The Globe. MONDAY, JULY 24, 1876.

Globe, Volume VI, Issue 654, 24 July 1876, Page 2

The Globe. MONDAY, JULY 24, 1876.

Nothing definite has jet been made public regarding the separation proposals of the Opposition. Auckland and Otago appear to have agreed upon a scheme, the result of which it is said would give Auckland £IOO,OOO a year to spend on reproductive works, after paying her share of the North Island debt. It would be absurd, of course, to venture an opinion upon a proposal the outlines even of which wo do not know. But one thing is evident, Auckland could only be placed in possession of such a sum at the sacrifice of other parts of the colony. Either the South will have to undertake a very large proportion of the burdens of the colony, or else the province of Auckland, under the proposed arrangement, will rob the other districts of the North Island. The Canterbury members have as yet kept their plans a strict secret. They hold the fate of the Ministry in their hands, and if they decide for separation the Ministry must be defeated. But they are anxious to have the voice of the constituences, it is stated, on the question before they come to a final decision. Now, opposed as we are to those repeated appeals to the people upon every question which comes before Parliament, we yet think that in the present instance the question should be so referred. The majority of the present Parliament was returned pledged to support Abolition and the local form of Government sketched in the Abolition proposals of last session. It is true that the members in but few instances bound themselves to any definite scheme of local government. But of one thing we are quite certain, that in Canterbury at any rate Separation was scarcely ever mentioned. Its merits were never discussed, and the electors have pronounced no opinion whatever upon it. Its adoption or rejection is fraught with far more serious consequences to the colony than the continuance or abolition of provincialism was. This latter was purely a question of detail. Provincialism has been swept away because it has become unsuited to the requirements of the colony. The extension of telegraphs, railways, and other means of communication, has rendered its existence no longer necessary, and the country demanded that it should give way to a simpler form of Government. Bat, whether New Zealand shall remain a united colony or not, is a very different question, and must be viewed from a far higher stand-point. If our representatives

have decided on Separation, we hope they will submit their scheme to the constituencies before committing the colony to such a paltry, and, in the long run, ruinous policy. We trust the citizens of Christchurch will take the lead in the matter ; and that they will set an example to the rest of New Zealand in treating the question from a colonial point of view. Christchurch has, on more than one occasion, come forward and nobly represented the patriotic element in the colony. In the present crisis in our history, we hope she will again take her proper place as the intellectual capital of the country.