The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1878.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5346, 16 May 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1878.

It was the stereotyped appeal of the Provinoialists, during the agitation against the Abolition Act, that before their beloved institution was swept away they should he enlightened .as to the form of government which was to be substituted for it. They were told, inmany varying, forms of words, by public writers and by public speakers, that no substitute for Provincialism was needed; that Provincialism was an anachronism audshpuld be put out of sight; and that when the obstruction which it ottered, by its morbid centralism, to the development of a healthy system of local administration was removed, it would be succeeded in due time by the County Councils and Highway Boards, whose growth it stopped by diverting and absorbing that nutriment, in the shape of funds, which was intended for and should have gone to the support of the growth of these bodies. When, after the people had-been consulted at the last general election, it was resolved, by an overwhelming majority, that Provincialism should be no more, those great leaders who pretend to be guided always by the ‘.‘popular will” set themselves vigorously to work to prevent the popular will from haying effect. ' They, wouldi. not permit local self-government by the ; County: system to . .have—-we will not say a fair trial, but' to be tried at all ; and in the strongholds of the party, at Auckland, in C -iterbury, and in Otago, this movement had some measure of success. ’ : . , , ..

. Our, contemporary, th & Lyttelton Times, was always a loyal exponent of these views of the Proyincialists, and lent vigorous aid in carrying out the policy of obstruction, to the establishment of the County system. It is pleasant to find that-in the midst of change the Times is unchanged ; that the old love is not lost; and that when oppressed by “painful experience” of the present County system he is able to find relief in a characteristic “ growl,” such as that which, in another place iti our columns, we reproduce to-day. Now we., need hardly say that we do not agree with our contemporary at all. We do not believe that the County system is, as the Lyttelton Times asserts, a miserable failure, and we venture to contest the fact upon which he bases the assertion, that “one-half the County Councils -‘‘are in, a state of self-suspension.” The whole number of counties constituted by the Act of 1876 was 63. Of these six were excepted specifically from the. operation of the Act, viz., East Taupo, VVest Taupo, Kawhia, Sounds County, the Fiord County, and Stewart Island. To these may be properly added Cheviot, in which, when constituted, it was not supposed that the Act would be operative at present. The three first-named counties were placed in the schedule of exceptions to the Act because they were exclusively native districts, and the other three because they were practically uninhabited districts. There remained 66 counties; in 35 of them the Act was. immediately brought into force. Additions have since then been made to this number, and, the advantages of tho system having been demonstrated by experience, it has been stated to bo tho intention of the present Government in the next session to amend the Counties Act in some administrative details, in which experience has shown it to be ■ defective, and to make its adoption compulsory throughput the islands. Our contemporary’s proof thus fails corn- ; pletely, both as to his; facts and his opinions. We can see how much a vigorous determination to work and make the best of the available machinery has done in the case of tho Thames County Council, in the casb of Westlapd, and in other, places. Wo have lately had pecasion to refer to the action of the Westland County Council, when, alarmed by rumors of threatened political disruptions, it endeavored to have a meeting of County Chairmen in Wellington, to confer with the Government upon the subject of the amendment of the Act. If the Colonial Parliament have not been relieved, as it ought certainly to have been foliovodj from those functions which belong, as our contemporary soys, more to the district than to tho colony, tho fault is not the fault of.the Counties Act or of the County system.

la the Counties Ac.t itself, in the Public Works Act, ancfan the District RailwayAct the means - for the construction of public works, both of a local and general character, arh. amply provided. This provision was'made avowedly with the view to aid in relieving the Parliament from local influences, and of making it a “ Colonial, and not a parish Parliament.’' That object was frustrated by the action of" the members of the present Government, who, in the recent session, deliberately for party purposes revived the old scramble for money, and, inviting all to join, forced upon the representatives .of constituencies the duty of taking part in a discreditable scrimmage for expenditure in their respective electoral districts. The law is thus better than the administration, and the blame should be made to rest where it ought to rest. .