THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1876.

Mount Ida Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 358, 14 January 1876, Page 2

THE Mount Ida Chronicle FRIDAY, JANUARY 14, 1876.

Fob some years we .have now, in thfe interest of the Guldfielda, waged war swith Centralism in - Provincialism. It has always been quite clear' that a Local Governuientj under conditions of .constant subserviency to the Colonial Parliament-, waukl never give up any jspecial taxation it was {permitted to make temporary use of. -jLook'in,r-baek over the past few years" We "find that the benefits received by, Central Otago from.thu Duae'dia Local Government have been few aud must unsatisfactory, while the administration of interior public works has been of the worst possible: description. The disease has been patent tor. years. The cause of' the disease has only lately been fully understood.

The immense amount of information I now diffused throughout the Colony' owing to the noble: stand* taken bv the Opposition to protect the rights of the people has .enabled - every*, one who chooses to <?o to a little trouble to see not only Ilow Provincialism has of late years proved so unsatisfactory, but al.so, why a it ...has .been. Councils, and Governments' have existed from year- tc year on'sufferance. They have been liable.every year to numberless interferences, and even to the-risk ot sudden and complete extinction without notice from an extraneous power. Not being governing bodies of any permanence they have'always : been worked by those who wished' to " make personal use of them,[just as long and no lunger as ihey had available, waste lands and revenues. The utter want of limitation in the concurrent powers- possessed by the Provincial Councils "and j the Colonial Parliament has afforded an easy means of first of all encour.ig-/ ing. extra vagenee in" the ' subordinate Government, while afterwards refusing to grant, by pressure, upon the con} trolling power, the necessary financial aid it had been encouraged to expectL In this way the disastrous bloi-k sale;& in Otago were perpetrated.. - Centra!-! ! ism - co.uld..not tail_to aeeumpany the? Conservative element- of concurrents I powers forced upou not only the legis-7 i l.itive but also-the administrative opeI rations ot the Local: Governments. 1 | Because we have, with the -mall | ,ani.>unt ol in formation at our disposal, | ticked pretty lustily 1 at Centralistie [ Provincialism we are accused by some | of wanting in candour because we'refuse to embrace the;snurce of all GenI trahsm herself. Nothing can be more | unreasonable.The determined unity I of Otago at- the present; time enables j us to hope that uncontrolled local-go- | vernment in eacbisland will at lastbe I obtained, frejd from Conservative element of any kindsucha local government we hope that will force Provincial representatives to be responsible to the electorates, and not as now be little but harmless 1 puppets with the legitimate excuse for very poor results —-that they have possessed no power. Our leading men-including Sir John Richardson, Mr. Macandrew, Mr. Stout, Mr. RolleHou, Mr. Pyke, Mr. Ijradshaw, Mr. J. C. B; own, and many others, have agreed to insist upon a complete administrative separation of the two islands. A few would prefer complete separation—political, financial, and administrative. We are not driven to that as yet. If one or two local Governments can be in each island, wiih what powers they are endowed with made absolute, we shall not suffer from tho introduction of conservative Centralism as we have done. If i Hago, retainiug her Provincial entity, were endowed .with local Government on such terms,we should not be afraid but that even in the Interior we should receive fair play.

Unless we.ara to be hopelessly swallowed up by Col on kl Centralism we sfiall object to supp; rt.any proposal to so back to-lvrovinci'alism as it has been. The country wants something better, and has a right to get it: .Limiting the Colonial Government to federal powers, while clearly defining and making absolute the powers possessed' by the Provincial Governments—be they one, two, or more, in each island—will solye the problem which, ; as a paper, we were strugglinf to solve in 18/3, when we wrote r— ■' " Centralism or Provincia ism ! It may " sou'nd.paradoxical, but probably b.th '• are best. The more the question is looked into the more difficult it be- " somes to.see a clear way out of the " mazes that have now found for them- " pelves fixed courses up and down the "Colony, much as arteries and their | " subsidiaries permeate the human.-bb- " dy. The true solvent 'in this case " may be thq regulation of a central ! '' heart, which—while not neglecting " the machinery it supplies by regular " pulsation—might imbrue a id keep it " in health and vigor." Th s regulation of the centre is what Ota-go is now determined upon. Wiiile not valuing a , consistency that vaun a itself consistent in spite < f ©ve increasin

knowledge, it is but bare justice to ourselves to point out that the better definition and 5 regulation of the Central Government we have repeatedly pointed out to be the first cure for defective administration by tlie subordinate bodies.