ABOLITION OF THE PROVINCES.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 94, 18 September 1874, Page 4

ABOLITION OF THE PROVINCES.

The Otago Guardian of the 4th inst calls attention to the fact that the great majority of the people of Otago are in favor of the abolition of provincial institutions. Our contemporary says : Now that the din of political warfare has ceafcd, it is well to look around and inquire what view the country at large takes of the late Constitutional struggle. As we pointed out in a recent article, the people of Otago have silently acquiesced in the proposed changes. The Provincial Solicitor was put forward as the oracle of his party to arouse ths slumbering enthusiasm of ultra-provin-cialists. But the attempt was a most conspicuous failure. His eloquence fell dead on the ears of the multitude—possibly be-

cause the heart of the people did not beat responsively. Something also must be ascribable to the entire absence of pith and marrow in the learned orator's utterances. The flash —the glitter was there, but it was the glitter, of paste—the flash of a Bristol diamond. Even the fervent denunciations of a M'lndoe failed to arouse any sympathetic feeling of hostility to the de-provincialisation of the Northern provinces. We would say that the effect of Mr Stout's great speech was ephemeral, but we cannot with justice do so—it was less. Such being the result of an attempt to stir up the masses in the suburban locality of Caversham, what, let us ask, would be the effect if the question were raised farther afield ? Wo do not know, but it is just within the bounds of possibility that in some of the rural districts, public feeling may yet be strongly in favor of the system which created and fostered settlement in the early days of Otago. It is only natural that this should be so ; and we can respect the feeling that induces men to cling to the institutions which have " grown with their growth, and strengthened with their strength," until they have come to regard them as inseparable from the welfare and prosperity of themselves and of the land wherein they dwell. But if the press be that which, to be of any value, it should be—a true index and reflex of the popular mind—this feeling cannot be very strong. Not a single newspaper of any note or significance has pronounced positively in favour of the continuance of the provincial system in the North Island. Some have not yet made up their minds which side to espouse, whence we conclude that their constituents are in pretty much the same dilemma. Others of the Laodicean type blow hot and cold with the same breath ; and not a few have boldly enunciated their opinion that the abolition of provincialism is not only a good thing for the North Island, but would be a " consummation devoutly to be wished" for the Middle Island also ; yes, even for Otago, once the stronghold and hot-bed of provincialism. We confess that we were not not quite prepared for such general and vigorous manifestations of hostility to the provincial system as reach ug from all quarters. Take the Press of the goldfields, for instance : The Tuapelia Times asserts that " Good and just Government, and a returning of the revenues of particular districts as much as possible to those districts, is what we mainly desire, and ;we feel persuaded this is more likely to be ensured by local bodies, under colonial legislation, than by continuing such powers to the Provincial Governments. If, therefore, this proposed alteration should include ourselves, and secure a more equitable distribution of public money, we shall hail it with satisfaction." Thf Mount Ida Chronicle says—"We do not demur for a moment to the idea of total abolition of the provinces—we complain that it is not as yet proposed. Provincialism has served its purpose. It is now too cumbrous, too costly, and too barren of results too justify its continuance a year longer than is absolutely necessary." The Wakatijp Mail exclaims — " The funeral shroud that will soon bury the curse of provincialism has commenced to be woven, and the hands at work upon it are numerous and active, as the division list shows. The sooner the work is finished, and the system consigned to oblivion, the better." The Arrow Observer declares that " popular feeling goes to show that the ©pinion is that provincialism has served its end, and the time has now arrived when the circumstances of the colony demand that it shall be governed from one centre by a uniform code of laws." The Dunstan and Cromwell papers are speechless in the matter; but, barring these twain, the entire Press of the goldfields of Otago has pronounced against the continuance of provincialism, Looking coastwise, we find Oamaru and Waikouaiti also declaring for the abolition of existing institutions. The Waihouaizi Herald in its last issue feelingly deplores the circumstance of its representative voting against the abolition of the Northern provinces. "For years," says the Herald, " the people of this district have been in the van of that party which has been fighting for true local self-govern-ment in New Zealand, and it is much to be regretted that they should have been so unfortunate as to be represented at the present juncture by so strenuous a supporter of the system which has stood in the way of the development of that self-government. Nevertheless, we do not believe that the sentiments of this constituency will be misunderstood because Mr Gillies has declared himself an ultra-provincialist. We doubt, indeed, whether there is a single constituency in the colony from which a distinct answer in the affirmative would not be received if the question could be put directly to Jit, ' Shall we abolish provincialism throughout the colony V" If we turn to Southland, we find the same tendency prevalent. Of the three papers published in that district, one has not yet spoken at all, and another has only so spoken as to show that it is waiting for an extra supply of mental pabulum before it ventures to express an opinion. The Southland 'Times alone has given any indication of the current of public feeling there, and the Times tells us that " the desire for abolition has been long growing, and is still growing and it may not be long ere it will form part of the question whether it is not desirable to include the Southern Island in the discussion." The country then has spoken through the Press, and its verdict is adverse to provincialism. Is this strange ? We scarcely think so. Seven years ago this question was first publicly mooted, and then it was so overlaid with a personal matter that the famous plebiscite expressed the indignation of a people at the unjust treatment of its elected chief rather than an opinion as to the merits or demerits of provincialism per se. Ever since that time the question then raised has in some shape or another been continually before the country, and now the people, having studied the question in all its bearings, declare that the time is at hand, if it has not actually arrived, when government by provinces shall cease. And the cause is not far to sjek. The true grievance of the country districts is that provincialism is the worst and most obnoxious, because it is the pettiest, form of centralism. The cry of the land is for local self-government, and that can only be obtained by the abolition of the provinces altogether and the division of the country into counties or districts, —the name matters not, —with local revenues and boards of management. This is what is wanted, and nothing less will be satisfactory.