New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1871. THE WEEK.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 15, 6 May 1871, Page 11

New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. SATURDAY, MAY 6, 1871. THE WEEK.

The prorogation of the Council will prove adtageous in many respects not the least of which will be the opportunity afforded to his Honor the Superintendent to make himself acquainted with the " situation," and to open the session with the elaborate message or address delivered on such occasions. It will enable the Council to pass a Highways Act without rendering a suspension of the Standing Orders necessary. It will enable the Superintendent to mature those measures which he may deem necessary to be laid before the Council, and more especially those relating to railways, immigration, and public works. It will give time to the members of the Council to consider carefully and earnestly the duties they have undertaken, and the best way of discharging them for the benefit of the province, and to the satisfaction of their constituents. We will not consent to sell to the Gf-eneral Government our birthright for a mess of porridge. If the whole community should clamor, in order to save themselves the trouble of self-government and self-taxation, to be relieved of the task, Bueh clamor, for such objects, ought not to be listened to for a moment, for the duty is absolute and incapable of being stifled, whether the privilege be disputed or not. We may value too lightly the freedom which the Constitution Act secures to us, but we cannot by the sacrifice of our provincial liberties shift the just burden of taxation from our own shoulders on to the shoulders of somebody else. No doubt the financial relationship at present existing between the General and Provincial Government requires to be placed on a more sound and equitable footing; but that can be effected without any surrender of our political rights. This course has been widely and loudly advocated; but we ask the Provincial Council and the public to consider whether it is not their duty to transmit the privileges they have had granted to them unimpaired to their children. ' We trust that a new licensing bill will be introduced into the Council during the next session; for the state of the law on the subject is

most unsatisfactory. If any restrictions should be placed on the issue of licenses, to prevent the monopoly in the trade which would thereby be established, why should they not be put up to public auction, and thus enable the public revenue to derive some of the profits which such a restriction would confer on the favored publicans ? This need not prevent conditions as to accommodation, character, &c, being imposed ; but, on the contrary, a specification could be drawn up which the publican, like any other contractor, would be required to comply with. It would not prevent a permis siye clause being inserted"; as no sale of licenses need be made in districts were public houses were objected to by two thirds of the inhabitants. By the way, the Auckland Permissive Act, about which so much was said, has been found unworkable. What the advocates of it wanted was power to be given to a district to say, if so minded, "we will not have the traffic in strong drink legalised " They did not ask power to close any particular public house, the magistrates and police had power to do that under the whole law. Their crusade, in fact, was not against hotels, which might still exist, and would indeed be neces-sai-y, but against the liquor traffic. Those newspapers which have supported the movement have persistently refused to acknowledge the distinction between the two cases. A great change in public opinion will have to be effected before two-thirds of the inhabitants of any district will openly oppose the granting of all liquor licenses ; but if the advocates of the permissive principle have truth on their side the agitation of the question will eventually secure the desh'ed change in opinion. We observe with pleasure that a committee has been formed at Wanganui for the purpose of agitating the question, and it would be well for Wellington and the country districts generally to take the matter up. "To provoke a controversy," says Buckle, "is to serve truth." We have written the foregoing for this object. The Wellington Acclimatisation Society was fairly started on Monday last, by the adoption of the necessary rules, and the appointment of the required officers. Its existence is owing primarily to the public spirit of Mr Travers, but a great number of other gentlemen heartily lent him their co-operation in the good work. We shall be glad to publish reports of its proceedings, and to lend it all the aid in our power. We confess we shall once more like to hear the skylark singing in the sunshine, the nightingale pouring forth his song in solitude, and his rich harmony echoing through the woods, while the blackbird and thrush send forth their no less melodious notes more openly from the neighboring bushes; but we cannot think that these or any other English birds will prove of such great advantage to formers. It is the innocent delight they afford, and not as mere grub-eaters, which renders their acclimatisation so desirable.