New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1875.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4419, 19 May 1875, Page 2

New Zealand Times. WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1875.

It is a remarkable fact, that whereas the question of federation of the colonies is being discussed on the Australian mainland, and in Tasmania, as one of practical importance, an influential section of New Zealand politicians should be found to oppose the unity of this colony, They prefer to be split up into little states or province—“colonies,” they prefer being called—than to unite and form one strong and progressive community. Nowhere are the evils of provincialism more apparent than in New Zealand, where it has been tried under peculiarly favoring circumstances; In the Dominion of Canada, the great blot upon the federation policy has been the creation of provincial institutions. As Mr. John Muneo pointed out very recently, in his exceedingly able speech to his constituents, since the new constitution has come, into operation the public debt of Canada has rapidly increased, while extravagance has taken the place of economy. But if we are to judge from a speech of Earl Duffeein, the able and accomplished Governor-Gene-' ral of the Dominion, the tendency of political action there is towards consolidation. “ has lost its charm. It was tried and found wanting at the critical moment in the United States ; and it is not one whit more patriotic north of the St. Lawrence and the Lakes than it was proved to be south of that water-line. “ State rights” was a constitutional doctrine that cost the great American Kepublic its best blood and heaps of treasure ; and the “rights” of the federated colonies forming the Dominion, are interfering seriously with the growth and development of Canadian nationality. In New Zealand, the “rights of the “ provinces,” i.e., their Constitutional and usurped rights, have tended more than anything else to prevent the growth of a healthy and independent public opinion. As a system, it induced Government by cliques. It rendered easy and straight the jobbing away of the public estate; it loaded the country with taxes and embarrassed it with debt; and now,, when the land ceases to yield a golden harvest, and the public can bear no further taxes, “the provinces” protest against “the “ absorption of their revenue by the “ General Government, which gives “nothing in return,” whereas in truth and in fact, the only “absorption” is the • deduction of the interest and sinking fund on provincial loans, from the sums legally payable to the provinces ; a wise precaution, to prevent provincial repudiation, after the precedent of several States of the Union, which adopted that practical method of enforcing “ State “rights.” However, as an intermediate stop in national growth, federation is sometimes necessary. It is the first step towards complete identity of interests, and the creation of a truly national feeling among

a group of colonies. The United States have outgrown this stage, and as a cohsequence'have become the most powerful nation on the face of the globe. Canada is fast pushing to the same gaol, her path being peaceful; but she has already paid lieavy penalties to the provincial system, in concessions to British Columbia on the one hand, and the maritime provinces on the other. And now, across the strip of the Pacific Ocean which separates New Zealand from Australia, wo have reports of the revival of the agitation in favor of a federation of the Australian colonies. The Australasian says:—“ In Queensland, Tasmania, and' “ South Australia the question of federa- “ tion is being earnestly discussed, as one “of practical concern, and the incon- “ veniences and anomalies resulting from “ our discordant and antagonistic fiscal “ systems are beginning to be so obvious “ and so obnoxious that numbers of “ persons Avho Avere previously in- “ different to the subject are being “ aroused to a sense of the injury and ‘ ‘ disgrace inflicted on us, as people of “ the same race and subjects of the same “ Sovereign, by political arrangements ‘ ‘ under which each colony legislates “ against its neighbors as though they “ were foreigners.” Audit enforces the necessity for federation by citing the hindrances to commerce by the conflicting tariffs of neighboring colonies. These are bad enough, in all truth, but they are little, if at all worse, than our provincial tariffs which toll and tax, in a variety of ways, the productions of neighboring provinces. Even in the matter of police, the New Zealand provinces are like independent States. There are fewer facilities for arresting criminals in New Zealand, owing to the provincial system of police, than in Australia, where there are several separate colonies. But the Australasian keeps close to the economic question, and asks ;—“ What, for ex- ‘ ‘ ample, could be more scandalous than “ this—that while a cargo of salt fish from ‘ ‘ the State of Maine, or of hardware “ from Connecticut, could be sent down “ to New Orleans, or round the Horn to “ San Diego, and landed there duty free, “ a dray-load of the produce of New South “ Wales or of Victoria cannot cross the “ Murray without having to pay Customs “ duties on its admission into one part “of Her Majesty’s dominions from “another? To talk of the patriotism, “the intelligence, and the progressive 1 ‘ spirit of communities which tolerate a “ state of things so barbarous and shame- ‘ ‘ less as this is to indulge in irony of the “ most mordant character. For the in- “ stitu tion and toleration of fiscal systems “ like these show us to be in exactly the ‘ ‘ same condition of political darkness in “ which the rulers and people of France “ were up to the middle of the 17th “ century, ivhen merchandise passing “ from Provence into Languedoc was “ taxed ; and a waggon-load of commo- “ dities sent from Dieppe to Marseilles “ had to pay customs duties half a dozen “ times over, en route.” This complaint is warranted., by the circumstances ; and ive agree with our contemporary in the remark that it ought to be the aim of every Australian statesman to put an end to the segregation of those colonies. “ The interests of each,” it declares, “ and the welfare of the whole, would “ be effectually promoted by federation.” As a step forward, we say “ yes but federation never can fuse the conflicting elements of Australian society, though it undoubtedly will render the Avork of consolidation easier for future statesmen.

Mr. Casey, Minister for Lands, has taken the lead in favor of federation in Victoria. He is wise enough to see that a policy of isolation is fatal to Victorian prestige; and he therefore leads the electors of Echuca up to the point of economic federation, for purposes of trade, in the following skilful way. He said;—“ There is a variety of ways “in which these Governments may “be joined. Although we may, per- ‘ ‘ haps, not be ripe for political federa- “ tion, or a complete union of the “ colonies, we may still be ripe for inter- “ colonial free trade, or for reciprocity “ between special colonies, or ripe for a “ Customs union. These are questions ‘ ‘ which might well be considered so far “ as the fiscal relations of the colonies “ are concerned, and I think that if “ public men set their minds to work “ heartily at the question, they would “ soon find the means by which the par- “ ticular interests of each community “ could be properly conserved, and at the “ same time the common good of all pro- “ moted.”

Once let this thing be brought about, and political union will soon follow. Indeed, we agree with our contemporary in thinking- that it is inevitable. “The colony,” remarks the Australasian, “which boldly adopts a “ free-trade policy, as New South Wales “ has signified her intention of doing, is “ bound to drag her neighbors after her, 1 ‘ and it is not improbable that the present “ Government will make a virtue of neces- “ sity, and will endeavor to emulate the ‘ conduct of Mr. Eobeetson and his colleagues, instead of being drawn into “the abandonment of protection at no “ distant date by the mere force of cir- “ cumstances. If so, the Border diffi- “ culty will cease to exist, and the Murray “will become—as was once said of the “Pyrenees—a more ‘geographical ex- “ pression.’ ”