ABOLITION OF THE PROVINCES.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4411, 10 May 1875, Page 2

ABOLITION OF THE PROVINCES.

In a recent issue we took exception to certain statements in a leading article of the New Zealand Herald of the 9th April. We resume the subject to-day, because our contemporary may fairly lay claim to be considered the exponent of the views and opinions of Sir George Grey. That journal writes ; —“ We published yesterday an extract from the “ New Zealand Times which deserves “ more than mere passing consideration. “ It embodies, in brief, the views of the “ party known as Centralists, in opposi- “ tion to those who hold that the aboli- “ tion of the provinces is not to be “ undertaken without careful thought, and ‘ ‘ without remodelling the entire Constitution. Neither party is content with ‘ ‘ things as they are. Both admit that a “ change of some kind is unavoidable. “ They differ only as to the direction that “ change shall take. On the one side “ the mere abolition of provincial insti- “ tutions is held to be sufficient. On the “ other it is held that their abolition will “ effect no saving, but will make a breach “ in the Constitution requiring rearrange- “ ment of all its parts.” We take exception at the outset to the term “Centralists,” as applied to the party who advocate the abolition of Provincial Government. They are Constitutional Reformers, and not Centralists in the sense in which the Herald and Superintendents! party use the word. What the reforming party want is Legislative Centralization, i.e., one Legislature for the entire colony; and Administrative Decentralization, i.e., giving increased powers to local bodies to manage their own local affairs. They think that the less the Government has to do with local affairs, the better it will be for all concerned. In that sense, and to that extent, both parties in the country agree that the abolition of provincial institutions “ will make a breach in the Oonsti- “ tion requiring rearrangement of all its “parts.” But the Superintendents! party are the true Centralists ; they are : the Conservatives of New Zealand, and desire to perpetuate a system which has created a species of political- “middle- “ men,” to the infinite discomfort of the people over whom they are immediately placed, and corresponding loss to the country. Indeed, the parallel between the past administration of great Irish estates by middlemen, agents, and bailiffs, and the administration of the New Zealand provinces by Superintendents and their official “helps,” is more complete than most people might imagine. The middleman or agent was a potentiality, ever present to the people, who only heard of “the head landlord” as a being in no way interested in their welfare ; —a magnate who lived abroad on his rents, and to whom their grievances could not penetrate, except “through the office.” Consequently this inferior order of gentry became men of great consequence; their word was law; their despotism was complete. A tenant could only escape ruin by toadying to the understrappers of “the “office.” Hisrentwasraised, his rights were curtailed, and his tenure was determined by the great little man who acted as factor for the estate on which he had the misfortune to be born. Whatever happened, the factor prospered. Estates became embarrassed, but the middleman contrived to live and flourish while his employer nominallyheld the feesimple. But the evil became so aggravated that the Imperial Parliament interfered, and the most revolutionary law of modern times, the Irish Incumbered Estates Act, swept away the whole system, and emancipated the Irish people from ruinous tyranny. In like manner it has been with the system of Provincial Government. It stands between the people governed and the Government. If is that embodiment of power and dignity which they see, and therefore worship. Unless the provincial authorities are propitiated by political subservience, the chances of an appropriation for any district are slight indeed. • Men must bow and cringe to secure , what is their undoubted right. In addition, it absorbs percentages of all taxes paid, and yields nothing in return ; it lives in grand stylo while the landed estate lasts, and when that is gone it clamors for an increase of rent, or, in other words, when the land revenue is exhausted, it asks “the head landlord,” —the General Government and Assembly : —to impose fresh taxes that its state and dignity may be maintained. And while it was possible to wring anything from the people this has been done. The provincial authorities have been propitiated at the expense of the taxpayers, until the people can bear no further exactions. The time is therefore ripe for imitating the Imperial Parliament in its dealing with spendthrift Irish Let “a revolutionary measure” be passed forthwith, abolishing the system of Provincial Government, and thereby emancipate the people from the evils of provincial centralisation and exactions, and permit them to manage their own affairs without interference by the Colonial Executive.

With regard to the question of saving, which the Herald raises in the above extract, wo have already met it. In our article of Wednesday, we showed that the saving on two heads, legislative and executive, by the abolition of provincial institutions, would be at the rate of £32,752 per annum, being £22,374 in the Middle Island, [see Mr. Maoandebw’s speech,] and £10,378 in the North Island, [see Registrar-General’s returns]. Now, let us see what this annual amount capitalised represents, and we shall then form a clearer idea of the material loss the colony sustains through the maintenance of provincial institutions. At 5 per cent, this sum represents the interest on a

capital of £640,000, taking round numbers ; —in other words, the cost of Provincial Government in the Middle Island represents a capital sum of £440,000, at 5 per cent.; and its annual cost in the North Island represents a capital of £200,000, at the same rate of interest. Now, this money is absolutely wasted, in addition to the waste of time of members of the Provincial Governments and Councils, who would otherwise be profitably employed. But let us go R step further, and see what the Middle Island has lost. We quote from Hansard's reports, Mr. Macandrew S speech, September 14, 1871: — I shall now tell you what I propose Jo do with this £22 000 a-year [representing a capital of £440,001), at o per’ cent]. I would propose to construct an inland water and railway communication from Lake w akatipu, in the province of Otago, to Cohden, m the province of Nelson. If hon. members will take the trouble to inquire into this matter, they will And that the length of this line of communication, from one point to the other, would be some 300 miles, of which 55 miles would be water communication. Although it is not strictly bearing on the point, it may at the same time be interesting to give the exact figures, and if the House allows me I will do so. Assuming that the measures of this session will result m the construction of the Nelson and Cohden line, and the line from Winton to Kingston, we shall have Kingston as tlie starting point. From Kingston to Frankton is 25 miles : from Frankton, on Lake Wakatipu, to Pembroke, on Lake Wanakn, the distance by land will be CO miles via CromweU, taking the distance not as the crow flies hut as the railway would go ; then from Pembroke, on Lake Wanaka, to Wakaroa, 30 miles by water; from Wakaroa to Hokitika there will be 100 miles of land communication. . . . From Hokitika to Cohden the distance is 25 miles, which would complete the entire line of communication. I put it, therefore, to any man of common sense, given, on the one hand five Provincial Executives and five provincial talking shops, and oh the other, an unbroken water and railway communication from Foveanx Strait to Bllrid Bay, which would be most for the interest of the colony—which would he prefer ? ‘‘Look on tliis picture and on that,” and you will agree with me that there cannot be the. slightest comparison. I am perfectly satisfied that this 300 miles —that is about 245 miles of railway and 65 miles of water communication—can, with our new ideas of the cost of railway construction, be constructed for half a million sterling from one point to the other.

So much for the loss, immediate and prospective, to the Middle Island, by continuing the system of Provincial Government. We entirely agree with Mr. MacAndrbw. We think it is quite possible, by capitalising the savings that might be effected by abolishing the Middle Island provinces, to complete a great interior line of communication from Invercargill, via the Lakes and Hokitika, to the city of Nelson. The responsibility of upholding them is therefore enormous, and we trust that Mr. Macandrew will be found next session earnest in his efforts to benefit North and South alike, by helping to abolish the provinces altogether. Since 1871 the conditions have been all but literally fulfilled on which he said he was prepared to do so. The provinces have “got rid of a few additional “ million acres of land,”, and the population is very nearly doubled. In 1871, the population was 266,986 ; on the 31st December, 1874, it was 341,860 ; and at the close of the present year, if our goldfields progress as they appear to do, we shall number considerably over 400,000. Under these circumstances, We claim Mr. Macandrew’s vote next session in favor of the abolition resolutions. Now, let us see what the North Island loses by maintaining its moribund Provincial Governments. It has been shown that the cost of these institutions is over £IO,OOO a-year, representing a capital of £200,000 at 5 percent. For this amount the Government might build a railway from the head of the navigation of the Thames River to a point in the Upper Waikato, to connect with the Auckland and Waikat'o railway, thereby bringing the goldfields into direct communication with the producing interior. It would enable the navigation of the Piako to be improved, thus draining an immense tract of agricultural land and making it available for settlement; and it would assist in forming roads in the goldfields and other places. We put it, therefore, to our Northern friends whether the Provincial candle is worth the coal. Mr. Carleton once declared that it would “go out with a stink wo desire to put an extinguisher upon it, and let it expire without offending the most fastidious.