The Evening Star. MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4255, 16 October 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star. MONDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1876.

Mr Thomson's motion in favor of the next Beasion of the General Aoaembly being held at Dunedin is not likely to be passed by the House ©f Representatives, amd even if it were, the result would probably be similar to that which followed the passing of a resolution to the same effect moved by Mr Micaudrbw two or thuee years ago. The House desired the change, but the Ministry preferred to remain in "Wellington, and this feeling was shared by those Civil servants whose duty it would have b*en to accompany the Assembly to Dunadin, in the event of its holding a session there; and when such great people wish to refrain from doiag a certain thing, there are always plenty of little on«s ready to supply abundant and cogent reasons whythefcSng akould not bp 4oh», io that, when th« AnndAlj next m»t^

at# Mk*l wky Jta ocfatt bat few ffisotoyed, a Jong away ©f fowridabT* objections was H 0 ™- 8 * by way of excuse. Nevertheless, Mr Thomson's motion ean be supported by substantial arguments. The Assembly is at present hidden from the view of all the inhabitants of the Colony except those residing in the immediate vicinity of the City of Wellington. It is -under a cloud. The people of Obago, for example, hear the noise of a wordy combat in one comer of Cook's Straits, now waxing, now waning in strength ; anon a warrior, hot with strife, emerges from the mist, and gives his version of how the battle" is going; then another warrior makes his appearance and tells an entirely different story ; and while the gentle public is ruminating upom the discrepancy, telegrams flash -rapidly through the darkness and daze the public mind more than'ever. Soberly, it is practically impossible lor people at a distance to accurately comprehend what is transpiringin the General AssOmbly. To get at the real faets requires not only a nund aoute in analysis, but a thorough knowledge of the political circumstances of all parts of the Colony. The mass of the people are perforce compelled to take their political information on trust, and it would be too much to expect that they should not be frequently misled—not necessarily from intention, but sometimes from that cause, and sometimes from sheer party blindness. The removal of the Assembly to Dunedinfor one session would dispel this mist, at any rate for that session, as far as Otago is •onoerned. It would bring the Parliament into the largest centre of popnlation in the Colony, where its action would be subjected to the searching criticism of extended public opinion beyond anything possible in Wellington. All the members who voted for the issue of free railway passes to the Colonial legislators ought to vote for Mr Thomson's resolution. The main argument used in favor of granting those passes -and it' seemed to the majority of the House a sufficient reason to hoodwink their constituents—-was that it would enable members to make themselves personally acquainted with the different parts of the country, and so help to fit them for the discharge of their Parliamentary duties. It was remarked by Mr Reynolds, during the great "free pass" debate, that it would pay the Province of Otago " if the settlers were to contribute eight or ten or even twelve thousand pounds to pay the whole expenses of members of the House while they visited Otago. Until about a year ago some of the members of the Government had never been farther south in fee Middle Island than Nelson. The hon. member who was now ait the head of the Government, after a great deal of persuasion, had lately visited Canterbury and Otago, and ho must have benefited considerably in his knowledge of the Colony by his visit. There could be no doubt that the hon. gentleman's visit had given him a nrachbetjker opinion of the Colony than he could have had & he had resided ia Taranaki for a wndle century." Tie fact ts the bulk of the Northern members know nothing whatever about Otago or Canterbury, and with the best intentions in the world may do an enormous amount of mischief in legislating for those parts of the Colony. We confess that we do not see how this ignorance can be dispelled except by holding sessions in Dunedin and Christchurch. Very few, if any, members of the House of Representatives are men of leisure, and having spent three or four months in Wellington they require the rest of the year to attend to their private business, and cannot spare time to visit districts of the Colony remote from their own. To the bulk of them, however, it is immaterial where the session is held, so far as their personal interests are concerned.

While the Colony at large would benefit by its Legislature becoming better informed as to the circumstances and requirements of the country, it would also reap the advantage of fuller reports of the proceedings of the Assembly being published in the lecal newspapers. We do not wish to speak disrespectfully of our Wellington contemporaries, but their Parliamentary reports this session have been neither full nor fair. Nobody living outside of Wellington could think of looking in a Wellington newspaper for an accurate account of the proceedings of the Legislature on any particular occasion. People generally trust to the telegraphic summaries, which are necessarily imperfect, and consequently often misleading. It would really be an immense boon to New Zealand if the Assembly could sit even for one session in a town where the lecal journals could give satisfactory reports of the proceedings day by day. The North Island members who had to come to Dunedin in attendance upon the Assembly would return to their homes considerably shaken in their belief that the Empire City is " the hub of the universe." These minds would be enlarged and enlightened : and they would possibly be able to comprehend that it is not without cause that the people of Otago look with jealousy upon the large expenditure of Government money which oonstantly takes place at Wellington, and that if Wellington desires to remain the seat of Government, it must help the rest of New Zealand to reduce the cost of Legislature and of the Civil Service to far smaller proportions than they now display.