The Globe. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1875.

Globe, Volume IV, Issue 443, 15 November 1875, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1875.

We publish elsewhere, reports of the first two speeches which have been delivered in Canterbury by candidates for seats at the forthcoming election. Mr Tosswill, one of the candidates for the Coleridge district, addressed the electors at Courtenay on Saturday night, and Mr Pilliett, who is in the field for the district of Akaroa, explained his views on the same evening to the electors of Akaroa. Both gentlemen agree on one point; they express themselves as in favour of abolition, and advocate a modified kind of separation. Both appear, from the reports which we have received, to have avoided giving any clear and distinct explanation of how they propose that their scheme shall work. Mr Tosswill merely stated that his plan was to divide the two inlands, giving a Council to each, and having a Federal Government at "Wellington. But he apparently never attempted to explain the relation which should subsist between these two Governments, or what advantage would be gained from such a step. We should have liked to have heard something about the functions of the proposed two Councils. Are they to possess Legislative powers? And if so, how far are they to extend ? Perhaps the candidates do not know themselves. For our own part we fail to see how the colony will be benefitted by such i a change in our Government. Ws!

must have one Central Government if we wish to remain a united colony, but one is surely enough. But were separation carried in the next Parliament, all the so-called evils of centralism would be continued, in addition to those of provincialism. The new Councils for each island would try to centralise the Government at the capital wherever that might be, to the loss of the outlying districts. "What the colony really wants, and what we believe the electors will insist on at the coming elections, is real local self Government. We want our land fund localised and a J ministered by local bodies such as Municipalities and Eoad Boards. And these webelieve the present Government are prepared to give us. If that is really secured one central Government for the colony is quite enough; a Council for each island would in that case be a needless waste of money, and altogether unnecessary. It would have nothing to do, which could not be better done by one Central Government. Separation is only possible by conferring large powers upon the proposed Council —powers which could be better exercised by Road Boards and County Councils. We do not believe that we in Canterbury would be content to have our land fund administered by a Council sitting in Dunedin. Such a plan would perpetuate all the evils of provincialism without any counterbalancing advantages. We should then cease to have even the semblance of local Government. Besides, the seat of Government would be almost an insuperable difficulty. Canterbury would never consent to a system by which her purely local affairs would be administered from Dunedin, nor would the people of Otago be content to allow all their local institutions to be guided by a Government having its seat in Christchurch. The same remark applies to the other provinces of the Middle Island. We cannot believe that any constituency in this island which calmly considers the question will return any candidate who pledges himself to support such a movement. We believe the colony will by a large majority declare in favour of some form of local self-government such as was indicated by the Local Government Bill of the present Ministry.