ABOLITION OF PROVINCES.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume X, Issue 221, 2 September 1875, Page 4

ABOLITION OF PROVINCES.

A meeting of the electors of the Hutt district was held on Monday evening, when the decision arrived at on the previous Saturday week regarding the abolition of provinces was reversed. At this reconaideration meeting, Mr Stafford is reported by the New Zealand Times to have said : — As to what had fallen from Sir George Grey regarding the growth of people under the provincial form of government, he said that the growth of the people had not arisen from provincialism — the population would have increased just to as great ao extent had provincialism not existed. The race of men who had grown up under provincialism would have beeu as determined, intelligent, and prosperous had provincialism not existed; ia fact, in some cases, provincialism had been a bar to progress. He said the provincial parly bud opposed the construction of telegraphy, iv consequence of which the introduction of the ayßteni had been delayed for some considerable time. Such action was either foresight or an error of judgment. If the former, he complimented (he provincialisis upon it, for the day that telegraphy and railways were introduced was the day that it was first felt that the dirty, petty, local feelings engendered by provincialism ought to be done away with. Capital and labor were not confined to localities. Men followed railway contractors throughout, the colony, and capitalists looked in every province for investments. People iv Cmlerbury were quite willing to iuquira for Waikato swamps. (A Jaugh.) Mr j Stafford then proceeded io refer aw length to the anomaly of the state 0/ the law in the colony, and to give an illustration of the inconvenience causejl thereby he gave anacnusitig account of' the mauner in which one of his song had had to smuggle a dog from ]Ne)soo\ through Mariborough and Wellington! to_ Canterbury, in order to escape pay-j . ing a license fee in each province. Tha laws were so made so differently, ami local feeliDg became co strong, that th* residents of one province looked upon those of another with much the sauil feeling aa Frenchmen looked upJi Englishmen, aud regarded one another as natural enemies. In concluding hiaS

remarks the hon. gentleman expressed himself os very thankful to the meeting for the kind manner in which he had been received, ond snid he had ne^r |ad dressed a meeting with greater pleasure.