The Lyttelton Times.

Lyttelton Times, Volume V, Issue 316, 10 November 1855, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times.

Saturday, Nov. 10. It would be an amusing study to watch the different forms in which Provincial feel- o in^s break out in the different Provinces of J New Zealand. The system of separate g Governments, which they enjoy, gives full 0 scope for the indulgence of such feelings, t and the want of communication between the « different Settlements tends to foster them T to a pitch which could scarcely have J believed. If, however, the other Provinces [ of New Zealand afford from time to time . anything peculiarly racy in the way of le- \ gislation, or of Government, Otago always j manages to eclipse it. The last time we .* heard from Otago, the proceedings of ' their Provincial Council were the most ] amusing; by the last mail we have re- . ceived "the " Otago Witness," publishing and commenting upon a Message of the Superintendent's to the Council, which we should have read as a hoax, if it had not been a republication from the " Otago Government Gazette." We cannot do better than give our readers a few extracts from this extraordinary document: — " Message No. 20. Superintendent's Office, Dunedin, 1855. To the Provincial Council of the Province of Otago. Gentlemen, —I received with pome surprise your address on the subject of home emigration. I had hoped, after the manifestations of the public mind upon this and other points on which I had been unable to concur *.. ith you, that the session mL'hi have been allowed to close without pausing on its remaining business for the purpose of raking up a bygone and settled affair -—debating thereon at great "ength, and carrying a resolution, which it behoves me to reply to. It is no doubt lamentable to have incurred the renewed and tin measured censure of the bare majority of your Council, but it is a comfort and encouragement lo find that the views I expressed in my message on this subject No. 5, Dec. 5, and ihe terms on which I assented to the Ordinance, a_* published in Gazette No. 17, have been practically confirmed and responded to by the Province, without a dissentient voice. "The rules which were prepared under the Ordinance thus assented to were approved by your Council. One of them gives liberty to al) settlers in the Province (no exception whatever), who may wish to get out their friends, to apply for them, giving guarantee for repayment of the j cost of passages: —and, corresponding with this j ruie, an obligation is laid upon the home agents that the parties lints guaranteed shall, if found qualified, have the preference over all other applicants for assisted passages. And what has been the result of this? Applications with guarantees have been lodged to an extent almost equal to the whole sum appropriated for passages, aud without a solitary exception, the persons so applied for are north of the Tweed—a circumstance which fixes also the place of embarkation under another of the adopted rules—viz., that '* tbe ships be chartered from ports most convenient for the bulk of the passengers ;" and thus have the Otago colonists themselves made the proposed London agency a nullity; and even so, I believe, will it prove in England also. I aseen.ed to the Ordinance for the reasons then stated, and under the full conviction that the gentleman named therein _s independent London Agent would make himself no party to the object, and besides bis being wholly engrossed {yithpui-lic duties, that he is 100 much of a man

of business to have anythingtodo with anarrangment so conflicting as that of separate Agencies for the application of one fund, without any authoritative and responsible head."

Ttis in vain, gentlemen, to reiterate in your unsavoury Resolution the charge of illiberality upon the Executive. The public will not be so deluded, nor will it fail perhaps to form its own conclusions as to the taste and judgment of the principal leader of your resolution, even as it has practically decided both upon Immigration and die land question.

But to be "still more explicit—for the public has a right to be fully informed. One of the principles of the Settlers' Association was what may be called the assertion of a fact—namely, that Otago is essentially a Scotch colony—an off-iboi.of the Free Church, but embracing all other Presbyterians (together with those in general who can adhere to the Presbyterial form) under the generic name of the Church of Otago;—and thar of such parties does the mass of our colonists consist, whilst at the same time the colony is as free to all other persons, British or Foreign, as is Scotland itself to the same parties. A reference to the " Otago Witness," No. 79, at the time of our elections, will show with what care a candidate had to clear himself from having unwittingly given his name to a party that had been playing into the hands of a hostile Government, and whose object was, by falsifying statistics, and calumniating our people, to deprive them of their nationality and their rights. Undoubtedly, then, the principle referred to—that of upholding the fact of our being a Scotch colony, was one, and that too the leading one, that affected the elections.

Gentlemen, you maybe liberal—and I have no wish to gainsay it—but as for me, I cannot afford to be liberal at the expense of a people's rights. They themselves may renounce their origin and say —" We are. not Scotch (a rather unlikely thing however,) but I will in no degree do it for them and without their consent. Nay, more, I would advise them against it, because of my conviction that English Guardsmen aud Scotch Highlanders got on all the better at Inkermann (as on many other hard-fought days), because of tbe inspiring nationalities of each corps,to their mutual respectand unbounded confidence in each other; and even so also I believ# it to be in regard to the peaceful and somewhat arduous tug of the Canterbury and Otago Settlements. W. Cargill, Superintendent. * * • »

The " Otago Witness" makes the following remarks upon His Honor's Message: — "We have this week published, at the very urgent request of the Superintendent, a message from his Honor to the Provincial Council in reply to a resolution on the subject of the Immigration Ordinance. That message has already been before the public, having been printed in the last Gazette. It was not transferred to our columns, as we have for some time ceased to give the rather lengthy messages of his Honor, as not being sufficiently interesting to call for their publication. Why his Honor thought the publicationofthis one,even in the Gazette, neeescessary, we are at a loss to conceive ; but since bis Honor attaches so much importance to it,and uncharitable motives have been attributed to us f«r not reprinting it, we have complied with his Honor's wish. The message is a document which will be read by his Honor's friends with regret, and by his opponents with satisfaction. The latter actually offered to pay for it as an advertisement, but we declined to print it, as we conceived that the exhibition of such illiberality, and revival of the discussion upon this subject at the present time, would be especially injurious to the interests of the Province. We further supposed that the message was transmitted to the Council merely that his Honor might have the triumph of having the last word upon the subject."

" What can his Honor say to the fact, that at a public meeting, called by hi- Executive to support his views in this matter, when his wh .le force was mustered by the diligent and energetic whipping-in of his Executive and supporters in the Council—we say, what can his Honor sayto the fact, that at a meeting, called under such circumstances, out of several hundreds who were present, he had scarcely twenty supporters ?

Then as to the message : its tone is sneering, as of one who has power, and will exeri it, right or wrong; its delivery is insulting, as of one whom power has set above courtesy; and its statements are incorrect, as one whom power makes rash. The people of Otago never expressed a wish that all immigrants should be from the north of the Tweed. They were charged with it, and they invariably denied that suclAvas their wish. The Council never approved the Rules prepared under the Immigration Ordinance *, it considered them childish and look no notice of them. The Settlers' Association never for a moment contended that the selection of immigrants should be from the north of the Tweed ; that body was far 100 liberal to hold such views. Even the New Zealand Company's agent and Commissioner of Crown Lands never held such views as the Superintendent now tries to enforce. The Crown Commissioner was then the personification of liberality. Power, however,■ w.nderfully alters men. But were the facts otherwise, the contributions to the Immigration fund were then voluntary, and were derived only from sales of land within the Otago block •"■'now the whole community are taxed for that object, and the burden falls upon every man," woman, and child, be they Scoieh, English or Irish, within the Province. Such a change in circumstances would justify a change in policy were it needed, but we contend that a selection of immigrants was never supported upon any other grounds than those of sound moral character and skill as workmen. However much the power of selection may have been perverted lo a less liberal use, these, and these alone, were the arguments by which that power was supported. No person denies that the majority of this community are Scotch, and the colony, we believe, will ever retain somewhat of the character of its original foundation. The very argument used by his Honor to show that his views are approved of by the public, viz., that the majority, nay, almost all the immigrants, whose passages are guaranteed, are from the north of the Tweed, is the very best argument that no such absurd and illiberal restrictions as those proposed by his Honor are required, though undoubtedly the small number of others may be accounted for from a feeling of the hopelessness of an application in the face of his Honor's animus; whilst, however, his Honor may by such illiberality deter others, he will not induce one Scotchman to come to the Province, who would not otherwise have joined us." The resolution of the Council must indeed have been very unsavoury to draw forth such an unsavoury answer as that of the Superintendent. Poor Capt. Cargill ! why should the Province interfere with his predilections for his countrymen " north of the r|Tweed ?" If the'illiberality of design checks the advancement of the Province, the Scotch settlers will, at least, enjoy the pleasure of living among their own people — undisturbed by any false Southrons.