The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1864.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 27, 8 January 1864, Page 2

The Invercargill Times. FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 1864.

Wb have already endeavored to prove that the removal of the Sea*: of Governmeut from Auckland to Wellington — regarded as a preventive to the Separation of the two Islands — was a great mistake, and that so far from satisfying either Southern or Northern interests, it vrould t nd towards a disruption far more complete than would have otherwise "been the case. Advocates as we have always professed ourselves for the Separation movement, we entertain views on the subject not altogether in accordance with those hitherto promulgated. The close proximity of the North and South Islands to each other makes it advisable that the bond of union between them should not be rudely snapped asunder. If at some future period New Zealand should become independent altogether of the mother country, her chance of expanding into a powerful nation would be greater were the two Islands under one supreme Government than it each were an independent state. We are Separationists, and yet coincide in the justice and truth of an argument which has been hitherto only admitted by antiJSeparationists. But the plan of Separtion may be considerably modified, and at the same time alt its valuable and important features retained. We would propose a Lieutenant- Governor for each Island, wi;h a Legislature having entirely under i's control and management ail matters of local interest, and a Governor-General for both, with a Legislature supreme in all matters affecting the general welfare ; — a Federation, in shor:, by which, whilst each Island would have full control over its internal policy, and tbe disposal of its revenues — New Zealand might still exist as one colon}'. The present Provinces would be abolished, and the two Islands divided into counties. Each Island would be a Province on a large scale ; the Lieutenant-Governor a magnified Superintendent ; and the Legislature a Provincial Council with greatly extended powers. The Gover-nor-General and Supreme Legislature bearing to these a position somewhat analagous to that which the General Assembly and Legislative Council bear to the present Provincial Legislatures. It is time that the Provinces with all their costly and cumbrous machinery were swept away. In the early days of New Zealand colonisation no bt-tter system could perhaps have been devised for developing the resources of the two Islands, or peopling them rapidly, than the plaating of numerous isolated settlements at various advantageous points, independent of each other as regards local legislation, and vicing with each other in a healtiiy spirit of emulation. Under such conditions the work of colonisation proceeded with astonishing rapidity, more particelarly in the Southern Island, where the depression caused by the native difficulty was not felt. Up to a certain poiut the spirit of emulation, which so largely, contributed to this great success, -was beneficial. So long as the Provincial Legislatures did not exceed . their revenues, the iuterests of the Colony as a whole were, benefi tted ; but that phase in the history of the Colony is changed, and each Province appears anxious to-get into debt as largely as possible V not merely for works of a purely reproductive character,—such as railways, wharves, etc, for which Special loans are negotiated, and special funds provided for their liquidation,— but to meet the current expenditure of the Province^ or even, to pay" the salaries of officials. -The last Otago Loan of £500,000, furnishes us with an example of this loose way

of incurring lhbilities. Borrowed for no specific' object, with N no specific guarantee for. its repayment, the question arises at whose expense will it be, liquidated ? Otago can spend the money fast enough, but her land revenue does not appear.to yield, a sum sufficient to pay the interest; and so long as the borrowed capital lasts, -the. thought of: the settlement will probably; cause her^rulers but little trouble; -The goldfields have added a new and complicated feature to the subject. The natural outlet for the wealth of a field discovered in one Province may be through the territory of another The spirit of emulation, formerly a healthy one, becomes now imbued with jealousy. No expense is spared to divert the diggings trade from its natural channel, when it leads to the seaboard of a neighboring Province. Thus, £200,000 is about to be spent in making a road from the Duustan to Queenstown, which, when completed, will be rendered impassable in the winter months by snow, and this 'with cartage at £15 par ton, and the_ Northern Railway rapidly progressing. But Otago hay ing obtained the loan, is naturally careless as to how it is to be repaid — she throws the burden on the colony at large. Canterbury jhas also borrowed, or obtained leave to borrow, large sums, though in her case we have some confidence that they will be spent judiciously. The time, however, has arrived when the Provinces should be deprived of the power of burdening posterity wilh debts recklessly incurred for purely selfish purposes. If the gold fields were under the management of a Government embracing the whole oi the Middle Island, the escorts from the Lake, the Nokotnai, &c, would be run to Invercargill — tlie nearest port, and the least expensive route. Were the Provinces abolished, the a governing power for the whole of this Island wou'd not sanction the expenditure of £200,000 out of the general revenue for making a road not wanted by the Wakatip digger, but constructed for the sole pui'pose of ag-raiidising a town. The example set by one Province is naturally followed by another; the heavier one borrows, the heavier the otlier wishes to borrow. " Get all ' we can now,'' is the genera 1 cry, and such a course long persisted in will infallibly eventuate in a financial crisis. The future has a heavy reckoning in stor>% and the only method we can discover for warding off the danger is, as we said, by doing away with the Provinces and substituting Counties, the boundaries of which might be defined in a somewhat similar manner to the boundaries of Provinces created under the '* New Provinces Act ;'' each County returning members to the local Legislature. We would advocate Christchurch as the Seat of Government for the Middle' Island. That city is more central and more accessible to every part of this Island than any other. There is no extraordinary influence which might be brought to bear injuriously on the Legislature and Government, and the Province has established a reputation for steadiness and respectability. For the North Island, we have shown in another article that circumstances render it compulsory that Auckland should be the capital. The General Legislature, which, owing to the nature of the business it would be required to transact, would, in all probability, be required to asßemble only once in five years, might be called together by the GovernorGeneral in tbe North and South Islands alternately. Such is a brief sketch of a system which would embody all the benefits likely to arise from total separation, but which has the further recommendation of preserving the unity of the colony.