New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4396, 22 April 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 1875.

The Auckland Evening Star, when recently summing up the charges, real and imaginary, which it brought against the General Government, observed that the opinion of the people of Auckland would be largely influenced next election by the fact that for five years past that province had been very badly treated. No doubt, the electorate of every district is largely influenced by local considerations. Great constitutional questions do not touch the breeches pocket, which, after all that may be said or written, is the seat of the public conscience. It is entirely a question of finance ; and if Auckland, or Wellington,, or Otago, or in short any electoral district within the colony, thinks itself aggrieved in money matters, it will take its revenge on the peccant Government, even at the sacrifice of its most cherished political convictions. The Evening Star, therefore, in the line of argument it adopted, went straight as ah arrow to the strong point of opposition. Doubtless, there was a good deal of exaggeration; there was, on the other hand, not a little truth in what was written. Dor example, . in the matter of railway construction, Auckland is almost in as bad a plight as Wellington. The line is constructed to Drury, some 21 miles from Auckland, and in six months’ time it will be finished to Mercer; but the terms of the contract are such, we believe, as to prevent the Government taking the line over at present from the contractor. Hence a good deal of local irritation, for the people do not understand why a railway should be built at a very high price and then be left idle, wasting interest to the Government, and entailing an unnecessarily heavy outlay on private individuals for the up-country traffic. But this grievance is not created by the’ Government, however irritating it may be. It results from the terms of the contract which, in the public interest, the Minister for Public Works insists upon enforcing. _ ■ Then with regard to the Kaipara railway, which was started by the Auckland Provincial Government, we think the leas said about it the better. It is one of the heaviest works of the kind in the colony, and the formation contract, of which so much was heard in times past, was wholly insufficient. The Government have done everything they could to rectify the provincial bungling which characterised every stage of that ill-contrived lino. In short, the history of the Helensvillo and Eiverhead railway, if well and truly written, with a short account of the Auckland and Onehunga line up till 1867, would convince any rational man of the, folly of entrusting works of such magnitude, and such large local interests, to provincial authorities. Respecting the charge against the Government of “bungling” the Ohinemuri goldfield, it is perfectly groundless. There is no foundation for it; any more than there was for the. assertion that Mr. James Mackay, Jun., had resigned his comraissionership owing to, the obstacles ' the Colonial 'Secretary had thrown in ’his way, ,lVfr. has .not. resigned,. ,ahd never contemplated resigning, so far 'as we know j but if any thought of the kind entered, into his mind it was not for

the reaaon'fisaifjned. So far from imped-' ing the opening of Ohinepmiri, ;thAColq.nial. Secretary has done every thing, in his power to /accelerate it. But Dr. Pollen is -not above the law. ‘He cannot' be expected to find money without appropriation ; -.'but j* bf hia - kindly,- feeling towards: Auckland, and personal jtbe, development of its, goldfields, there can be no doubt whatever, and we regret that oiir Auckland contemporary should have selected that gentleman for personal attack. If there has been any difficulty" in regard .to ’ Ohinemuri, it is wholly and solely owing to the inexplicable position Sir George Grey assumed after his election. Indeed, it is an essential part of Ministers’ policy to throw open every available acre in the North Island: to private enterprise. By that means settlement will be promoted, and the peace of the country assured ; to judge .from the Evening Star, however, one would be apt to think that the Colonial Government desired, for some sinister reason, to make the Auckland province a howling wilderness. Then, with respect to the lands purchased from the natives, a grievance is made because they are, not handed over, to provincial administration. We suspect those who read Major. Palmer’s report on the state of the provincial surveys, and who consider, that; the .public estate has been recklessly squandered, both North and South, will conclude that the General Government exercise a wise discrimination. As a matter of account even, Auckland is much better to remain, as it is at present, than to be weighted with the interest of the land purchase fund. If she cannot maintain her institutions without resort, to : direct taxation, how would she pay the additional charge for 1 interest on land purchase account 1 This is worth thinking seriously about by Auckland property owners, inasmuch as “the magnificent “ land law of Auckland,” under which the Star would bring all this land, would operate in bestowing it, free of cost, to promote settlement. Now, can Auckland afford to lose half a million of capital right off, on the chance of locating a population on its waste lands with the direct result of increasing the Customs revenue, and, according to the Star and Herald, intensify ing-the wrong inflicted :on her by the General Government, which absorbs all its ! indirect' revenue and returns nothing ? —a charge, by the way, based upon a most transparent fallacy. The Star, it will thus be seen, while displaying remarkable political sagacity in basing its opposition on grounds of local self-interest, has so greatly overstated its own case as to weaken the force of its argument. The facts require only to be fairly stated to the people of Auckland, to convince them that while they have grievances in common with the rest of the colony, they are not such martyrs to a centralising despotism at Wellington as local writers and agitators would have them believe.