THE The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1874.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1991, 23 December 1874, Page 2

THE The Grey River Argus. PUBLISHED DAILY WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1874.

The secret of the origin of the Premier's abolition of Provinces resolutions is now out, and the person who has let the cat : out of the bag i 3 no other than Mr Reynolds, who now appears to be the " Jack of all Trades" in the Ministry—Commissioner of Customs, Minister of Justice, Postmaster-General, and no one knows what else besides. It will be remembered that when Parliament met last session, i the Government informed the Assembly i through the medium of the Governor's speech that in consequence of " the urgent demauds upon their administratitn con sequent on the rapid progress of the Colony, and the many matters to which that progress makes prompt attention desirable" they thought it "expedient not to invite legislation upon ques tions which do nob press for immedi. ate solution." It is clear, therefore, that at that time there wa3 not even a latent intention to bring forward the great Constitutional question which wa» raised towards the end of the session, nor did the Financial Statement hint at such a thing. Onthe contrary, the Colonial Treasurer invited the House of Representatives to .] consider the state of some of the ProI vinces, which was one of " constant contribution " to the Colonial revenue, and to approve of special advances to the i ainonnt of £40,000. Nothing whatever was said by the Premier during the session as to the necessity of abolishing the North Island Provinces until after the emasculation of the Forests Preservation Bill he suddenly brought down his celebrated Resolutions. In explaining his 'reasons for making these proposals |he told the Bouse that the question of abolishing the Provinces of the North Island was one that had long occupied his mind, and he wound up his speech by summing up the reasons that had induced the Government to brin^ forward the resolutions, .and stating that " far from the i question being one of no great urgency, he was of opinion it would have been much better if they had dealt with it four years ago." There were many who did not credit this explanation, but ascribed the resolutions to a auddon pique caused by Mr Fitzherbert's opposition to that part of the Forests Bill which proposed to take five per cent, of the whole lands of the Golony. Others believed that how-ever-correctly the Premier had .expressed his own mind on the subject, the resolutions themselves had been hastily- conceived, and could hardly be considered to have the general consent of the Cabinet. This was found to be correct, for after Mr Yogel had moved them, Mr O'Rorke got up and •somewhat theatrically abandoned the Ministry, and denied that his consent had ever been given to the resolutions, and now .Mr Reynolds tells us in his speech to his Dunedin constituents "that when the question of abolishing the Provinces first i came before tha Cabinet, my resolve was to resign my seat in the Government" — but he did not do bo. But Mr Reynolds

for the first time tells us that the resolutions were not the outcome of earnest conviction, or of long careful consideration but the result Jof "private pressure."; This is A-hat Mr Reynolds says :- " Prior to the meeting of the Assembly, the Government, after mature bonsidera l tion, decided upon the policy it would adopt for the continuance of the Provinces, and what cash advances should be made them. The result of its delibrations was made known to the Hpusersin the Colonial Treasurer's Financial Statement. These proposed advances did not meet with the approval of several of the Provinces — the cry being "more, more." The Government found that in proposing these advances they had gone to the full limit which it would be prudent to do, and were bound to make a stand against any further strain on the Treasury. Pressure was then privately brought to bear upon the Government to abolish the Provinces, and the Government yielded to take the question into consideration." This it is not the first time that " private pressure " has largely influenced the political affairs of this Colony. During the passage of the Loans Consolidation Act in 1867, Dr Featherstone found out the "power behind the Throne " — to use his own words — which had influenced the carrying of provisions in that Act which deprived the Colony of the benefit of the consolidation, and gave thousands of pounds into the hands of avpowerful banking Corporation, whose chief had brought "private pressure" upon members during the passage of the Bill. Is ie possible that the " private pressure " in the matter of the abolishment of the Provinces came from the same quarter ? Mr Thos. Russell was remarkably active about the Parliamentary -buildings which he pervaded to such an extont that curious people wondered what it was all about. Some said it was the San Francisco Service, some the South Sea Scheme, but none dreamt that he was bringing "private pressure" upon the Government to alter the Constitution. But Mr Reynolds, indiscreet, but honest, straightforward man, has now told us all about it. Although it does not matter much how the Resolutions of Mr Yogel, or any other Ministerial actions originate if they are likely to be of benefit to the Colony, still it is a singular coincidence that the one and the same individual representing the B%nk of New Zealand should, on two large and important questions, be able, by "private paessure," to jdirect the policy of the Government of New Zealand. The extract from Mr Reynolds's speech, just quoted above, goe3 to prove that the necessity for providing monetary assistance for the Provinces was becoming embarrassing to the Treasury, that neither the Colonial Treasurer nor the Colonial Banker could see their way to provide the accommodation asked for, that Provincial borrowing was not to be thought of — and that the two financiers putting their heads together it was agreed that to aboliph Provinces, and place the land revenue at the disposal of the Colony was the only thing to be done. Possibly their opinions may prove to be correct. At the same time Mr Reynolds has lifted the curtain, and enabled the people to form some idea of those hidden springs which influence Governments behind the scenes.

100 yds 200 yds 30.0 yds 440 yds M. Eraser ... scratch scratch scratch 3 yds. M.Dornan... 2 4 6 8 D. Twohill.. 5 10 15 18 W. Cochrane 4 8 10 12 D. Cochrane 5 10 15 18 A.Scott ... 7 14 20 25 S. Long ... 7 10 15 18 E. Long ... 5 8 10 10 C. S.Todd... 2 5 6 10 F. W. Jones 2 v 5 8 10 Joe Heaphy 2 5 9 15 J.Doyle ... 3 4 3 scratch W. Corbett 7 12 15 20 — Clarke ..10 15 20 25