QUESTION OF PROVINCIALISM.

Evening Star, Issue 3776, 1 April 1875, Page 2

QUESTION OF PROVINCIALISM.

Mr E. M'Glashan, M.H.R., sends 11 a lengthy latter on the above question, and we muet divide hie communication Into two parts, the first being given below:— In your recent leader on the "Coming, Ques- “°® <« Provincialism," I presame I am the party alluded to as differing somewhat from your previous article on the same subject. The wort conversation that took place between ns did not give me time to explain my views in sufficient foil* I observe that there is one part of the 222IJ^Sr on yon have overlooked in your “ 4 , w i£ cbl think very materially alters the position of the question between us. Tour subject up again gives me an opporthese views more fully. I have gone into the question probably at greater length fume;jiiiLi Tr y Tai ffi 4, * I will not be considered too discursive. It requires thorough ventilation; besides, I may be excused from the met OXI aocid ent, to vontim/ /lewsbefor# the constituenoy of Eoslyn whom I have the honor to represent, and amongst whom your valuable, paper is largely circulated. Tour leader of Saturday I fully agree with In the mam, and am ghwl your able pea does so much instice to the question, the issue on which must be decided ere long, in fact the sooner the better. To my mind Provincialism, as it now exists in the Worth, including the Provinces of Nelson and Marlborough, is nearly altogether a dead letter, and were it not for the luge land fund of Otago and Canterbury, I fear these two would much he in the same position. The reasons for t.bin statement are many. Ib the North Island there never has been a great landed estate like the South, and that which they had, I agree with you, has not been properly conserved. The blame of this does not rest wholly with the Provincial Governments, for that former Colonial Governments—l do not include the present Colonial Governors, and the colonists themselves most bear their share, it will be my endeavor to show. The Provinces of the North, I have no hesitation in saying, were in too great haste to dispose of their landed estate, at what Mr Wakefield an insufficient price. The land was thrown away into the hands of a few favored men then in the Colony, in immense blocks, at nominal prices, and we have only to look for proof at the large landed estates acquired in most of the Provinces, including Nelson and Marlborough. The system was being re-mtrodneed into Otago; in a lesser degree only, not so very long ago, and I have fears it will again E" o ®* unless sufficient care is take to prevent ?. • Those Provinces, while in possession, made little or no provision for the endowing of hospitals or asylums, nor for educational purposes, hence the heavy draw upon Provincial revenues at the prei the some time, little was comparatively done m the formation of roads and bridges. The Native difficulty no doubt tended to retard Progress.and this must be allowed; but how did this difficulty first arise? Was it not from the land-sharking proclivities of the Northern colonists themselves r What brought on the war between toe two races but this P Land was acquired of the Natives, and sometimes not very justly, at a mere nominal price; and I fear rings still exist in the North, which, if not curbed under the operation of the Native Lands Act, would still *l.® mischief. It is a melancholy tact that much of the land so acquired is still in a state of nature. The owners of it would neither stock or cultivate it themselves, nor would they sell it at a reasonable price to those who would make good use of it, but they held it for specuative purposes. Hence yon may travel for miles uter miles without seeing the smallest sign of settlement, no well-stocked homesteads, no Tniiing g 1 ®*® 8 church “ and spire to point the way to

.. Another cause of stagnation if not decay, made itself very evident to my mind when lately visiting the North. It is a fact that large tracts of beautiful country were surveyed at a great expense, and granted to military settlers. A fatal mistake, as these lands are mostly lying waste. He is a “ rara indeed, who has settled do vn on land so granted. Crown grants have been issued to these favored subjects, but, notwithstanding this security of tenure, in most places no sellers are to be found. My remedy for this state of things would be short and speedy, and I may be excused for stating it. Let the lauds be rated for highway roads, the Government to pass an Act that if the rates bo in sxreax for two years the landwid be sold by auction, thus giving an jpportnnity to bora fide settlers to come into possession. The monies so acquired to be placed in the hands of the Public Trustee, and the balance, after deducting rates and expenses, S® 1 ? over to the grantees should they ever turn up. tuoh of this money would never be applied for, as it is believed, are dead; others have left the Colony never to return. The balance f _, r the most put is in the hands of publicans or speculators, who have acquired it for little or nothing. Another eause is that large tracts of what was confiscated land, has been restored to the Natives, and they neither utilise it nor can they possibly 4? 5 0- M uch °f this is what the settlers call entailed, and cannot be sold, even if wished by the Natives. In the Tauranga district—a beautiful stretch of country, I am informed a late Governor, m the generosity of his heart, gave back to the Natives three-fifths of the confiscated territory, after many valuable lives had been lost and treasure expended, at the Gate Pah and elsewhere, in fighting the Hauhau rebels. I should be sorry to see the Maun despoiled of his land altogether, but °bject w> is the indiscriminate manner in which (so much land Jwas irestored jto them. In the above districts, instead of giving them a block by themselves, thoir lands are scattered in all directions—a forerunner of future evil, when the Pakeha requires of the Maori his share for feuciug the land, and when the road-rate collector upon him for his rates. In justice, however, to the M&on, I have to state that in some places they had large fields of grain, and one hapu had a threshing, mill and a reaping machine. In the foregoing remarks I have stated what I consider to be some of the causes of tbe non-pro-gross of the North, and which, unfortunately, Provincial institutions have not grappled with, and I ?o« to the question of the compact of 1850, (To be continued.)