The Evening Star TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4148, 13 June 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 1876.

It is to be regretted that, under color of an address to the Members of the Provincial Council, hia Honor the Superintendent has published so many statements which are barely half true. We regret this, because the evident intention is to mislead; and although under the new guidance he has submitted to lately, little else could be expected, it Would have been more dignified on his part, and have conduced more to Provincial advantage, had ho been straightforward and candid. Ilia language is intemperate, too, . For instance, how can that be ‘‘reckless’ and .“tyrannical” that was debated by the people’s representatives for three consecutive weeks, and decided in a popularly-elected Assembly by a majority of three-fourths of the number of members ? We leave our readers to decide, W r o need not comment upon his opinion of the comparative intellectual merits of the members of the General Assembly and Provmcial Council. They will al< be the better tora little brain and conscience culture, <t ? 1S hypothetical prediction that should all legislative and administrative power •“ be centred” in Wellington it will be a prelude to years of departmental extravagance, political turmoil, and well-founded discontent is a very safe one. It needed ho wizard to find that out;. but eandor would have suggested the propriety of saying that no such “ admihistrative power” ia intended, cr, it it were, is likely to be couched. Under the head of finance, hie Hond* evidently desires to create a wrong impression. Nothing is so delusive as well muddled figures. It is true the General and Pirovincial

revenues amount to what is stated) but it is not true that Otago MW had or would have had that money to spend in the Province as pnbho revenue; nbr, as insinuated, that it will have to go t<> Wellington to be’ dry nursed. The purely Provincial revenue, alone has -been available for expenditure in the Province; and that henceforth is intended to be distributed by local boards or corporations, which if wisely arranged will be much more advantageous to the Province than if wasted by a Oeutralistio Provincial Council. His Honor, too, takes pride m the prosperity of the Province, and assumes it to be the result ■of the wisdost of: Provincial Councils. This laudation contrasts rather startlingly with his prophetic vision- of adversity- When r’ 6 j 1 !? - P ur P oße to malign the Waste land Board. * The truth is, however, incontestable—Otago is, on the whole, prosperous, notwithstanding the fall in the price of woo |-, But it candor were the rule, instead of claiming credit for the Provincial Coun-.cd.for-its well-being, his Honor would have ®®*d“~“ For this prosperity we have to thank the General Government, for more has been done by it in five years than the Province of itself could have effected in fifty.” We suppose “blind infatuation” has placed a beam in his eye, or he Would have seen that troth.

We cannot compliment the Superintendent on the style and matter of his address. It lacks the spirit of true statesmanship, deals in logical quibbles and petty sophisms, and has no breadth of view. Weak as Sir Georoe Grey’s epistles are, they bear favorable comparison with the last production cf Mr Macasprew’s pen. He has many devoted admirers in the Province accustomed to put faith in his political acumen, and the£ will accept his sayings as soundest wisdom; but he has one thing to learn—he does not know when to yield. Lord Bolinobroke says, “To know when to yield in government is at least as necessary as to know when to lose in trade ; and he who cannot do the first is so little likely to govern a kingdom well that it is more than probable he would govern a shop ill.” Mr Macandrew writes as if he thought Abolition was not completed, and wants'to make others believe so also. But he may as well try to move the earth without a point of support for his lever as expect to revive Provincial Councils.

Not all the king’s horses nor all the king’s men Can call back Provincial law-makers again.