The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1873.

Evening Star, Issue 3276, 20 August 1873, Page 2

The Evening Star WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1873.

There is a class of persons so apprehensive of coming evils that they never can look straightforwardly on any subject that comes under notice. They are always on the look-out for the .dark side of a question, and having discovered that, they cannot see any other. Our contemporary, the Daily Times, has a special faculty of this character, and seems likely to lead the Town into a most absurd act. Opposed to, or silent on the subject of the Moeraki and Dunedin Railway when it ought to have spoken, now that it is routed from its sleepiness, it has in its half-awakened state commenced fighting with a shadow ; and without the slightest knowledge of plans proposed, of cost, or of the nature of the subject on which it professes to treat, the Town is asked to insist upon the line of railway being brought by the NorthEast Valley to Dunedin. Had the Daily Times confined its advocacy to making Dunedin the central station, at which the workshops and all repairs of engines, waggons, and plant shouhi be done, there would have been something like reason in its movement, and our cordial support would have been given to such a proposition. But to insist upon a certain route, lest goods should be taken direct to the port of shipment, is worthy of the genius of the Daily Times. We do not know what route is proposed to be taken, nor does the Daily Times. We believe the plans are only just completed, and have not yet been submitted to the Government, The selection of the best and cheapest is a surveyor’s question, and cannot be satisfactorily settled at a public meeting ; but the folly of the article in the Times is manifest in the reason given. “Dunedin,” says our contemporary, “ possesses large storage accommodation.” Now, herein we believe is the great secret of this very curious move.raent, and we trust at the public meeting the question will be asked, “ What consideration the Times is to have for advocating the cause of ‘ stores to let?’ ” If the argument means anything, it means that corn, wool, hemp, and all other goods shall stop at Dunedin, be stored for the special benefit of one or a few Dunedin store proprietors, who will be entitled to be paid for taking in and delivering out, beside certain charges for cartage and other laborage, and then forwarding to Port Chalmers for shipment. That is, that all the producers of the Province whose produce is exported shall be subject to special taxation for the sake of a few warehouse proprietors in Dunedin. This is a new view of a railway system. Our idea was that it was intended as a means for cheapening transit, and thus adding to general prosperity. That, by cheapening carriage, wider markets might be available. The superior wisdom of our contemporary has discovered that we must cheapen carriage on one hand and make it dear with the ether ; that whereas the cost of one loading and unloading only, would be a saving, it is advisable to load'and unload twice lest there should be saving; ■ that although passengers going by sea might, possibly, by one route reach the port of sailing in, say fifty miles, they shall be dragged some twelve or fourteen miles further at additional wear and tear of rails, engines, carriages, and cost of mileage for the sake of passing through the Dunedin railway station. The cheaper plan for those who are moving the Times for their own advantage would be to say how much a year they will be satisfied

with, and for the Provincial Council to vote them the money. It would be far better than spending fifty or sixty thousand pounds extra in railway construction, and taxing the Province incalculable thousands in extra cost of working the line through a series of years. The Timas this morning rejoices in the commotion it has raised ; but we trust the common business sense of the people will lead them not to pass resolutions based on error, or on insufficient and interested information. Let us first know if there is a grievance to complain of, before we commit ourselves to pointing out a remedy.

The tone of the members of the North Island on Native matters does not indicate that cultivated conscience of right and wrong that the Middle Island has a right to insist upon. We are somewhat in the dark as to the Bills which have been introduced into the House for protecting Native interests. There may be some reason in the objection raised by Mr T. B. Gillies that the Maoris are looked upon more as children than men ; but when he stated that twenty years since he looked upon the Native question from a Middle Island point of view, and now regarded it from a North Island one, we are led to consider the difference between the two. He really meant to say that the Middle Island objected to the sale by the Natives of their land to the North Island colonists in that loose, reckless, and unsatisfactory way in which land speculators in the North wish to acquire territory. He would have the Natives free to sell their land for drink or anything else, and ask the Middle Island to compel the observance of the unholy contract by force of arms, if necessary. That is what the North Island means in the term " treating them as men." We believe there is much truth in the description of North Island social morality given in the letter from Auckland published in the Daily Times. That Province, like King John of old, may fairly be surnamed "Lackland," and apparently its inhabitants are not slow to claim partnership with Provinces in which some portion of the public estate remains undisposed of. Improvident in the disposal of its land, Auckland does not appear to have realised that the natural consequence is to provide for Provincial improvements by special taxation on property. Nor is there injustice in this. Those who acquired landed property, obtained it for a mere trifle, and have been secured in their possessions by immense sacrifices of money by the rest of the Colony. If, therefor*, they are now required to pay for improving their own properties, they sheuld consider themselves well off; and it is a most impudent assumption on their parts to say in times past " our property shall be defended at the cost ol the Colony," and in these days, " although you have paid dearly for defending us, our estate is sold, and we will have a share of yours." We look upon this as convincing evidence of what General Cameron represented to the Home Government years ago. He showed that colonists did not so much require protection against the Maoris, as the Maoris against the colonists. The North Island view is " get land—no matter how—get it. Get it from the Maoris for grog, or at threepence to sixpence an acre. Never mind their title, the Colony must settle that ; and if you cannot get land from the Maoris, get a share of it from Otago or Canterbury ; never mind their title to it. It is wanted in those Provinces for the construction of public works on its security or sale—never mind that—we North Island people want public works too, and as we have no seeurity to offer, they must find it for us. It is true the progress of Otago and Canterbury has been retarded, their revenues wasted, and their inhabitants heavily burdened with taxes for our sakes. What need we care? They have land and we have not; we want it, and we will have it if we can get it." This is the Northern point of view. How does it look when stripped of sophistry 1 We once held a very high opinion of Mr T. B. Gillies and much regret that we have to change it. He is but another instance of the danger of associating with bad companions.