THE Otago Daily Times Inventiam viam out faciam." DUNEDIN ,THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1862.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 137, 24 April 1862, Page 4

THE Otago Daily Times Inventiam viam out faciam." DUNEDIN ,THURSDAY, APRIL 24, 1862.

It" has often been said that no man is more difficult to convince than he who has no powers of argument with which to defend himself. In the same way, it is far more easy to bring home to a person a slight dereliction from wisdom, than to convict him of an egre- I gious tendency to folly." We are drawn to' these conclusions by a reference to the proceedings of the Town Board of Dunedin. We could forgive them their incapability if thej' would only have sufficient sense to be aware of it; but, in proportion as they show a want of discretion, so do they evince their igno-rance-of their own deficient qualifications. Their last chefdasuvre is a resolution passed, that if the Provincial Government will not accede to certain demands they make, they will resign their trust —not to those from whom they obtained it, their constituents, but to' those who refuse to allow them to increase it. They will destroy what little inde- . pendence or separate existence the City possesses, and will give back to the Provincial authorities the few concessions that "they ever reluctantly granted. The City has little enough self-governing power as it"in, but the Town 'Board wilj divest is of all it has, and hand it over in one lump to the Provincial' authorities i The citizens, then, instead of having to asu for a remodelling of their institutions, will have to try and fight with the Province for the release of their city. An Act of Corporation will be denied to it, for when the citizens seek it they will be met with the rejoinder that they are seeking to interfere with the vested rights of the Province. Miserably insufficient as it is, 1 >unedin ha* now some' sort of an independent posi tion; this it is sought to destroy, by handing the City oyer to the sole control of the Province. We do not believe the Town Board can legally do what it proposes, it would- involve so flagrant' a breach of trust. They have the right to resign their seats to the constituents who elected them, but no process of reasoning can justify them in handing over the power which entitled their constituents to vote.

It may be said that Dunedin cannot be .worse governed than' at present, but the future has to be looked, to. There is-no knowing what may befal provincialism ; and, in any future struggles, that may assail it, the people of Dunedin should take care that their city is not made a bone of contention for '' a lot of hungry dogs to fight over." Its inhabitants have the right to seek for self-govern--merit the same as accorded to any other City. An Act of Incorporation, we • contend, will be most suited to its future requirements, but, because the Town 'Board hesitates to get this, it is something too much to expect even of their stolidity, that they should abandon the whole fabric of self-government, and in a mendicant fashion ask the province to accept back the city as a favor, with all the splendid endowments ,of land, .which, but for. their want of judgment, would be available to present' purposes instead of being temporarily locked up.

There can be no possible- objection to the members of the Town Board resigning their seats, but there is a strong objection to their 'giving away -what is not theirs. It is true they occupy seats at the Town Board, but they only occupy them for a while, and have no more right to give them "away than they' would have supposing a purse were .confided to their' custody, to 'distribute its contents. We do not know whether the resolution under discussion was the consequence of a' mere spasmodic attack of folly on the part of those who assented to it, or if it had some ulterior purpose. We cannot suppose it was designedly meant to play into the hands of the Provincial -authorities -at the expense of the City, and it is scarcely possible to believe i that the members have seriously determined to make away with the trjist reposed in them. It has been suggested that it was intended to coerce the Provincial authorities into making a grant of money and of extended power. If so, the proceeding is both indecent and irrational, inasmuch as it proposes to confer a benefit rather than otherwise on the object it is designed' to coerce. Fortunately in this instance, as in that of the lengthened discussion and prolonged con^ sideration-of the proprietorship of a pumphandle, there is written evidence; in the shape of resolution's, of the 'position taken up by the Board. For some of the mejibers we observe are beginning the cry so common with " sucking" public men of complaining of the reporters. Perhaps one day we shall satisfy them with a verbatim report, when of course they will have nothing to complain of. It is a pity that the citizens do not evince a little more interest, and endeavour to arouse the Board to a sense of its responsibilities and duties. As we have before urged, Dunedin might be erected into a richly endowed corporate town, with a splendid future before it. '