NORTH AND SOUTH.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 21, 17 June 1871, Page 2

NORTH AND SOUTH.

The- debate on the railway construction in Otago Provincial Council, referred to elsewhere, is of more than local interest, and to no other province in the colony is its result of more importance than to the province of Wellington. This reversal of the decision of the last Council, justly characterised as a great triumph to the Colonial Government, Mr Vogel failed to effect by the most elaborate and patient explanation, made, it is but fair to remember, in the face of an organised opposition amounting to rowdyism, in which the Reid Executive shamelessly took open part. From that time, and up to the re-elec-tion of the present Superintendent, that policy has been comdemned in the most unmeasured language by the party that supported Mr Reid as the head of the executive and as a candidate for the Superintendency. It was a "wild gambling policy ;" it "robbed the Middle Island for the sake of the North ;" it was " wicked ;" it was " diabolical;" it was " insane ;" in short, every rustic Rabelais exhausted on it, and its authors, his vocabulary of vituperation. Has, then, this policy been altered that it now meets appreciation and support, where it formerly was received with ridicule and scorn ? Not one jot or tittle : but the people of Otago seem to have awakened from a hideous dream, and Rip Van Winklelike, discover that this very policy has meanwhile been making great progress. The man whom they refused to hear in Dunedin has been courteously received and deferentially listened to in San Francisco and New York, and the financial proposals which failed to convince the clodocracy of Otago have actually prevailed with the plutocracy of the world ! To account for Mr Vogel's success, rather than admit the true reason, the wildest hypotheses have been resorted to by the journals supporting this miserable faction. Mr Webb, whose reputation as a keen business man, they were wont to extol, before the Nevada anchored in Port Chalmers, is now pronounced by some '•■ blind to his own interest," by others " insane." The " Nelson Examiner," that used to laugh at 4< the preposterous folly of expecting the capitalists of England to endorse a gigantic scheme of gambling," and pathetically complained that " the colony was disgraced by the bare attempt of Mr Vogel to raise such a loan," now lavs down, with equal arrogance and censoriousness, that these very capitalists are fools and flats, and that, by implication, the judgment of the weekly organ of the Sleepy Hollow of New Zealand is still entitled to greater deference than that.of the London Stock Exchange! All this would be very sad, if it were not so very ridiculous. The most startling conversions are generally preceded by the strongest expressions of " grief and hatred of the sin" repented of; and while we would look in vain for any acknowledgment of error from journals that have done their worst to injure the success, and to asperse the public and private character of the authors of, the scheme, we do expect that those in positions of political power, who adopt the outcast child they formerly loathed and despised, will, in some way or other, confess the pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy, the envy, hatred, malice, and uncharitableness, which kept it so long out in the cold. Above all, and that which most concerns the province of Wellington, we hope that now that the policy of the Government has triumphed in Otago, that we shall hear of no more opposition from this party to the construction of railways in Wellington, which, in their eyes, was the "damned spot" which all the eloquence of Mr Vogel, and all the communications of Mr Gisborne could not remove. Henceforth, therefore, we may expect that the battle of Wellington in the new Parliament will be more easily fought—the ranks of the enemy being thinned by the defection of a party formidable chiefly from Jfoeir being so closely compacted together. The number of railways they wow; Mek ought to be constructed is a -*-*<* illustration of the zeal for which * nyerts are proverbially remarktu ** in Parliament Btrikn-o from a party all new co. quoted with fl We Ourrep*- XM* Reader whose le f d . ecstatic gft%s« *&***

the desert of Wellington!" In advocating a railway from Invercargill to the Mataura they surrender every argument that can be employed against a railway from Wellington to Wairarapa.

Nor is the prospect less encouraging, when we turn to the neighboring province of Canterbury. The most determined opponent to our getting the full advantage of the policy of the present Government is the. Superintendent (Mr Rolleston). It is unnecessary to recall the very harsh and prejudiced assertions he advanced to disparage alike our present state and future capabilities. His support of the Government; policy was far less cordial and enthusiastic than that all but unanimously accorded to it by the Canterbury members at the general election. His opposition, however, is not likely to be formidable. When he comes up,, he comes without his tail. His whole Executive (among whom,is the Hon. John Hall) are against him. A majority of the Provincial Council are against him too. They wish him to call them together for (among other reasons) definitely settling how far, and in what directions, the province is to avail itself of the legislation of the past session, so that its elected head may in Parliament fully and faithfully set forth its wants and wishes, and guide its members in the paths most likely to lead to their attainment. Mr Rolleston sullenly refuses. Whether they may proceed to the extremity of asking the General Government to interfere in the way provided for by the Constitution, or whatever solution the present complication may receive, it is certain that Wellington has little to fear from him. Casting our eyes northward, the political horizon seems somewhat darker. The erratic course of the Superintendent of Auckland (Mr Gillies) bodes no good. Having expressly declared «t his election that the Government policy having become law, all further criticism of it can do no good, and that " the only thing to do is to watch its administration," he has lately denounced it in language almost identical with that of Mr Richmond, as " wild and gambling." No one can deny Mr Gillies a certain amount of ability, although it is unfortunately more exercised in detecting small mistakes and discrepancies in his opponents' " pleadings," than in taking a large and comprehensive view of the whole " case." To carry any point he sets bis heart on, he does not scruple to pander to the lowest of feelings—the most miserable local and personal jealousies. He is unquestionably a star in the political firmament, which, though neither very " bright" not " particular," may cast an evil influence. The number of his Satellites, however, we learn on good authority is ' gradually diminishing. Of the Auckland members, six only now own their allegiance, ten having openly declared they will not fight under his banner. The prospects of " the coming struggle" are therefore every day becoming more hopefuh But it WQiild be the merest folly to underrate the forces or prowess of the enemy. The policy of the present Government we have constantly advocated, through good report and through bad report, as being truly colonial, doing equal justice to North and South; but in a colony with so many diverse and independent colonising agencies, with settlements so widely apart, so heterogenous in their origin, so unlike in their past brief histories, and so variously furnished with means for colonisation from being so differently situated with regard to the Native race, it is not at all wonderful that there should be some opposition to it arising from local jealousies. It is evident that no ministry can contrive that the benefits of its policy shall be felt equally, and at the same time, throughout all parts of the colony. We believe that the policy for the colony is now to favor colonization in the North Island, by which the Middle Island will, at no distant day, equally benefit; inasmuch as this course will set free, for colonising purposes, the immense sums of money of which it is now drained for the expenditure of a department that will then cease to be. As there never was a road district or a municipality, in which complaints have not been made that improvements were not carried on at one and the same time in every ward; so it is impossible to,expect, but that under the Government scheme, whose opera-

tions extend over a period of ten years, some parts of the colony will be more attended to at one time, and some more at another. To keep in constant view the colonisation of the whole country on the best and most economical principles, is really tte best way to secure the advancement of every part of it. To refuse to partake in the blessings of a policy, because other districts may seem, at the outset, to reap a greater benefit from it, is to enact the part of thedog in the manger. It is, therefore, pleasant for us to note, as we do to-day, that this role has been changed, so far as Otago is concerned. We hope oUr members will not think of " studying" it. Wellington has, as yet, nogoldfields; but we trust our members will not, on that account, refuse the assistance to the development of all existing goldfields which we lately advocated as a part of the Government policy. It is needless further to illustrate that the policy best for the colony is the best for Wellington. In the prosperity of the colony as a whole its natural geographical centre, possessing moreover a harbor which must be the central terminus of the railways of both islands, must largely share.