The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1876.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 26, 28 January 1876, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. FRIDAY, JANUARY 28, 1876.

The "blue gum of New Zealand," the Superintendent of "Wellington, must look to his laurels or Ke will lobo them. f No doubt it would be very galling to Him to be deposed from thei proud position assigned to him by Sir J, Yogel, who honored him with the title of "that sturdy beggar/b ut really he must take care what he is about or be will be out-begged by Sir George Grey, and tbe Premiership of the mendicants will fall, into the hancta pf the chief of ' another Northern province which regards that of -Wellington with a deadly, hatred. At the present moment Mr Fitzherbert may trot feeV inclined to beg, surrounded as he is; by- a- halo of temporary prosperity, but he ought, in order to preserve his character, to get up, a real-orjfahcied grievance equal to; that which prevails just now in Auckland, that hotbed of Provincialism. ■ 'It would ! never fao^for the the North to outdo the Empire City; eveu in misery and destitution, for it is unbearable to the one ■! ofhaye; to, allow that . the pthef etbels 1 in any respect; whatever, and the r bare idea that s a thousand -or • two of mpn are starving iv -Auckland while 'there; are tioj grounds .for reporting a f similar "state of things; in ..Wellington^ must be gall and wormwood to the lat{eit ,,? province 'and/ tfoJiits Superin? ; fcendSnt,' who, in 'the .face of the lamentable state of'"., iaffairs. 'at th# Thames, must hide his diminished head as ;he. reflects that, the .-claims of. -Wellington for .colonial relief.are superseded, by .those of Auckland. But so it iB, and Mr; Fitzherbert and Sir*. George 1 Grey must be left to settle the matter as best tbey may. What the state of affairs iii -the. North is may. be judged from the following paragraph, which appeared in tlie Auckland Star under the heading "Destitution at the Thames " : :-^" A thousand' persons are reported to have attended the meeting ot: unera i ployed at the Thanifis on Saturday night, and great indignation was. .expressed at the action of. the General Government in offering only £1000 for -publio .'- worka at : such a critical* period. Sir 'George Grey!, Mr William Ro.we, and . the ', Mayor were, appointed a to . urge upon the .Government the necessity of spending at Jleast; £12^000; in works .during r^he^exfr few months;., : One of the .re^olutionsejproppsedjbui "withdrawn on the : representation that ifc; would be!. to weaken the cause was as 3foJ[loy^?' -if-' That m thp'opihion 'of this -meeting, the GovOrnment, .are /Wilfully blind to the necessity- of. public works on this field, and to the distress existing ahipngst.the, unemployed miners and : others at the Thames, and as 'the gold--* field;, revenue of the Thames has been unjustly directed to other uses' than goldfields expenditure, this hieeting in ; the strongest possible terms condemns the action of Dr Pollen in depriving the field of its' jtist'" right's?" That to"\ meet the' deficiency in the public funds, and in proof of the fact, that Government have no money to spend on public. ;Works, this meeting is of opinion that the salaries of all Government servants, civil and others, whose pay amounts to #150 per annum and upwards, .should be cut down one half, and that Dr Pollen be requested to introduce a bill for the purpose, and, commencing with himself, ,show his public spirit by reducing his own salary first;'" The withdrawal of tbisresolutibn evidences e a certain amount of good taste and good sense on the part of the meeting, but the.fact of its being proposed does not say much for the prosperity of the province of which the champion of Pro- < vincialism is the head. **»*• —* • "I I I M— — Mil— — — ■