SEPARATION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 48, 10 January 1862, Page 2

SEPARATION.

(From the Auckland New Zealander) We are half angry, but more amused, at the tone which some portion of the Otago press has lately taken with regard to the question of Separation between the Northern and Middle Islands. OUuro is on her high stilts. Some fourteen or fifteen thousand ounces of gold per week are cominn- into Dunedin, and will in all probability continue to do so for another three months, until the severity of the weather precludes any further profitable working of her gold fields till the ensuing summer. Her wise men, their palms bavin" been duly crossed with silver, prophesy her coming greatness, a splendour which is to throw into the shade the entire remainder of New Zealand, and already see visions of weekly packets between America on the East and Australia on the West^-while for the unhappy North they predict national bankruptcy and decay. The rata fly the falling house. Sir George Grey, they say, is aiming at the destruction of the Provincial Governments, and the consolidation into a powerful State of the several divided interests of the federated Provinces. This is to be brought about by the introduction of direct purchase, and the consequent loss to the Provincial Governments of their land revenues. " Hee," cry these Southern alarmists, " what will come of this !" The Northern Island having lost its monopoly of purchase, and Nelson having already disposed of its waste lands, would cease to contribute in the shape of a land fund to the general revenue, while they would nevertheless continue to share in the vast resources of this nature which the remainder of the Middle Island would still possess. Arguments such as these seem to smack too much of a doubtful expediency, rather than of principle, to become, we sliould think, acceptable with the majority of even our canny Southern neighbours. At any rate, when arguments in favour of a particular course have to be deduced from no better source than an assumed hue of policy on the part of Her Majesty's Representative, assumed on no foundation, and set up with no other view than to build such a superstructure U p on —it must be confessed, that the cause which requires such support is sadly in need of nursing-. How much such assumptions arc worth, let us take one only of their arguments in favour of Separation—the disinclination of the authorities to send down a larger number of troops than the detachment lately forwarded. This was set down to a dog in the manger feeling on our part—more especially, as they were aware that the presence of the troops was not needed here. .Recent events have shown how mistaken they were in the line

of policy intended by Sir George Grey—and it ijWiJl_ 'jc scarcely uncharitable to assume, that their **Psntuftivo knowledge of one part of his policy is i about as reliable us that of the other. The tone, too, of a portion of the English press, in urging the repudiation of all obligations, 0:1 the part of the mother country, has afforded an example which would, we think, have been more honored in the breach then the observance, and the South, while it cries aloud for the vindication of the national honour in the complete subjugation, and something more than even subjugation—of the Maori race, seeks to avoid by Separation, its share of the pecuniary responsibility which must be incurred in effecting this object. How is it that for the last six or seven years, while her revenue was a mere bagatelle compared with those of the Provinces of Auckland and Wellington in the Northern Island, we never heard anything of this cry from Otago ? She was well content then to bo included in the same Government, and share the same advantages with her richer sister Provinces. The cry of Separation then was not one of expediency. Even at that time we should have given such subtle politicians the credit of having been able to have foreseen and drawn a warning parallel between the dangers which overhung America and New Zealand equally as well as now. To have at that time urged the advisability of such a step would have carried on the face of it something manly and honorable, however mistaken and impolitic. Otago, 'since the discovery of the gold fields, is in much the same position as a fast young man entering upon life. The first sum of money, of any amount of which he becomes possessed, he fancies inexhaustible, but experience proves otherwise. Otago, we maintain, would have little to gain after all by Separation, looking at the mat- . ter merely from the same peddling point of view, which would seem to be so acceptable just now. This assumed vast source of wealth is after all precarious, and is from the severity of the climate a pursiiit which can be carried on at all, only during one portion of the year. Nor when the large extra machinery of Government which a wild and unsettled population, such as that employed in gold mining, necessitates, is paid for, is the advantage gained so great as it at first sight appears. There is one thing that neither influx of population nor wealth can alter, the rigour of her climate, and this will ever be a bar to her sharing as fully as she is entitled to do in the wealth, which a migratory population is undoubtedly developing. The miner, cannot, as in Victoria, work at his employment during the whole twelve months, and to remain inactive from May until October is a thing not to be thought of. Bnt few of .those, even accustomed to the mild climate of. the Northern Island, or to that of Australia, will voluntarily suffer from the severity of an Otago winter. A few months will show this to be the case. The real benefit will be derived by those countries into which the gold shall be taken and invested, minus, of course, the money spent in procuring it, and the small per centage of export duty raised. Thus her prosperity will react upon the Northern Provinces to the diminution of that pre-eminence which is so fondly looked forward to. The comparison sought to be instituted between the diversity of interests in the Northern and Southern States of America and in our own two islands, is as infelicitous as it is absurd. We cannot see any analogy between the present antagonistic relations of the two Americans and the assumed fundamental divergence in the interests • of these two portions of New Zealand, but we do Bee the same result, national insignificance, involved in the future of New Zealand by such an act, as that which will inevitably show itself in the Americas—should the secession of the Southern States be effected—the fall from the condition of a first-rate to that of merely a thirdrate Power, impotent alike in the council of nations for either good or harm. As to the geographical subbivision of Nc-.v Zealand, and the dissimilarity of the local laws v.'-ccs-sary for the different requirements of the var-.i'is districts, have we not the machinery of the P;.-.-vincial Governments, and would the establishment of a separate General Government in either •Islands supersede the necessity of these institutions ? Would Nelson, which it would appeal' after all is but grudgingly admitted into this proposed Southern confederacy—would Canterbury submit to be dictated to by a strong Government at Dunedin, without the safeguard of their Provincial institutions — would Otago herself be benefited by such a change, with the capital at Canterbury or Nelson ? We think not. There ir> after all as much divergence of interest and situation between either of these Provinces, as between either one of them and the Northern island itself. Long before Qtago shall have reached the pinnacle of greatness which her prophets predict, the elee- . trie telegraph and improved means >of communication will have rendered the entire county almost as connected within itself as is the United Kingdom at the present moment. We have been accustomed to hear much of late of the cry that this country is over governed, and yet the extension of this system becomes popular when it administers to the gratification of self. So possibly suicidal a step as separation, so rash an experiment must never be lightly attempted. New Zealand must remain true to herself if she wishes to attain that honourable position in the future, to which she is so justly entitled. This can best be effected by the preservation of unity. The future of America is indeed a problem we would advise our Southern friends to study carefully. Granted the successful secession of the Southern States of America : how long will that empire itself remain intact ?

INDIA.

The Cabool correspondent of the Delhi Gazette states that the cholera was prevailing to so great an extent in that city, that prayers were offered by the Sirdars and Chiefs for its disappearance. On the 7th October the number of deaths amounted to three hundred of all classes. From the sth to the 12th Idem, there was no public Durbar, and all the shops were closed. The disease is confined to the city, the people outside being free from it. The villagers refuse to bring into the city supplies of corn and other products. On the 13th, the disease was on the decline, there having been only 50 deaths, — Bengal Hurkaru, Bth November. '

The labors of the Delhi Famine Relief Committee have been closed. The number of persons relieved by food in Delhi, was 1,971,272, ami in tho district, 1,;>9G,153, while the number relieved by works was 508,765. The receipts from local contributions were Rupees 48,194-3-4. The whole were Rupees 281,726-10-7. — Bengal Hurkaru, Bth November.