The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4078, 22 March 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 1876.

Comment on the speech of Sir Julius Vooel is scarcely necessary, for nothing that can be said in its favor can render it clearer, and. it will be difficult to say anything against the well-defined principles which he advocates. If anything were previously needed to demonstrate /the impossibility of perpetuating Provincialism it is supplied hytho

reasons he puts forward: “It was the ] finance question ” that rendered the change i 1 necessary. Jt was not that the revenue was insufficient to meet the expenditure, but i that on the credit of the country depended the successful carrying out of the public works and immigration scheme, andit was impossible to maintain that credit should the General Government and the Provinces be competing for loans. To every man conversant with business, it is only necessary to state the case in order to prove to him that ruin must result where the head of a firm and every separate member of it is engaged in borrowing for purposes having different and often opposite ends to gain. Co-operation, not opposition, is needed if success is to be achieved; and this has never yet been secured where a number of governing bodies representing conflicting interests are required to make sacrifices for the good of the whole. While therefore it is presumed that the General Government regards each portion of the Colony with an impartial eye, plans for the general good have been thwarted or at least detrimentally interfered with by an endeavor to gain for special districts advantages beyond what they were fairly entitled to. This-is put an end to by the Abolition Bill. Thd “ambition of some Provinces to spend money,” Sir Julius says, very properly, renders it “peculiarly the duty” of

the Ministry “to put the financial position of the country upon a satisfactory footing ;” for “ what could be worse than to have nine Provinces pulling in one direction, and the General Government . . , trying its best to resist the strain’” The plan he proposes seems the best calculated to effect the purpose. It is not what so many shortsighted politicians term Centralism, but a system of decentralisation carried as far as is consistent with public advantage. Treating all men as equally entitled to, and interested in good laws, lawmaking is to be conducted solely by Parliament. Distinctly recognising that every district in the Colony has interests limited to specific areas, law administration is to be entrusted to popularly elected Councils who are to be represented in the usual way in the Legislature. Sir Julius Vogel’s exposition of the Ministerial plan shows that it is adapted to the genius of the people. It is in reality the municipal system adapted to the administrative needs of the whole Colony. No matter whether the administrative body be termed a Shire Council, a Road Board, or a Municipal Corporation, the same principle is recognised:—The power of local taxation, supplementary assistance from the general revenue in proportion to it, and the power of expending the money thus contributed, according to local requirements. This principle of national organisation has been proved by experience to be compatible with the greatest amount of individual freedom and the least amount of Government interference, and this constitutes the perfection of decentralisation. Limits are placed, beyond which the Central government is utterly powerless.. It cannot pass the barrier which itself has erected. There is nothing arbitrary or fitful in functions so defined and circumscribed. The laws cannot be twisted and altered to suit particular circumstances, and every Municipality or Road Board or Shire Council is interested in resisting en i croachments upon those principles on which ; they have in common been constituted. It follows, therefore, that in time to come, when the system has come into operation, ■ should any Ministry be so unwise as to [ endeavor to ignore the privileges of any one | municipal body, it will be the interest of the '. whole to unite in opposition. We know of ' no more complete system of local self-govem-ment than la thus proposed. It has stood the test of experience in all • British-speaking communities wherever it ; has been tried, and we see no reason to doubt its thorough applicability to New Zealand. We are quite prepared to think with Sir Julius Vogel that the change from the petty centralistic system of administration by Provincial Councus to the more liberal and complete control of local matters by the different Municipal Councils and Boards will not be felt by the people, excepting in increased facility for effecting local improvements and in ultimate economy of the cost of government. - We shall take occasion to offer a few observations on other matters connected with the scheme as space and opportunity enable us.

Mr George CoWie, for many years the as-sistant-inspector of the Union Bank in this Colony, has been appointed manager of the Union Bank in Sydney. It id notified In to-day’s ‘Gazette’ that Captain Hutton has been appointed director of the Museum, and that the first of April has been fixed for the election of the first mayor of Tapanui; Mr John Graham to preside on that occasion. The only case at the sitting of the District Court at Oamam-on Monday was a charge against.John Black, of stealing a cheque for Lls, who Was found guilty and sentenced to eighteen months’ imprisonment, with hard labor, in the Dunedin gaol.

By the Otago to-day the Lawrence Fire Brigade have received their new hose-reel, which was made for them by Mr Stoneham, of Richmond, Victoria. It is described by the * Argus ’ as being light, neatly made, of good appearance, and provided with a box and shafts, so that it will carry, in addition to 600 ft of canvas hose, all the hydrants, branches, &c., necessary for getting to work at a.fire.

At Port Chalmers, yesterday afternoon, Mr Mansford intimated that he had consulted with Mr Bathgate as to professional costs, and they had decided to fix a scale as follows for sums sued for :—Under L 5, nothing; from L 5 to LlO, the Magistrate to be applied to ; LlO to L2O, one guinea; L2O to LSO, two guineas; LSO to LIOO, three giiineas. His Worship thought this arrangement would be fair to all parties concerned, and would obviate much inconvenience and misunderstanding. A contractor named Dundas was brought up at the Auckland police court recently charged with working on the Freeman’s Bay reclamation works on a Sunday. The defendant admitted the charge, but urged, in extenuation of it, that he was compelled to labor on that day, though it was repugnant to his feelings, for if a storm had arisen LI,OOO worth of work would have been washed away by the tide in three hours, to the great danger of the harbor silting up. The Bench took an opposite view of the matter, contending that defendant’s conduct was not justifiable as a work of necessity. He was fined 5s and 6s 6d costs, and left the Court with the promise that the offence, would not be committed again under any circumstances. ’

.We take the following items from, our WaikoUaiti and Palmerston contemporaries : —A fire occurred at Moerhki at six o’clock on Saturday morning, by : which Mr John Bablish’s store was destroyed', together with the whole of its contents.—An accident occupied to Cobb’s down coach on Saturday morning when a short distance from Pig. root. The rein of the near leader broke, and the driver made several attempts to recover it, but unsuccessfully. The coach through no fault of the driver (Devine) got into , one of the deep ruts in which that portion of the road abounds, and toppled over. Fortunately beyond a few slight bruises and a severe shaking, ho person was hurt seriously. The coach wisp much damaged about the upper

portion.—Messrs Job Wain and Co. are making very excellent progress with their contract on the Blueskm Railway and the sleepers and rails will soon be laid on the line of formation.’’ The Rev Mr FlamanK has had all his stacked crops in the district of Macraes destroyed by fire. It is rumored that the fire is supposed to have occurred by a child dropping a lighted match near the property consumed. Unfortunately, also, the property was uninsured. Memorials to such august bodies as Town Councils, and the like, are generally couched in the most respectful, not to say humble language. Stern necessity, however, seems to have urged a departure from this course by the citizens of Westport, as a memorial to the Borough Council says “ That the present condition of Palmerston street is a disgrace tcT a town that bnlyposseSßes one street as a main thoroughfare, and is a bye--1 word with persons visiting us, and is inferior to a third or fourth rate street in any other town on the West Coast. That until the last month, when some of the larger stones were broken, Palmerston street was im passable for women and children, and that now the want of footpaths prevent anything like comfortable travelling, while the state of the ditches is giving rise to stagnant pools of corrupt matter, and breeding fever and sickness.”

The Volunteer force of Victoria, which it cost that Colony over two millions to con struct and maintain, is practically condemned as useless by the Cpmmission appointed to inquire into and report upon its condition. .• hortly stated the Commission by its report just issued says every'limb of the service calls for repair. The infantry are not properly armed, the rifles are useless; the artillery are without sufficient batteries, though the guns are good, the gun carriages are either rotten or out of date; and while the shore defences are positively worthless, the Cerberus, which is ■popularly supposed to be a substitute for them, has defects which must be remedied before it is thoroughly fit for its work. Though the material composing the Volunteer force is pronounced to be as good as could be desired, the force itself is declared to be rendered useless by mal-administration and mal-equipment. The standard of discipline is low, and there is no means of compelling improvement. The men are without military instruction, and the officers generally are incapable of giving it them. And as for the garrison corps, it is, in the opinion of the Commission, only an expensive school for training policemen and gool warders, and ought to be disbanded immediately. In lieu of the system which it condemns the Commission recommends the formation of a torpedo corps 200 strong ; garrison and field artillery, 2,000; infantry, 1,200; and a body of trained police, 600; or a total of 4,000 men of all arms, the whole force to be enrolled by voluntary enlistment. for three years, to be regimental in its organisation, and the command of it to be invested in the Queen in the person of some English military officer imported every five years for the purpose, and administered by the Governor, assisted by. a small military council. The Imperial Government is also to be* asked to send out a competent engineering authority to report upon the best means of shore defence.

A ypographio l error crant i>to he esc rt returns as night >he should h>ve. been 6,800 in tead of 5,800 ounces. To-morrow, Thursday, being the 'n>i er-ary of the Province, Sun ; ay hou* wdi be b erved at ad Telegraph t Sices in tago. The Australian SVetchtr’ this month two engravings devoted t * this Colony. ' hat of the entrance to M lfor.l Sound is excellent. From Mr Brai'.hwaite we have re.-e ved ‘Bow Bells’ and the ‘Lade* Jou nai ’ foff F binary, and the ’Loudon Journal’ for the previous month. The annu-1 social gathering of members and friends of the Perth, vngu.*, aud Mearns Association wi 1 take place >n the Drill shed tomorrow (Thurs iay) evening. A Juvenile Temple in connection wit’"* the All Nations Lodge, LO.G.T., PotChdmers, will be nstitutrd by the G. W.C.T., on Tursd y next at 6.30 p.m., in the .'Teamens’ Insd-t-'te. _ The Ros*, Invern- ss, Ax-gyle, a d Roto \ssoci .tion w 11 hoid they first, airnuol re-union in the Temocrau- e'H lt this ev>nn,'. Th« programme for the ■ ccasion wtll consist of tea, a conce. t, and dance. We would iir c**the attention ofpurc untry readeis to aspeci arrargement of the train service between Dunedin and Cluth v on the ace days -Thurs lay, P iday, a d Saturday—wtiich appears in our advertising columns.