ABOLITION of PROVINCIALISM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 244, 14 October 1874, Page 4

ABOLITION of PROVINCIALISM.

The following is an extract from an article on this subject which appeared in \the. Canterbury Press of Saturday last:—

A power of local Government in the largest sense of the term waa necessary to tbe verj existence of a sew society, where the whole social frame and political framework bad to be created, where every onward step brought np some new requirement, Bnd where the only available authority was at such a distance aa to be practically inaccessible. Tbe conditions of a newly formed province were exactly those which reqaired the greatest amount of present, active government and each government could only be erected on tbe basis of specially designed law. Rut this need for tbe means of frequent and expeditious law-making was in the nature of things but temporary. Il was one which as colonization advanced most gradually cease to be felt. New Zealand has how reached a stage in i(s. progress where tbe provinces bave grown oat of the exceptional isolated positions they severally occupied, and when the colony can be considered aa a.wbole. The diversity of laws, once a convenience, has become first useless and (hen a serious evil. The demand ianowynot for variety of legislation, brat for Consolidation and unity. The action of the local legislatures, besides the legal complications resulting from it, often has tbe effect of impeding and ffd-trating the attempted legislation of th 3 e Assembly. The Assembly has been Charged .with incapacity for dealing with questions of general interest; and no doubt many of its Acts have proved failures. But their ill-success often arises from tbeir having been pared down: cr mutilated to avoid conflicting with this or that Provincial Ordinance. The House of Representatives, if left unhampered, might perhaps have passed a> satisfactory Licensing Act. But tbe feat,- difficult enough in itself, was rendered impossible by the necessity of making the Act dovetail in with "aU '.' Acta or Ordinances which have been '/'passed by any Provincial Council." Efficient legislation under such conditions is pot to be looked for. It is time. to put an end to this. After all foo, the subjects which Provincial Councils are mostly in the habit of legislating upon are nowadays, not numerous or extensive The list of measures at the clo_e of a provincial session 'comprises, besides the Appropriation' Act, little more than some bills for the diversion of roads, and tbe hkb^- with occasionally a Fencing or Trespass or Cattle Ordinance. There can be'no difficulty in making provision for snch matters as these with a much less elaborate .machinery. Looking at the ordinary character of the contents of a provincial statute-book, it cannot W seriously argued that Provincial Councils ar 1 * a necessity to tbe country, and tbat the present system of Governhient mttetbe maintained on their aceon'pt. ..Tbeir abolition will entail no loss that cannot be easily made good. In New Zealand, as elsewhere, a power of .bye- laws conferred on the local governing bodies will do all tbat is requisite to meet local wants; while She-larger matters which concern the colony at large, or are of no specially local character, will be properly reserved for the consideration of the Colonial Parliament.