THE Marlborough Express. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1868.

Marlborough Express, Volume III, Issue 103, 22 February 1868, Page 3

THE Marlborough Express.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1868.

“ GiVR me the liberty to know, to utter, ami to rrgue freely according to conscience, above all other liberties.” —Milton.

When we last week noticed Sir David Monro’s essay on Provincial Government, we were not aware that Dr. Irvine had undertaken to reply to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, who appeared as the champion of Autocratic Centralism. We have now before us a splendid address delivered by Dr. Irvine to the committee of the Nelson Reform League, which we have perused with considerable interest, and consider his arguments generally conclusive, as they are interesting. Its length precludes our reprinting it in our columns, at present, bub we may state that unlike Sir David, he propounds a few suggestions for the improvement of the present Provincial system. On a future occasion we shall notice these fully, and in the meantime make the following extract. He suggests—- “ That the Provinces [should] be divided, not administratively, but for purposes of account, into districts which may be styled counties, according to the natural conliguratiou of the country, each such county to comprise a district of country, which by having a port of its own, becomes a commercial unit; each county to have expended in it a sum, —proportionate to its population—of the surplus revenue of the Province, after deducting its pro rata payment for the general expenses of the administration. Such a regulation as this would have avoided the secession of Marlborough, Hawke’s Bay, and Southland, from these respective parent Provinces, and might lead to their return .” The italics in the above sentence are of course our own, and if the writer will substitute the word “ Colony” for “Province, ’ we should be disposed to agree with himy This is indeed the only cure for the great evil under which this Province has so long been suffering, and with which our readers are so familiar. Again and again have we urged the wrong and injustice done to us, and the remedy for it, namely, the division of the Surplus Revenue upon the basis of the population.

Another extract has reference to the important measure which our townsmen have under their consideration at the present time. He says—

“ Compare...the action taken by our masters. Not content with sapping inch by inch, in each successive year, the powers of the Provincial Governments, and substituting expensive and harassing General Government action for the matter-of-fact but sufficient work of our local functionaries, the Ministry and the Parliament have shaped out a scheme for Municipal Governments, which abundantly provides those fetters, which J. S Mill prophetically condemned. Most of the gentlemen in this room will remember to have laughed heartily at the graphic description given by his Honor the Superintendent to the Nelson electors, of some of the grotesque details of the Municipalities Act passed last session. But he is, 1 am sure, aware that it has also its serious side, and we ought to feel thankful to him as member for this city, for endeavouring—though, of course, as against the men in power, vainly endeavouring l —to have it amended. By its minute provisions on every conceivable matter which a municipality can have to deal with, the Government have relieved the inhabitants of our towns from the irksome, inconvenient, but withal salutary necessity for thinking. The wellmeaning framers of the bill had of course no idea that that would have been of any use*. This is the uniform practice of what are called paternal Governments. One option, it is true, is still allowed to the citizens ; they may adopt the Act in their locality or not, as they please, the same option by the way, is afforded by the (spider to the fly); but I do not understand that there is any means of getting out of this mesh of upwards of 400 clauses if the Act is found obstructive.”