PUBLIC OPINION.

Evening Star, Issue 3809, 10 May 1875, Page 3

PUBLIC OPINION.

No man could by any possible chance more completely turn his back upon his former principles than Mr Maoandrew has done. In 1871 he regarded Provincial Government in the Middle Island as entailing waste of time, waste of money, and waste of political energy; now he proclaims it to be the reverse of all this. Then, he spoke with undisguised contempt of “the five Provincial Executives and five Provincial talking shops” whieh squandered the resources of the Middle Island; now, he reveres these as the embodiment of political sagacity. Then, he denounced Provincial administration as wasteful'and inefficient;! now, he proclaims upon the housetop his admiration for their blunders and their jobs. Mr Maoandrew has surely a bad memory, or he is possessed of great audacity. We refer him to the extracts from his invaluable speech of September, 1871—himself Superintendent of Otago, and perhaps the most influential member of the Assembly, who had the reputation of holding Ministers in leading strings—already published by us, and to those which appear in our leading article of to-day, and if he can summon a blush to his countenance, we think one will suffuse his face when he contrasts these with what he has just told the Otago Provincial Council. But it is scaccely probable that the Otago electorate will second his efforts to perpetuate the evils of a system which he so forcibly denounced less than iour years ago. His appeal to their cupidity was exceedingly strong, but the settlers of Otago have mueh more regard for 'principle and political consistency than he gives them credit for. They know very well what it all means. They are aware of the fact that the contest is to retain patronage and power, at the sacrifice of the best interests of the people, as Mr 'Maoandrew himself has so well and truthfully stated in his place in the House of Representatives; while they know, at the same time, that if the Superintendents, and Executives, and Provincial Councils were abolished to-morrow, the land would remain for themselves and their children. The Superintendent of Otago has not stated honestly or fairly.•«—*N.Z. Times,’ The wily Superintendent of Otago has left 2- . ?■ * conjectures the possibility of a dmsidn el Provincial functions between the and bodies somewhftt

akin to the Timaru and Gladstone Board, which occupies a position between Provincial systems and Road Boards. We can hardly help concluding that he, and his political allies under the Provincial banners, have been silent as to that very successful institution, because it has, to a great extent, afforded an example of local institutions doing the work of colonisation, with effi ciency superior to that of a mere Road Board, and with economy far surpassing that of any Provincial Government limited to a similar scale of revenue ; because it has, therefore, offered the readiest answer to those special pleaders who, like himself, profess to know of no alternative bat that of giving all colonising functions to a Central Government on one hand, to the detriment of local interests—or, on the other hand, of imposing it on bodies so limited in their area, and in the character as well as number of their population, as to be unable, even from the paucity in each of large-minded thinkers and doers, to discharge the duties of colonisers with efficiency; while their very large number might even on the cheapest scale increase by very multiplication of offices the oost of the process. But the country is not driven to'the acceptance of any such alternative. Road Boards, even now, are doing good work in the country : with enlarged power# and suitable endowments they will do better; in fact, they will do all that is necessary, in a way that will astonish those who are i\t present opposed to them.— * Tribune. ’