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The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 1878.

We reprint to-day an able article from the Canterbury “Press,” in which are shown the impolicy of the state of isolation in which, under the guidance of the present Government, this colony has been placed, and the danger to our character and position amongst the Australasian group arising from the disposition at rresent exhibited to play what has been rappily called 11 a lone hand” for New Zealand.

It is only since the accession of the present Government to office that this disposition has been exhibited. _ Heretofore our statesmen have shown their sympathy with the neighboring colonies of Australia in all questions affecting common interests and progress. At all the intercolonial conferences, upon postal communication, upon telegraph extension, upon differential duties, and upon other questions, New Zealand has been ably represented, and its delegates have obtained high consideration and discharged their functions creditably to the colony. But we have suddenly changed all that. The Government have refused to allow the colony to be represented at the Paris Exhibition; they have refused to take any steps for the defence of our ports from sudden aggression, until it was too late ; they have refused or neglected to have our interests represented at the recent Cable Conference in Melbourne, and they appear to have done all this, deliberately, as if a policy of isolation, of which these are the signs, was adopted, as its rule of conduct, by the Cabinet. It is impossible, we think, that such a, policy can meet the approval of the General Assembly, or be sustained by' the popular will. Even if New Zealand were populous enough and strong enough to stand alone in reference to postal and telegraphic communication witli the outside world, the late sudden departure from her usual course in regard to her neighbours would have been a blunder. But whilst she is bound up in a partnership with other colonies in these affairs, the neglect of the Government to take an active part in, and to be represented at, the late Cable Conference, seems, even as a mere matter of business, to be in the highest degree reprehensible. That the naraeof New Zealand isnot now heard amongst the exhibitors at Paris is the deliberate fault of the present Government. They did not ask for a vote in supply which would have enabled them to have, the natural products of these colonies, and such manufactures as even in the infancy of ourgrowth we already have developed, advertised in the world’s fair. The very space in the Exhibition building which their predecessors - in office had secured for the New Zealand Court has been allowed to be otherwise disposed of. In one branch of the General Assembly at least the importance of this question was not lost sight of. In the Legislative Council Sir F. Dillon Bull, on the 28th August last, proposed the following resolution ; —“That, in the “ opinion of the Council, it is desirable “ that :a Eoyal Commission should be “ appointed to commence without delay “ the preliminary works necessary for “ representing the colony at the Pans “ Exhibition.” In doing so, he pointed out that for the principal staple production of this colony, wool, the French were our best and most 1 valuable customers, and that if the colony wanted to show that it had resources, natural and artificial, sufficient to justify it in incurring a large debt, no better opportunity for such a demonstration could be had than that which the Paris Exhibition would afford. It is not to be supposed that any expression of opinion by the Legislative Council would receive attention from the Premier, but the Council on that occasion discharged its duty in a matter of great importance. , The question arises, Why should the playing of a “lone hand” be the policy of the Government ? It is not and cannot be the policy of the people, or of their representatives. Why is not Ne\v Zealand represented at the Paris Exhibition ? Why has not New Zealand been represented at the late Cable Conference in Melbourne? It would have been the duty of the Hon. Mr. Fishes, the Post-master-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs, to have been present in Melbourne in the latter case. Mr. Fisher would not perhaps compare very favorably with Sir Julius Voder, or Mr, George McLean, our former delegates, in such a capacity; but if it were not thought desirable to allow him to appear for New Zealand abroad in a matter of so much importance, was there no other member of the Ministry available for the purpose, or would it have been too much to expect that the Premier of this colony himself should have thought it not beneath his dignity to have met the responsible Ministers of the older and larger colonies on an occasion in which a matter of large interest to this colony was under discussion? Jt may bo said, wo hope without oflence, that both these Ministers, the Premier and the Postmaster-General, would have been in every sense more usefully thus employed, and with less coat to the public, than in their stumping tour throughout the settlements, and that this policy of isolation, whether it has originated jn egotism, in selfishness, or in incapacity, is a bad policy for New Zealand.

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZTIM18780529.2.7

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5357, 29 May 1878, Page 2

Word count
Tapeke kupu
884

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5357, 29 May 1878, Page 2

The New Zealand Times (PUBLISHED DAILY.) WEDNESDAY, MAY 29, 1878. New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5357, 29 May 1878, Page 2

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