The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1876.

Evening Star, Issue 4274, 7 November 1876, Page 2

The Evening Star TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 1876.

Thb replies received from various parte of the country to Mr Macandrew's invitation to attend the proposed Convention should open the eyes of the Political Association to the fact that there is a mush larger section of the people opposed to their views than they had anticipated. It may not be very pleasant to them to diioover that they have be«n the victims of strong delusion, and that the vaporing they have latterly been given to about people's birthrights, as Sir George i key poetically expresses the nothing he has been fighting for, has been more laughed at than sympathised with by those who have held their peace and minded their own business. Even Oamaru, that seemed roused to an enthusiastic fervor of opposition by Mr Stout's eloquence prior to the last election, hay become sobered down to common sense, and has refused to be fooled into sending a representative to the Convention. This need raise no surprise. What is to be gained by the proposed meeting? Mr Macandrew can only repeat the sentiments he has 30 often given veut to that everybody known his views;-Mr Stout can'only give his ideas and support them, as is usual witu hini, by logical legerdemain. Nobody expect* any result cau take place that will be creditable to our reputation iti Otago for. loyalty WMttitfJudgßm*.. Tki & tfaftt jM

uppermost in the minds of some of theme who purpose attending it that Abolition is a levelling prooMs, dfctribating the riohes of °M Province amongst the Ims wealthy colonißtg of another. Itia no use to point men of that class to the Abolition Act itself, and to thevsecurity it gives for the localisation of revenue; $ hey either cannot or it does not suit them !to understand it. They have but one idea, and that is that Provincialism means self-government, and Abolition what they term " Centralism" —a term in their minds equivalent to despotism. It has often been asked, YY hat's in a name ? And to prove how little, the poet haß truly said, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Precisely so, and, by a parity of reasoning, "local self-govern--5* .tvmW- 6 a,JeaJitar r .tfiough- «% P*^^™ 68 and 'Guatdian' callit 'Centralism." The only drawback is thfit because they have so mis-named it. people who do not look beneath the name imagine there is something dreadful coucealed. But let us look at one single fact illustrative of the advantages of Abolition. Some six or seven months ago the Provincial Government professed to be in great straits for want of money, and proposed to sell to three or four people an areaof land larger than an English county without reference to its agricultural, pastoral, or mineral value. As those gentleT\?£\ P* 8 ) 0 ™ 1 tenants, there is little doubt that, had that sale taken place, settle? ment in that direction would have been indefinitely(postponed. A great outcry was made by the Previncialparty—we exclude Mr Srouiv-beoause the Waste Lands Board faithfully did its duty, and occasion the distress and misery : that must follow, let no such consequences have resulted, nor wit likely that the works undertaken will be stopped, for as Mr Reid truly remarked ?*L? t ? da ? ** the meeting of the Waste Lands Board— "ho doubt the General Go. many ways of raising money that the Provinces had not," and therefore there was no necessity now to force land into the market to meet pressing demands, tiere, then, is one of the first fruits of being from monetary pressure, lhere is no occasion to sacrifice the land to provide the ways and means' of carrying out necessary public works. S w ..SS l3rTimflß ' egrets that the sale of J?^* 1 8 / Ma ia P leased *<> term the 04,000 acres the Provincial Government proposed selling, did not take place. Yet those hilltops" would only have realised one pound per acre, less various expenses, for which now the would-be purchasers would have to pay two, if they could buy them at all. It does not need an accountant to show at any rate, *hat that alone would have been equivalent to making those gentlemen a present of the land. Moreover, the system of deferred payments is found to promote settlement, and that is one that the Government proposes to adopt to as great an extent as possible. Provincial necessities would only admit of a very partial adoption of the system, and when Messrs Maoandrew and Stout bring forth an array of figures to prove how much t e E™ vmce will lose bv Abolition, there should be a contra account of savings set up, the first item of which should be £54,000, with some additions for cost of survey, compensation for cancellation, &c. Without going j beyond what is justifiable, we may also add to that saving the difference of interest between the rates of Provincial and General Government borrowing. Experience shows, too, that what Provincialism could never do, the General Government did in some three years without difficulty. Under the Provincial system no general plan of public works was possible, and immigration was nearly a dead letter. They were necessary to our advancement, and have given additional value to every investment throughout the Colony. It was not Provincialism, but the General Government, that led the way to the public works of j g ° ; ,, at gave Mr Macandrew its aid and enabled him to take the position he has so long held. The Provincial Government was throughout obstructive. We refer to these facts, which are capable of being verified, and ask what the Convention seeks ? To go back to stagnation, or to help the Government to do what they can effect without their counsel? Whatever the object, the Convention is powerless for good, and, we trust, equally so for evil. As a matter of curiosity, men will look on—as a matter of policy, they will not accept its guidance. Our representative system remains to us intact: the only thing swept away is a petty parliament that had no sympathy with, and was too often opposed to the general good.