natural consequence of the' land agitation in Otago is rapidly developing itself in the House of Representatives. We pointed out long since that the faction which has proclaimed its crude and ill-formed opinions so loudly, was paving the way for the General Government taking the management of the lands into its own hands. For the expression of this opinion we have been denounced in a great variety of not very complimentary terms by a great variety of very ill informed men, and by not a few who ought to have known better. We do not offer an opinion upon the debate that took place in the Assembly on the subject, beyond saying that it was impossible such a Bill as was sent up for its approval could be allowed to pass. Most likely the Bill will pass its second reading on the groundjthat it is customary to allow Land Bills to do so, although it is not likely to go beyond the ordeal of a committee. It is much to be regretted that Otago’s interests are suffering so much from the consequences of a mere faction having been dominant for so long a time. The refusal to act upon straightforward common sense principles in conducting the affairs of the Province, has destroyed that influence which it should have exerted in the Council of of the Colony. Mr Reid lias attached himself to Mr Stafford, whose interest as leader of the opposition is . to retain his allegiance, as well as that of those bright stars, Bathgate, Brown, Shepherd, and Company. But it is plain he is not prepared to buy their support at too high a price, and will not pledge himself to aid in passing such a strange mixture of incongruities as this pet bantling of Mr Reid’s. We are not surprised at this. The inconsistencies which have marked the whole course of his administrations have been weighed by the General Government and the rest of the Colony, and the balance is sadly against them. Professing to be the especial friends of the poor and the working classes, they have closed the land against them, and exhausted the funds that would have given employment, in payment of a Civil Service waiting for work. They allowed the Province to lapse into debt, although they had means at command to have provided for meeting all its engagements. They thwarted every effort made for the advancement of the Province : they first opposed all public works by the General Government, and finding that useless, they fell into the opposite extreme of advocating every petty local scheme that any body chose to propose, and finally ended by refusing to accept that aid to immigration on which the ultimate success of the public works scheme must rest. When we look back at the events connected with our Provincial administration of the past two years, we can hardly arrive at any other conclusion than that it has been characterised by a self-seeking for notoriety that has driven the leaders in a course that no prudent man would have followed. It was evident on the meeting of the Council that there was a rush to the front amongst those members who estimated themselves equal to the res-

ponsibilities of office. The best men would not stooj) to the necessary clap trap at the polling booths, foe they were not prepared to make promises that if kept would have been detrimental to the public interest; and, although there are able men in the Council, they were not all allowed to take the lead. The consequence has been that to please their followers the Reid administration has been obliged to allow them to make the Province look ridiculous in the eyes of the Colony. The railway resolutions seemed as if they had been passed in joke, when such places as Waikouaiti and others asked that termini might be placed there : and they must of necessity be passed into the waste paper basket; and as for the Land Bill, we are not surprised that the Attorney General should pronounce it unintelligible. Then this 45,500 acres of land sold to one man by the Government, anxious to give every man a cottage to live in t has added another instance to the Island Block business of the elasticity of the land conscience of the Reid party. We believe that vexy tame advocate of their peculiar views, the Southern League , has tried to persuade its I‘eaders, if it have any, that we have misi’epresented that affair when we see stated “ rumor says “it will realise 15s 6d an aci'e.” It is quite consistent with the tactics of the party to say the land was sold at 20s an acre; but that is not any answer to the assertion that it will only “ realise ” 15s 6d ; because compensation to the runholder, besides allowance for survey, have to be made; so that either the Southern League does not know the meaning of " the word “realise,” or it stands convicted of adding another to the long list of misrepresentations by the party it professes to advocate. These inconsistencies and factious follies seem to have induced the conviction elsewhere that the dominant party in Otago is not competent to conduct its affaii*s, and that for the sake of the Province and the Colony the land administration must pass into abler hands. Much as this is to be regretted, few impartial men will be surprised at it.