ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 175, 7 June 1862, Page 5

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE

To the Editor of the Otago Daily Times. ' Rowland's Station, :£■> j Kaitongata, 3rd. Juncj 10G2. ' ~Mn. Editor, —That the Separation movement is assuming a shape and form likely to result in its being speedily carried into effect, must he highly satisfactory to all coucerne'l in tho prosperity of the Province. That Ota^o must be a gainer, needs little •illustration. First, the time that necessarily^ elapsed ere the resolutions of the Provincial Government here can be confirmed at head quarters, is not only of serious inconvenience, but in many instants, prevents that prompt execution which is often requisite. Whenever the interests of the sister colonies are at stake, the elder always claitrs the privilege of her birthright, and the youneer must give way. The fiat which comas forth is invariably sure to secure to her the preference. Represented in the General Assembly by a minority so small as to be merely nominal, virtually Otag'o has no vote at all. The Government of Auckland is, in every respect, more expensive thaii would be required in Otago; and why should we pay for Maori war, or what, is far worse, to keep them on terms of friendship, by much more expensive means ? To exj>i'ct any permanent good to result from Uonciliative-.measures. I fear will be about as hopeless a task as eiuleavoriug to wash the black man white. -We have nothing' here to be a continual drain ■on our exertions to obtain a competence, in the Maori siiape; at least; but, if a Separation were not to take. plaoe,hve should have to support for years this burthen, rendered the more intolerable by the knowledge that i,t ; .js looked upon as amatter of right. Eveiy public office is hampered being under the jurisdiction of iTdistant head of the department. Now is the time for all to corns forward and petition our most gracious Queen to allow the Middle Island of New Zealand to govern itself; and it could not be done at a better period than when the feeling in the mother country is in favor of allowing the colonies not only to govern themselves, but even to separate entirely, if they tiiink proper. Take advantage of the crisis, and, in drawing up the petition to her Majesty, let the committee go at once r.t root and branch of the evils to be complained of under the present system; embrace the offer of not requiring any military or staff from EDgiand; lot tho colony be governed by its House of Assembly ; but, as electing a Governor in the colony would sever th- tie with England, and only be the source of many petty jealousies, and a continual cause of rivalry among; candidates for the office, let her Majesty still continue to have the right of nominating the Governor, aud stand in all respects in the same relation as wo do at present with the Imperial Government. The object to be attained being a moi-e liberal and economical Government, the salaries of the publiu officers would thus remain as they are at present, with the exception of that of the Governor aud his staff. These being fixed, no doubt the Home Government would be enabled to send us as competent.a Governor at .£'looo per annum, as they would do were we to pay £5009 for Hs services. We will suppose the Separation carried out, then let us show the. mother country that we are not one ofliermost ungrateful children, by at once doing away with our present .absurd, illiberal aud unjust tariff. No goods of British manufacture should pay duty. England has as much right to impose a duty on our wools and other exports, as we have to levy a duty on Uritish manufactures. That a case of picks or a bundle of spades, should come under the tariff is absurd. Let the duties here be levied only on such articles as pay duty in England. The laws of Great Britain have been iv many instances superseded by Colonial Acts, not only without any good resulting therefrom, but more frequently, positive evil has been the consequence. I perceive it is alluded to in the Times, that if the colonies were separated from England, in case of a war, they would in all probability declare themselves neutral. There is not the least fear of that; England's fleets can protect us by sea,aud we could soon raise volunteers enough; to be able to defend ourselves on shore. An enemy has not only to consider the sending a fleet into these ■waters to carry out auy operation against these colonies, but he has also to calculate the probability of their ever being able to get back again. They might have the luck'to run the gauntlet, and arrive out here, ere they were intercepted, but would they be as lucky on their return '( 1 think not; but suppose an enemy even landed on our shores, what could they, accomplish wheu opposed to a population, who, rather than submit to any other laws than those for which their ancestors have fought and bled, would- detend themselves to the last 1 There are many in these colonies wbo^like England's flag, have for years braved the " battle and the breeze ;" and who, were they even in the hands of the enemy, and'told to renounce their allegiance to the British Crown, or they would bo shot, would exclaim, " England for ever," and let them see that a 13riton knew how to.die in his country's cause. Let us now proceed to other points. The House of Assembly, which would be the only House, should consist of men whose position in society rendered them entirely independent of pecuniary circumstances. No member should be eligible uiiless possessed of a clear income of j£soo per annum, We see in Victoria the result of forming a house of Representatives, some members of which are known not to possess any property. It is apparent that they are the tools of any administration. Another evil to be avoided, is not to fall into the system of pensioning off Government ministers for a few years' service ; two years, as is now the case in Victoria, will, ere many years elapse, cause such an expenditure of public money, in pensions to these gentlemen, as will cause that colony to repent her liberality. £700 per annum for life, for two years' service in the Ministry, is making no bad use of time. Let those in office have a liberal salary, otherwise men of talent cannot be obtained; but ten years in Government employ is surely little enough to obtain a pension for life, unless undsr peculiar circumstances 1

With respect to not having any Queen's troops, it will'be said by many that we should thus be left without protection. - But this would be easily obviated. We have nothing to fear from the Maories here, and the police force is i:o\v, and could at all times be augmented, so as to answer all purposes; unless in Case of war, when the Volunteers would be required to take arms. To reader the police force more efficient, in case of: Jier Majesty's troops being withdrawn, a troop of 100 men, under the designation of " Volunteer Mounted Police," could be organised, and members would be found to join it, with the understanding that they were not to be called upon active service, unless as a body, and that then their pay was to be the same as the police at. the time being; they would also be under_thc same regulations as that force from the period of their being called into active service. A battery of four field pieces, brass nine-pouud Armstrong- guns, might also be formed, under the

same regulations. This would be force sufficient to , put down any outbreak, which there would be little reason to fear taking place. At the same time, this would be a reserve corps for the police, and many of those drilled here would volunteer, if wanted, to the police in actual employment. Ifone should be taken into the corps unless previously approved by the Commissioner of Police for the time being, who would be considered as its commanding officer —but the captain and remaining officers should be elected by themselves like all other volunteers. To ensure the cordial co-operation of Canterbury, Nelson, and Invercargill in the Separation movement, it is important that the committee should make known' the basis on.! which the General Assembly or Island Congress is to' be formed ; and where the seat of government is to be will no doubt be another point the other Provinces will be anxious to know. With respect to the Governor's Head Quarters, that should be left to be decided by the first House of Assembly which meets after the ii«w Governor is appointed; but when the movement is sufficiently advanced it would be advisable that each Province should send a deputy to form an Island Committee, as they could then not only, agree to the ' first place where the Parliament should meet, but the number of deputies which each Province would requite to send. Their first duty, however, would be the forwarding home the petition. VA'ith respect to the number of members to be returned by each Province, this should be regulated by tiie number of inhabitants —say Canterbury lias 30,000, Otago 60,000— Canterbury would then give two members—Otago, four; the duration of office to be five years; a revision of the number of deputies furnished by each Province to take place on the dissolution of the House, and each Province to be rated according to the pxtent of ifc; population, as in the first instance. It might happen that Canterbury or Invercargiil a few years htnee might have a population to exceed that of Otago. The internal management of the respective Provinces to be left to themselves, so far as the appropriation of the revenue collected is coiicerneu ; but the amount of expense of General Government, of course, must be disfrayed by each according to the amount it is rated at by the House of Asstinbly, based upon their respective revenues. The Governor's personal staff will only consist of his Private Secretary and Aide-de-camp. In these Colonies the Governor should always be a lnilitury oSUccr, as in case of war ho often combines all within iiirmelf. Where there is a Civil Governor and a Militaiy Commander of the Forces they seldom agree; it is said thnt in the multitude of councillors there is wisdom, but when authority is vested in one alone then there is decision and action. Whilst a number are debntintr, one acts, —and where field operations are in question a civilian is only a clog on the wheel; above all, let Her Gracious Majesty be petitioned to favor the Colony by not nominating to the Government any of the antiquated regime. An officer who is not capable of commanding an army at five-nnd-twenty, will not linye the intellect fo do so iat a more advanced stage of fife; —this was the remark made by the great Pitt on his sending out Amherst nod Welf« to Ctuutda—and Uwrt w« few »ffic«r* wfe*

have served under the cdmmaudof asexeginarian who caimot bear witness to the truth of that great statesman's opinion. In the Colony of Victoria the wish to advance has been, I fear, too great; railroads and public buildings have absorbed an immense capital, which has been taken up at interest,; the mines have fallen off lately—interest must be paid, and, to do this, fiesh taxes will ultimately have to be imposed ; let Olaso take warning, and content itself without palaces or railroads, and open up the resources of the country by its rivers and common roads. \\ hen the bank shows a credit account sufficient to undertake any public or useful work, do so, but do not run on what yeu expect the revenue will be, in future years to pay what you could do without till then. Encourage the' cultivator'of the land by taking off 3s. per gallon on all spirits—you will thus enable him to find a market for his grain, which otherwise he will not bo able to do. I?resh mines are likely, and no doubt will be discovered, but the object "of a wise legislation should be to hold out every inducement to the miners to settle in the colony, and thus securn a hardy population who would be ready at all times to defend.their homes and families against all foreign invaders. Now that the Separation question is fairly iv agitation, its progress should be prosecuted with energy and vigor. Let the coinruittea of Orago, as having taken the lead in this most important movement, draw up the memorial to the Queen, and obtain all the signatures possible to it, at the same time forwarding copies to the other provinces ; no doubt there are individuals in all of .hep who will take up the flag of liberty and organise their respective committees, till the'affair is so far advanced that an Islnnd committee, consisting of deputies from the four settlements, can T be appointed to carry out the aflair. Mr. Kditor, 1 have given a few of my ideas on this important question, and hope it will serve to elicit from, others their opinions, so that the public in general may be aroused to a sense of tho impos'tance of the subject. ' I am, sir, your obdt. servant.