The Lyttelton Times

Lyttelton Times, Volume VII, Issue 457, 21 March 1857, Page 6

The Lyttelton Times

Saturday, Mlarclt\2\si. The letter forwarded to us by Mr. Francis for publication will create no little surprise among our readers. We are informed that other gentlemen in this province have received copies of the same circular. The proceedings of the Otago Provincial Government have always been'totally unintelligible to their fellow-colonists further north ; this circular, however, appears to tell of something worse thon unintelligilility. We hope that some person who understands the Land Office proceedings at Otago, and knows something of the position of those who have lately developed the Bluff country, will enlighten us on the subject. We present the letter of the Otago Commissioner without further comment to pur readers. - Those of them who can understand the, peculiar grammar and phraseology of this curious official document will be at no loss to divine its general purport, and to enter-into the "feelings .of those who have expended labour and. capital in opening the southern country. Some., time ago we stated our' conviction that the Bluff country must soon be erected iiato a separate province. We gave our reasons for so thinking, and we. see no reason to alter them. The. " Otago Colonist" appears tp.be very angry with us for giving expression to an opinion which is.shared by almost • all those who consider that local self-government means something more than a name. Who can say. that the Bluff settlers, at a distance of some 150 t0.200 miles from Dunedin, enjoy local self-govern-ment ? The rhis-goverhynent to which they are subject under the present regime. must

be far more galling than any mismanaged jnent of a central government. At present their revenues are absorbed by Dunedin and its vicinity, their position is insecure, they can have ; but little faith in contracts entered into with the Provincial Government, and their Land Office is one mass of confusiori and mismanagement. At the same time they are mocked by the assurance that they are blessed by local self-government.

Our contempoi'ary the "Colonist" should enquire into the state of public affairs in the Province of Otago before it complains so bitterly oi" the strictures of neighbouring settlements. They would be only too happy to see an efficient and liberal system of government among their neighbours, and would hail it with .as much satisfaction, as if they belonged to the province themselves. But when we hear of a government gravely proposing that immigrants admitted into the -province should come from one particular portion of the British dominions, and when we find all kinds of obstructions thrown in the way of settlers who attempt to develop "for Otago resources which she has not herself developed, we cannot but 'raise bur voice against such ignorant and illiberal proceedings. Our contemporary the.'", Witness" has frequently, in a very praiseworthy nian"ner, attempted to open the eyes of the Otage colonists to the position they were assuming in the eyes of the rest of New Zealand. We hope that that journal will succeed in , maintaining its ground, and acting 'as a check upon the ¥ party which is at present dominant at Otago.

We cannot but refer here to a late occurrence which, trifling as it may appear in itself, givps a very strange idea of the business qualities of the Otago Government It may be in the recollection of some of our readers that a prisoner was sent up from Otago for trial at the last session of the Supreme Court in this province. Our Government was put:to some expense in the malter, not dreaming but that it would he instantly refunded. We understand that by the last mail a letter was received from the Otago Provincial Government evading tiie payment on the plea that the General Government ought to - meet such expenses. In the mean time it is left to us to battle the question, if we think it worth while, with the General Government. In the parlance of the' Skimpole School, it is our embarrassment, not Otago's. This ( new way to pay old debts' may be ' smart,' but we confess to a prejudice in favor of older principles. If' a 1 gentleman were to "pay a friend's hotel bill in the absence of'the latter and for his convenience, 'we cannot but think that he would be very much surprised to receive for thanks a request to get payment, if he could,'.either from the father of the person obliged or from some other person whom he might conceive he had a claim upon. We are almost ashamed- to insist upon the mere decency of paying such a bill the instant it was presented.' But this is not the opinion of the Otago Government. ' Finally, we can aseure the' Colonist,'that we desire as earnestly as it can that in process of time '' Canterbury and Otago may be dovetailed into each oilier.' And it is with a view to such a consummation that we watch anxiously the proceedings of the Otago Government, and deprecate any measures which would be unworthy of * a New Zealand Nationality,' unworthy of the ' Anglo Saxon origin' of the whole colony. We hope that the letter of the Otago Commissioner may be capable of receiving a satisfactory interpretation, (we mean .not a grammatical but a moral interpretatiou),; In the mean time our Otago Contemporary must not be surprised if we consider it our duty to give publicity to .transactions which affect men who are settlers in our province as well as in that of Otago. "■