THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, December 1, 1855.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XIV, 1 December 1855, Page 2

THE NELSON EXAMINER. Saturday, December 1, 1855.

Journal* beeoma more necenw; m men become more equa •ncl indmUiulutu mow to be feared. It would be to underrate tlwlr import»nce to mppose that they «erre only to tocure llborty: they maintain cirilixition. D« Tocao«viLi«. Of Democracy in America, tol. y., p. 390.

We alluded, in our last number, to the result <xf the election for the city of Wellington, and the avowed motives and intentions of the successful candidates. On referring to the speech of his Honor the Superintendent of "Wellington, delivered at the Hall of Nations, upon the occasion of the presentation of an address requesting him to stand for the city, and which was received with marked applause by a very numerom attendance of electors, we were much struck with their vreirs upon political subjects in general, and we cannot help noticing the very egotistical manner in which the claims of Wellington are put forth. His Honor says : — " You are bound to use your utmost endeavours to secure the return of three members pledged to carry out your

principles and to promote the great objects you have in view. Those objects are, the establishment of a provincial policy, and the removal of the seat of Government to Wellington." The removal of the seat of Government to Wellington is plain enough, but the provincial policy is not quite so plain. His Honor, however, endeavours to enlighten us. He says :—: —

Without referring to oilier points of the provincial policy, I again repeat, that our main objects are to define the respective powers of the General and Provincial Governments, to limit the jurisdiction of tho General Assembly to a few matters of common concern, to extend the powers of the Provincial Councils and Governments, to prevent tho General Assembly voting moneys for provincial purposes, to reduce the expenditure of the General Government to, as nearly as practicable, the Civil List (£16,000), to leave to each provinco the disposal of its whole revenue, minus its quota towards the expenses of the General Government, and to hand over to each province the administration of its waste lands and the entire control of all departments."

These, it appears, are "some" of the points of provincial policy. We should like to hear what are the other points, and what is proposed to be left for the General Assembly. We are not opposed to a provincial feeling ; indeed we have always advocated an extension of provincial powers, seeing that in the present state of the colony it is difficult and often impossible for men to leave their homes and avocations for a long peiiod to attend a session in a different province: but we must beware of fostering "ultra-provincial" feelings ; these will be too apt to lead to selfishness, and even to enmity ; provinces will begin to oppose each other factiously, and then the old fable of the sticks will be realized. We must learn to think of New Zealand, not as composed of six petty provinces, but as one great whole, all striving for the common good, believing that whatever legitimately tends to the prosperity of one province benefits the whole. What we wish to see, and we believe this is a feeling common to all the provinces, is an equitable adjustment of the revenue; — that what is to be general and what provincial I revenue shall be clearly defined, that there shall be no unseemly clashing ; that after the provincial estimates have been agreed to there shall be no order from the General Government to take away a portion of the revenue, to the hindrance or entire stoppage of public works. This is a question that must be settled first, and we trust the electors of every province will keep it before the notice of their representatives. Another subject that must not be lost sight of, especially by the Southern members, is • the appropriation of the Land Fund. It is a crying* evil, and a piece of great injustice, that the fund raised by the sale of land in one province should go to purchase land in another, more particularly in the case of the Southern settlements, where the native title has been almost, if not quite, extinguished. Each province should raise the funds for the purchase of land in that particular province ; and by a proper system, n comparatively small amount would be sufficient. A sum of money might be raised upon Government security, and with this a block of land should be bought; as this block was sold, the proceeds should be devoted to the purchase of another block, and so on ; in this way it would be in a manner self-supporting, and no greater quantity of land would be brought into the market than was actually wanted. These are some of our views upon provincial policy, and we believe them to be those of the Southern Provinces generally. As regards the change of the scat of Government, it appears it must be removed to Wellington ; — upon that there seems to be no doubt, at least in the minds of the Wellingtonians; upon that they take their stand, and the cry is "no surrender!" Should this, however, not meet the approval of the vote of the Assembly, we are not told the alternative — it must be something dreadful. The particular claim of Wellington to be the seat of Government is not stated ; we have heard it is from its central position, but on looking at the map of New Zealand vre really do not find that it is the most central spot : if being central is the only recommendation, we believe Nelson to be more so than Wellington. It is nearer to Manukau and New Plymouth, and since the discovery of the new route by Mr. Weld, there is an easy communication with Canterbury by land ; between Canterbury and Otago there is also a land communication, certainly rough at present, but one that will be formed and constantly travelled as the country gets more populated. We do j not put this forward with a, view to puff Nelson ; it has not been used as an election cry at all ; indeed, we believe it has never j been alluded to by one of the candidates at any of the elections. We are contented to wait the decision of the Assembly, having a perfect confidence in our representatives, and believing that they will watch over the interests of the province. We have also confidence in our new Governor, believing that we shall have " a clear stage and no favour," that no obstacles will be thrown in the way, and that it will be our own faults if we have not a responsible ministry established in all its integrity.