A GLANCE INTO THE FUTURE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 307, 12 September 1874, Page 2

A GLANCE INTO THE FUTURE.

Under this heading a contributor to the G.R.Argus Writes. as follows:-?/ What will the historian oi a thousand years hence say? Mayhap he will be the self-same artist hinted at by Macauley, and will consequently be well acquainted with New Zealand. And 10, when he silteth on a broken arch of London bridge, sketching the ruins of St. Paul's, and pon . eretb on the glories of fallen Britain, his thoughts may) wander to that "greater Britain" fron/ which he comes, and his curiosity bl aroused to find what was the conditiojof that country in the days when GreXt Britain was in the zenith of her power and splendour. Then, opening Mis travelling trunk, he will take there-, m a ponderous tome, being " A Histo 7 of New Zealand from its discovery >y Abel Tasman in 1642 to the pre-, nt time." Running his finger along I.c index, he- will stop at " Provincialise 1," and opening at the page indicated, he will read that towards the end of <he nineteenth century a population unier 350,000 dwelt in the mighty Republic now so populous as to number its Inhabitants at thirty millions Yet {he country was split up into noe distinct independent divisions, ea.h legislating for itself, and that so cc of the said divisions contained fewer people than at the period wt ja the reader lives, inhabit a mere villag s. The expense of governing in those da tb was ruinous. For every province bad a sort of Viceroy and a full set <5L responsible Ministers to pay; not on!*n

so, but it had a Parliament, whose members were also to be pail handsomely. In addition to all the political heads of departments there were permanent heads, with hosts of subordinate officers, all of whom had to be paid by these much-paying Provinces, some of which probably had a population of t 5000 souls all told. The reader will/ raise his eyes 10 utter bewilderment a/ the patience of his long-suffering ances/ tors, and wonder exceedingly how mm ever could have been so verdant. Bnt what will be his astonishment, nay, Uis indignation, upon going further, /to find that besides all the huge bill of p ytnents to the Provincial myriads, th jre was another mountain yet; that ;he New Zealanders had, besides the Provincial Parliaments, a General Par iament, consisting of 78 memberiOoF a Lower House, each receiving (at out £160 a year, besides many etceteros, and an Upper House of 45 members, each receiving about 100 guineas per annum; that, indeed, the p-in<» of Pelion on Ossa might be adduced ai an apt illustration of New Zealand's expenditure for the matter of law mai ing alone! He might, upon considerat on, however, begin to console himeelf v ith the thought that, if hiß ancestors daid such a ruinous price for laws, ass ur euly their laws must have been very excellent indeed. But even this poor copsol ation must melt away before the stern logic of facts. He will, alafe! ascertain that there was a legal labsryinth in New Zealand more mHzyV more intricate than thatconsiructed of old times by the cunning Daedelua to hide th^ monstrous birfluqf Minos . wife. Confounded and ever^fe_|l-ied, he will wish he could deny his Ajeage, and claim descent rather frotnMhe apes and monkeys championed by Dartyfc than from such a nation of simpletons.* Not being able to disown his progenitors, however, he will grasp at the theory that all this about provincialism is a black lie, fabricated by some Victorian writer (the Victorians snd New Zealanders will thooJiave been for ages deadly foes) to bring discredit upon the nations invincible to the arms of his countrymen. Reading on, he will come to a chapter headed " The downfall of Provincialism." V He will read that when this foul monster had grown to gigantic bulk, and was, like the terrible devil-fish, extending its hundred arms -ground the body of the funtry _6*"squeezS it lb tfeat^in its ll embrace, there i^oso a great :• hero, second Hercules. And the," great irian whose name was Juliup, not Julius Cje.ar, but Julius Yogel attacked that monster with a valor most incredible. There was much fear and great trembling throughout the land, for Julius was dandy bVo?el of all his natioo, and it seemed impossible that he should conquer in the struggle he had entered upon, declarfcgj in the most solemn manner that he would slay the terrible thing or perish in the contest/ The monster was aroused to in/ expressibl^ fury at the temerity of thia mere stripling. It behaved as did the* huge Goliath in the days of old, whel the youth DaVid advanced fco assault hinA with a little aKog. The Bible tells what was the fate of Goliath — he was laid low upon the earth, and his vast head severed from his body by the Hebrew shephard. And even so was it with' the vast monster Provincialism. For after a most terrific contest Julius prostrated it in the dust, and cut ip&j hu«e carcase away piece by piece. ''"'

(.For remainder of News see fourth page.)