The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.) SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1875.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume III, Issue 308, 18 September 1875, Page 2

The Standard AND PEOPLE'S ADVOCATE. (PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY AND SATURDAY.)

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1875.

“ W« .hall sell to no man justice or right: V a shall deny Io no man justice or right: We shall defer to no man justice or right.”

The fate of the Abolition Bill is now definitely known. At the eleventh hour, as it were, the majority and minority of the House of Representatives agreed to a suspension of hostilities, and the result of this truee must, of course, be regarded as a political compromise in which neither party can claim tht victory. Both sides have had to make concessions, and this was apparently the only way in which a reconciliation could be effected. The Bill having passed its second reading and got into committee of the whole House, discussion thereon

could be prolonged ad infinitum — a course which the Opposition intimated they would pursue, provided the Government and their supporters persisted in forcing the measure upon the country in the arbitrary manner in which they seemed disposed io cto. . It was, doubtless, most injudicious on the part of the Government to attempt to carry out their scheme with a high hand, although thc.iyrcumsUinces of thespuutrymighf demand it; and that they shoulcT be compelled to change tluir tactics, when jMibjected. to pressure, need not create surprise. The feud between the Cabinet and the Opposition had lasted long enough to shew that it was dcsirableto terminate it, in order to allow the business of the country to be proceeded with without unseemly interruptions and altercations 1 . The battle of 1 provincialism, as far as the abolition of that system is concerned, having now been tought, there will beno further necessity for the Opposition jo carry out their iutentiou of talking against titoe,! and the proceedings of theffiofise will,' for the future, assume its ordinary aspect. According to. the arrangeinent that has been come to between the Government and the Opposition, the provincial system will yet have an existence bordering upon fifteen months. Many have been evidently under the impression that fhe consolidation of the provinces would tSke place immediately after the passing of the Abolition Bill, and that the LbeMform of government would then be entirely superseded ; but this is not to be the case. Provision has made in the Bill to obviate sueli precipitancy, and it is proper that it should. borne of the characteristics of the provincial system will, doubtless, be incorporated with the new form of Government, and this being so, it is necessary that time should be allowed for the purpose of maturing the arrangements consequent upon so important a change in our constitutional affairs.

The present Parliament does not expire by effluxion of time till the 25th February next, and as the writs for the general election are not likely to be issued before the middle of March, they cannot all be made returnable till June ; so that the new Parliament need not be expected to meet earlier than July —the usual time—and as the first session is almost certain to be a long one, it will not probably be Over till December. As abolition will, likely, not take place till after tlm termination of the first session of the bew Parliament, provincialism cannot be dispensed with for about a year hence, at least This prolongation of the local form of government will—as we have always predicted — necessitate the holding of, possibly, two more sessions of the Provincial Caunpil ere the new regime comes into operation ; and these sessions will assnredly-'bfe eventful ones, because of the importance with which their proceedings will necessarily be invested. Many things will have to be adjusted between the Local and the Central Government; and this adjustment will, in some measure devolve upon the Council. In these altered circumstances, which have been unexpectedly brought about by the turn the Abolition Bill has taken, provincialism assumes quite a different aspect to what it was believed it would a few days ago, and now demands greater consideration at our hands than we were hitherto inclined to accord to it. Till this crisis, we looked upon provincialism as all but at an end, but we now find that, Although its doom has been sealed, it is not to be swept away al! at once, and that we are yet to besubject to itfor a period. The candidature for Turanganui, to which little or no importance was attached till the day after the nomination—when the fate of the Abolition Bill became knowni—mUst not now be regarded with indifference ; but, on the contrary, with due concern. If it was incumbent upon the electors to choose noue but a thoroughly competent member in former times, it is doubly incumbent upon them to do so on the present occasion, from the fact that the interests of the district will necessitate greater attention at the hands of its representative in the future sessions of the Provincial Council than they did in past sessions. .It is to be hoped, therefore, that the electors will bear this in mind, and-re-cord their votes in favor of the candidate whom they dgem to be the most competent to represent them. To discharge the functions of representation efficiently needs- peculiar qualifications in the representative, for without these representation becomes —as it often does—a farce, and the country suffers in consequence. We pointed out in a recent article that it was imperatively necessary for the electors of Poverty Bay to become fully conversant with the political principles of such candidates as might offer themselves for the representation of the constituency in the House of Bepresentatives ; and we have no hesitation in giving the ..electors of Turanganui a similar advice. To elect a man who does not deign to make his views known to those whose suffrages he is seeking, is not to exercise the franchise judiciously. We are glad to see that the candidates for Turanganui feel it their duty to give an exposition of their political creeds ere the election takes place, so that the electors may know what their sentiments are, and judge for themselves.